The blog of Oh Sweet Day!
Make these and your kids will love you more! I guarantee you!
Summer holidays started a little sooner that I expected, thanks to the teacher strike. And what happens now is every few days my house will become a day camp where my kids and their friends hang around at the backyard, splashing in the pool, scooching down the water slide, climbing tree, and having sweet treats, like these popsicles.
“Why do it yourself when it’s so easy to eat out or buy the package item? My answer to that question is quality, nutrition, and economic.” – “The Hip Girl’s Guide to the Kitchen”
Make this when mangoes go on sale. And it means now in Vancouver BC, when you can easily and inexpensively buy lots of them, especially my favourite variety – Ataulfo mangoes. They have smooth texture, sweet taste and intense aroma. But you can use other varieties too.
My relation to golfing, or my husband’s obsession with golfing is awful. Part of the reason is because I don’t find watching golf entertaining. What I see is a few guys walking on a large green and…oh! That’s all! That’s all I can see on any golfing games. If I am lucky, I might be able to see a tiny white dot flying across the sky. But that’s very rare.
My all-time favourite home-made foodie gift is English toffee. It’s buttery and nutty. And if you are a fan of Almond Roca, you will fall for it. Same as English coffee, honeycomb brittle is so simple to make, and it’s another perfect gift to take to a dinner party. Better than chocolate, which people tend to nicely smile at, but put away in a cabinet, either forget about it very soon or keep thinking whom it should be given away to.
Honeycomb brittle tastes like Crunchie Bar. It has an interesting airy texture caused by adding baking soda into hot syrup. The bubbles created are trapped to form a crisp, light and melt-in-your-mouth candy. And the holes in the candy give it a honeycomb appearance.
You can have the brittle on its own. But since it’s sort of a light candy, it’s less guilty to make it more awesome. I dipped the cool candy in melted dark chocolate to make it more scrumptious and impressive. Although most of my friends and family who tasted it had a hard time telling what exactly it was, they went, “OH MY GOD! It’s so good. What is it? How did you make it?” I know, who really cares what it is!
Ingredients (about 20 pieces):
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon baking soda
800 gram dark chocolate
Directions:
Prepare a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bring sugar, corn syrup, honey and water to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees.
Remove from heat, and whisk in baking soda until combined and mixture bubbles. When it has almost stopped bubbling, gently and quickly pour mixture onto the prepared baking sheet without spreading. Let cool. Break into pieces.
Melt chocolate. Use a fork to dip each piece of brittle into the chocolate. Lightly tap the fork to remove any excess. Use a pairing knife to push the brittle off the fork and onto the baking sheet.
Place the brittle into the refrigerator for 10 minutes and let the chocolate harden.