Cinder Toffee Food

CINDER TOFFEE

Steps:

• Line a big tray with baking parchment and lightly grease with oil. Place the sugar and honey in a large saucepan with 4 tbsp water. Put over a very low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar has dissolved, add a sugar thermometer and bring to the boil over a high heat. Bubble until it reaches 149C on the sugar thermometer.
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda quickly, it will froth up madly - don't worry! Immediately pour into the tray, and leave to cool and set completely.
• Break into shards to nibble, or crumble over ice cream or our Salted honey fudge & chocolate tart (see 'Goes well with' box, right). Will keep in an airtight container between layers of baking parchment for 1-2 weeks.

CINDER TOFFEE

Steps:

• Grease a rimmed 8x12-inch baking pan and line bottom and sides with parchment paper, making sure the parchment sides reach at least 2 inches above the sides of the baking sheet. Grease parchment with butter.
• Combine sugar, golden syrup, water, and vanilla extract in a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil, but do not stir. Heat to 310 degrees F (155 degrees C) or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads, about 10 minutes. Brush the sides of the pan with a clean pastry brush dipped in water if any sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan.
• Remove from heat and carefully add baking soda; stir quickly until foaming subsides and mixture turns golden. Pour into the prepared baking pan immediately. Cool until set, about 15 minutes. Break into bite-size chunks to serve.

HONEYCOMB TOFFEE

Steps:

• Line a baking dish with parchment paper, measure out baking soda in a small bowl, and have a heat-proof spatula ready before starting.
• Whisk sugar, corn syrup, honey, and water together in a saucepan with a candy thermometer attached. Heat over medium heat until mixture is thinner but still cloudy. Let bubble until mixture is clear and thermometer registers 300 degrees F (149 degrees C).
• Remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda until just incorporated. Switch to a spatula and very carefully pour into the lined dish. Do not spread it out with your spatula or compress mixture at all, or the bubbles will deflate. Let cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
• Remove candy from the pan by lifting out the parchment paper. Rap against the counter and use your fingers to break it into individual pieces.

HONEYCOMB

Steps:

• Butter a 20cm square tin. Stir the caster sugar and golden syrup together in a deep saucepan over a gentle heat until the sugar has melted. Try not to let the mixture bubble until the sugar grains have disappeared.
• Once completely melted, turn up the heat a little and simmer until you have an amber coloured caramel (this won't take long), then as quickly as you can, turn off the heat, tip in the bicarbonate of soda and beat in with a wooden spoon until it has all disappeared and the mixture is foaming. Scrape into the tin immediately - be careful, the mixture will be very hot.
• The mixture will continue bubbling in the tin, simply leave it and in about 1 hr-1 hr 30 mins the honeycomb will be hard and ready to crumble or snap into chunks.

CINDER TOFFEE

Steps:

• grease an 8" square pan generously with butter.
• Mix the sugar and corn syrup in a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat over low heat, simmering for 3-4 minutes.
• The mixture is done when it is a rusty caramel color.
• Take off the heat and whisk in the baking soda quickly.
• Pour into the pan and let it set, 1-2 hours.
• Once it is set, you can try and cut it into pieces, or you can just break it into pieces of whatever size you choose.
• Melt the chocolate and dip each piece (or the whole thing) into the chocolate.
• Let set on a piece of oiled foil.