Swedish candy & honey comb

OK so now it is time to admit I made a mistake in the kitchen- wow who would of thought right? (who am I kidding, it happens all the time and I just call it 'creating', that's my story and I am sticking to it!). However, this time round I couldn't blag my way out of it. You see the weather was not on my side and I don't know why for the life of me I decided to make honey comb and then coat it in chocolate on what was one of the hottest days in Sydney last week.

I started off in high confidence, I hadn't made honeycomb for about a year or so and I wanted to make sure I made it correctly. Sugar and glucose boiling away- all good, I even got the colouring almost perfect without a candy thermometer so I was feeling pretty happy despite the constant trickle of sweat running down my back.

The disaster happened when I started to cover the honey comb with chocolate. I kind of forgot I needed a 'controlled' temperate room! Despite my actions of popping the chocolate covered honey comb in front of a fan and then last resorts putting it in the fridge (big no,no but I was desperate) it was NOT firming up. Right at this critical point of me loosing it the boys just happen to walk into the kitchen asking for food and trying to stick their fingers in the melted chocolate which sent me on a 5 minute rant about god knows what. All I do know is they didn't wait around to see if mum had time to whip them up a light snack (I think psycho mummy popped out).

Anyway taking Nic's advice and moving right along, I decided to make the  delicious looking Swedish toffee I had been reading about in the latest Saveur magazine- which is a seriously good issue this month. The candy I am referring to is on page 59 and I am sure you can find it at saveur.com . It is called Polkagriskola (peppermint caramels).

After reading the recipe and then re reading it I decided I should be able to make it without freaking out and thinking I am totally useless. I am happy to report the recipe was a snap, I didn't have a thermometer but it didn't seem to matter, the results were wonderful. A delicious caramel toffee that was full of flavour and irresistible!

In the end I wrapped the caramels in cellophane and turned them into lollies for gifts. My honeycomb didn't make it I'm afraid, by the time the heat dropped and the chocolate had finally firmed up, my honey comb was tacky and sticky so I ditched the lot and decided to only make it in winter!