KJ's Honeycomb Candy for Taste & Create

From left to right: honeycomb clusters, plain honeycomb candy, chocolate-covered honeycomb candy.

Taste & Create is a wonderful event where food bloggers are paired up and asked to choose a recipe from their partner's blog, cook/bake it up, and post the results.

The only problem occurs if one partner totally drops the ball, doesn't see the event email because the spam filter ate it, and doesn't realized what's happened until after the round-up. (Can you guess whom I'm refering to here?)

My partner was KJ of A Cracking Good Egg and, when I realized what had happened, I began rifling through her posts like my life depended on it. Before I continue, let me apologize: KJ, I am so sorry I am late with this post. You and your lovely blog do not deserve it! I'm also sorry that I'm late submitting to Taste & Create - so, so sorry!

After taking a good long look at A Cracking Good Egg, I realized making a choice would be difficult; KJ has so many delicious recipes! But in the end, my sweet tooth won out and went with her recipe for honeycomb candy. It looks a lot like a regional Rochester favorite, sponge candy, and I'd never made so I thought I'd give it a go.

Who knew something so simple could yeild such complex flavors and textures? The carmelized sugar gets a sharp tang (it's hard for me to describe) from the addition of baking soda, so the final flavor it a bit like a toasted marsmallow with a bite. The texture, of course, is NOTHING like a marshmallow, again thanks to the baking soda.

Once you add the baking soda (mixed with a bit of water) to the melted sugar, the whole thing puffs up and turns a deep yellow. You have to work fast and pour the mixture out onto a parchment-line baking sheet before it cools. (Don't spread it with a spoon either or you'll burst all those lovely bubbles.)

When it cools, you get a crunchy, bubbly confection. I covered mine in semi-sweet chocolate which was very nice, though I think I would have preferred a milk chocolate to off set a bit of the candy's bite.

So please head over to A Cracking Good Egg to get the recipe for honeycomb candy and take a look at all of KJ's wonderful recipes. And again, my apologies for being late!