Make your own honeycomb (hokey pokey) candy at home with just a few simple ingredients. The candy produces beautiful air pockets that make the candy really look like honeycomb!
Back in 2008, my husband and I took a vacation to Australia and New Zealand. We got to experience the trip of a lifetime. Fortunately, we were able to spend time in Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef and the north and south islands of New Zealand. While we were there, we learned that hokey pokey ice cream was a thing.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that hokey pokey was honeycomb candy. While I have made hokey pokey ice cream before, I used Jeni’s ice cream base at the time. My honeycomb for that ice cream was good, but a bit flatter than traditional honeycomb candy.
This particular recipe is made in an 8″x8″ baking pan, so the candy is much taller than the one I made previously. I also made sure to watch my candy as it heated up. I had made a previous batch that hit 300 degrees F but ended up burnt because it got too hot.
This version of the honeycomb candy was a lot of fun to make, and it was yielded a great science experience for my daughter. She loved watching the sugar mixture foam up after we added the baking soda. And of course, she had an even more fun time eating it!
Husband’s rating: 4 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
My rating: 4.5 out of 5
Honeycomb candy
Equipment
- Candy thermometer
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (80 millileters) light corn syrup
- ⅓ cup (80 millileters) water
- 2 and ½ teaspoons baking soda
Instructions
- Generously grease and line an 8"x8" baking pan and set aside (I used a silicone baking pan and did not grease or line it).
- Measure out your baking soda and set it off to the side. Once the candy comes to the correct temperature, you will not have time to measure this out.
- In a medium or large saucepan set over medium heat, mix together the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Stop stirring once the mixture comes to a boil (and make sure that you do not turn up the heat or else your candy may burn).
- Clip on your candy thermometer and allow the mixture to come up to about 290°F. You should allow the mixture to come up to 300°F, but when I tried this the first time, my candy over-caramelized (it was too dark) and then the candy tasted burnt. I'd recommend making sure that your mixture has the slightest golden tint to it around 290°F and then removing it from the heat at that time.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately add in the baking soda you measured out earlier. Be careful - the candy will bubble, fizz, and grow like crazy. Keep stirring until the mixture is no longer growing and once you have fully mixed in any last bits of baking soda.
- Immediately pour this into your prepared baking pan. Be gentle and try not to spread the candy too thin (I prefer pouring the candy into all the corners and not use my spatula too much). Otherwise, you risk losing all the beautiful air pockets that makes this candy look like honeycomb.
- Let the candy rest at room temperature for at least an hour before breaking into smaller pieces. You can use a mallet, your hands, or a knife.