Hokey Pokey Dark Chocolate Sponge Toffee

  • Hokey Pokey Sponge Toffee with Dark Chocolate

    Wondering what hokey pokey is?  Oh, you’re going to want to know.

    It’s a lot more than a goofy song that we all know and love (to hate)… (but really- Urban Dictionary online actually defines Hokey Pokey as “a satanic ritual which requires one to put the right foot in and then the right foot out. Put the right foor in and shake it all about. Do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. And thats what it’s all about.”  They also go on to say that “teachers in schools perform satanic rituals by making students do the hokey pokey.” Oooooookay then.)

    This recipe is called Hokey Pokey in the Kingdom of all things United, and in the land of Canada, folks will know it as basically the glorious inside of the Crunchie bar.  For locals in the US, I have no idea what you call this (honeycomb? sponge toffee?), or if you’re even interested right now- but I don’t care if you’re not.  I’m just ecstatic that a) I made the inside of a Crunchie bar!, and b) this recipe is called Hokey Pokey somewhere (cool) in the world!  There’s also a part c as to why I’m so happy… since our oven doesn’t work yet (still, I know, it’s stupid), I’ve found a winning stove-top recipe.  And I don’t care if it’s satanic, it’s that good.

    Adapted from Canadian Living’s recipe…

    2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

    2/3 cup light corn syrup

    1/3 cup water

    4 teaspoons baking soda

    2 teaspoons vanilla

    Pinch of salt

    2/3 cup dark chocolate (chips or chopped finely off a block)

    1. Grease a foil-lined 9×13″ baking pan and set aside.
    2. In a large saucepan, stir together sugar, corn syrup and water over medium heat just until sugar dissolves.
    3. Bring mixture to a boil and cook, without stirring but brushing down side of pan occasionally with a pastry brush dipped in cold water, until candy thermometer reaches hard-crack stage of 300°F (149°C)*.  This will take about 10 minutes.
    4. Remove pan from heat.  Carefully whisk in baking soda, as sugar mixture will bubble and and increase in volume.  Whisk in vanilla and salt.
    5. Pour into prepared pan.  Allow to cool on rack for about 2 hours.  Break into chunks and dip into melted chocolate (heated in microwave in 20-second increments until smooth)… or fill a piping bag with melted chocolate and pipe decoratively over toffee chunks.
    6. Store layered between waxed paper in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

    Tips:

    • No candy thermometer?  Shoot.  Okay, you can take a teaspoon of the hot sugar syrup, and drop it into a cup of cold water.  If hard brittle threads form, you’re good to go.
    • Want a different kind of chocolate?  Bittersweet would be amazing, but so would any others.  I haven’t seen white chocolate done before, but try it if it sounds good to you and let me know if you loved it.
    • Don’t let it sit in the pot after whisking in the baking soda.  It will grow… perilously close to over the top of the pot.  So have your vanilla and salt ready to go after the baking soda step- really.
    • You might need a meat tenderizer or mallet to break the hokey pokey into chunks.  Man, I love typing Hokey Pokey.
    • No chocolate is just fine… many people eat on its own.  Like me.  :)  Be careful with your piping bag- you don’t want this to happen to you.  Ugh.  Chocolate everywhere.
    • Enjoy!

     

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    November 19th, 2014 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: , , , ,

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