Never Do the Hokey Pokey on a Humid Day!!

That's what I learned 4th of July weekend.

I tried Nigella Lawson's Hokey Pokey recipe for the first time and it bombed!  This is what Nigella says about  it:  Hokey pokey is the Cornish term for honeycomb, and is wonderful eaten in golden shards or crumbled into the best vanilla ice cream. I include it here as it is the perfect present to take to a dinner party. Better than flowers, as they need to be put into a vase, better than chocolate, which people tend to smile politely at, but put away in a drawer. 

• The recipe has 3 simple ingredients:
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions

Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix. You can't stir once the pan's on the heat, though.

Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture first melt and then turn to goo and then a bubbling mass the color of maple syrup - this will take 3 minutes or so.

Off the heat, whisk in the baking soda and watch the syrup turn into a whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of baking parchment or greased foil.

Leave until set and then bash at it, so that it splinters into many glinting pieces.

I followed directions and everything looked great until it came time to crack the candy. Instead of shards of crunchy goodness it was soft like a wilting daisy.  I tried putting it in the fridge to harden up and I tried baking it at 175 degrees for 15 minutes to remove any moisture and it was all to no avail.  I was very disappointed because it wasn't crunchy and there was a bit of an after taste which I think it is due to the baking soda.  I still served it at the 4th of July gathering anyway and my nephew really loved it.
Next time I try this recipe will be in the fall or winter (less humidity) and I will add pure vanilla extract and use less baking soda.

Tip 1:  Although the recipe calls for dark syrup Nigella used a golden syrup.  This syrup is absolutely delicious on a crispy toasted and buttered English muffin.  

Tip 2:  No matter how tempted you are DO NOT stir once the heat is on. 

Tip 3:  Try a little less baking soda because it leaves a strange after taste.

This is the candy before you break it into pieces but since this was soft it was more of a pull apart.

A golden honeycomb centre surrounded by delicious Cadbury milk chocolate.  Suitable for Vegetarians.

Hokey Pokey looks similar to the inside of a Cadbury Crunchie candy bar.