Honeycomb Brownies

Warning. Don't try this at home!

Putting honeycomb in a brownie is just a rookie error - it melts in the oven and increases the baking time by threefold.

The brownie was still salvaged, but the honeycomb really didn't make much difference to the taste so overall was slightly pointless.

Regardless, honeycomb is fun to make and its one of the only baked goods that require a hammer/mallet to serve!

HONEYCOMB

or 'hokey pokey' if you're Cornish!

Nigella Lawson's recipe is extremely easy.

I love the episode where she makes this to take to a friend's dinner party and ends up eating most of it in the taxi en route. That hasn't happened to me, YET.

It's three simple ingredients.

100 grams caster sugar

4 tablespoons golden syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Method

Put the sugar and golden syrup in a medium saucepan and stir to combine.

Turn on medium heat; refrain from stirring whilst the heat is on.

After about 3 or 4 minutes the mixture should bubble and melt and turn a lovely caramel/toasty golden colour. 

Take it off the heat and whisk in the bicarb. Immediately pour onto a piece of baking paper or greased foil and leave to set.

It should take about 45mins to an hour to set, but the longer you leave it the better.

Then, grab the hammer and smack the heck out of it!!!!

Next, the brownie.

This brownie recipe has been my favourite since I started baking, and nothing so far has beaten it.

Credit to Lorraine Pascale.

The brownies are perfect on their own, but I added the honeycomb for the sake of experiment and because I was incredibly bored on a Sunday afternoon.

INGREDIENTS

165 unsalted butter

200g dark chocolate (I used Bourneville)

3 eggs and 2 extra egg-yolks

a good splash of vanilla extract

165g soft light brown sugar

2tbsp plain flour

1tbsp cocoa powder

a pinch of salt

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a brownie tin with parchment paper.

Melt the butter in a saucepan on a medium heat. Remove from the heat and then add in 200g of chocolate (either chopped or broken into pieces) and leave to melt and cool.

Next, beat the eggs on medium speed until fluffy and airy. Add in the vanilla. Add in the brown sugar in two batches at the edge of the bowl so as not to knock the air out. 

Mix on medium-high speed.

Once the chocolate mixture has cooled, pour into the egg mixture (at the side again) and fold gently with a spatula.

Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt until just combined.

Pour into the brownie tin and bake at 180C for approx 25-30 mins, or until the brownie is firm to the touch and a skewer/knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

I'd suggest to NOT put the honeycomb pieces in!

When I did, the brownie took over an hour to bake!!!

Once cooked, leave to cool on a wire wrack.

These brownies are at their yummiest when they're left for a good few hours, maybe even overnight.

However, I did test them out IMMEDIATELY.

Happy eating!

J xx