Do you remember when you could buy a little brick of sponge toffee at the corner store for 5¢? You would nibble at it a little at a time, letting it melt on your tongue making it last as long as possible. If you ate too much your tongue would actually hurt! Can you tell I really like sponge toffee?
Sponge toffee looks like it has the potential to be an intimidating adventure to create, but the recipe only has 4 ingredients. It is all about the chemistry my friends and with a little bravery you can be whipping up a batch in no time at all. Anytime there is melted sugar and a candy thermometer the red flags go up and folks steer away from a recipe, but you can do this!
Use a large pot, pour the sugar,honey and water in and let the heat do all the work. Keeping it at medium heat ensures the sugar melts evenly. The trick here is do NOT STIR!! Just pick up the pot and swirl the mixture once in a while until the sugar is melted, then put the thermometer in and do nothing except watch it. While it is bubbling away, get your pan ready and sift the baking soda.
Once it reaches 300 ºF take it off the element.Hot sugar is very hot- use oven mitts. Add the baking soda and be ready to whisk. This is where the magic happens. The baking soda will make the mixture foam and bubble up. Whisk just until it is all incorporated and then pour the mixture onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. To pour the mixture it is great to have an extra set of hands, especially if your pot is heavy as you will want to use a spatula and scrape the pot out as your pour. Once again do NOT touch it once it is on the parchment! If you try to spread it out it will collapse and you will loose all of those wonderful bubbles. Fill your empty pot with hot water right away so that it will melt what is left in the pot for easy clean-up.
Let it cool to room temp and then flip over and whack it gently with the back of a knife blade and it will break into shards. Then EAT! Keep the crumbs as they make a great topping for ice-cream. If you want to make it extra special drizzle some melted chocolate on top and add some sprinkles- perfect for gift giving!
This recipe is from Martha Stewart and I really like it because it has honey instead of corn syrup in it.
- 1½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- Line a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Bring sugar, honey, and water to a boil in a medium saucepan without stirring. Reduce heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees.
- Remove from heat, add baking soda, and stir with whisk just until incorporated.
- Gently pour mixture onto baking sheet without spreading. Let cool. Break into pieces.
Can this be made with 100% honey? What does the sugar do to help?
Hi Mark. The melting of the sugar gives the candy it’s colour and texture. I have not tried with all honey – I think the texture would be off and the taste too strong. If you do give it a go I would be interested in your results.
The intro to the recipe says do not stir at all, but in the actual recipe section the directions say to stir constantly.. I don’t think mine turned out right because of this.
you are correct! I have it backwards in the actual recipe. I will fix…thank you!