Honeycomb Caramel • Korean Dalgona Street Candy

If you’ve never come across Honeycomb Caramel before, here’s the idea… you take plain sugar, melt it down into a smooth liquid caramel, and then add something to inject air into it, in this case baking soda, which when heated releases a burst of carbon dioxide that gets trapped inside the caramel as it sets. The result is a candy with the visual of a honeycomb, light and full of tiny bubbles, with a texture that’s airy, crispy, and satisfyingly snappy when you break it. It’s one of those recipes where a little chemistry does all the heavy lifting, and honestly it never gets old to watch it happen.

This is actually a classic confection known around the world under many names, sponge toffee in Canada, cinder toffee in the UK, hokey pokey in the USA, and most famously Dalgona (달고나) in South Korea. In Seoul and across the country, Dalgona has been a beloved street candy for decades, sold from small carts by vendors who pour the hot caramel onto a flat surface and press cute shapes into it, stars, circles, hearts, little umbrellas. The tradition comes with a game, you try to carefully trace and pop the shape out of the hardened caramel without cracking it. Easy in theory, maddening in practice, and completely irresistible either way.

So this recipe makes 200g (7 oz), which is a good amount to start with. The ratio is simple to scale, for every 100g (3½ oz) of sugar, you use ¼ tsp of baking soda, so you can make as much or as little as you like. Once done, you can break it into shards and eat it as-is, crumble it over ice cream or yogurt, or drop pieces into a hot coffee and watch them melt into something magical. Just one fair warning before we get started!

This is caramel! and caramel gets incredibly hot! Easily double the temperature of boiling water. So nothing to be afraid of, but respect it, don’t go poking it with your finger, and once it’s poured just leave it alone until it’s completely cold. Right! Then, let’s get to it!

Honeycomb Caramel • Korean Dalgona Street Candy

Servings: 4
Time: 20mins
Difficulty: Easy
Rating: ★★★★★
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Two ingredients. No fancy equipment. Just pure, crackling caramel magic and a little chemistry doing all the heavy lifting, gotta love me some honeycomb caramel.

Ingredients

Sugar – 200g
Baking Soda – 1/2 Teaspoon

Directions

Start by preparing a heat-resistant container lined with non-stick paper to pour the caramel into when it is ready. Also prepare the spoonful of baking soda and use a wooden spoon or bamboo chopsticks to mix the caramel.

Start by adding the sugar to a small nonstick skillet and heat it over high heat. You will see that it will first clump together and then begin to liquefy.
At first, you will have a clear liquid that will gradually turn yellow. When it is bright yellow, you have caramel (if you continue cooking, it will start to darken and become more brownish, which is bittersweet caramel). For honeycomb, you want light caramel. A good trick is if your stove/skillet doesn’t heat evenly, just gently swirv the skillet so the yellow caramel will mix with the rest of the sugar syrup and you get a even caramelization and now some parts too dark and others too light.
Now quickly sprinkle the baking soda over the top of the caramel and stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve it completely into the caramel. You will see that the caramel will start to become cloudy and create a foam, which is what you want.
When it is uniform, it is time to pour it into the pan you have prepared. Note that we are talking about stirring for about 4 or 5 seconds, no more, stirring more will take the air out of the caramel.
Pour into the pan you prepared, scraping quickly with the wooden spoon to try to get everything in. Don’t put your finger or mouth in the pan to get what’s stuck to the wooden spoon again this is a caramel. Let everything cool completely, and you’re done!

After is completely cold, you can break it apart, it will feel like hard caramel, but trust me its all crumbly and delicious! Enjoy!

Notes & Tips: Easy scaling: The ratio is simple, for every 100g (3½ oz) of sugar, use ¼ tsp of baking soda. So 200g (7 oz) = ½ tsp, 400g (14 oz) = 1 full tsp. You don’t need much at all, a little goes a long way here.

White sugar is strongly recommended for your first attempt, it’s the easiest to read visually as it caramelizes. Brown sugar or muscovado work great too and give a deeper, more caramelized aroma, but they’re harder to judge by color since they start dark.

Cleanup is also easy, after the pan and spoon are cold, fill the pan and spoon with very hot water and let them soak. The caramel will slowly dissolve on its own, no scrubbing needed.

Now fun variations, once poured, you can drop popcorn, peanuts, or mixed nuts directly on top before it sets (or pour over the mix nuts that you put on a tray). The caramel acts as a glue and a coating and the result is seriously addictive.

Broken into shards, this caramel dissolves beautifully into hot coffee or hot milk. Or drop a piece into an iced drink for a sweet, crunchy surprise that slowly melts as you sip.

Sugar keeps a long time, but this caramel’s worst enemy is humidity and open air. Once fully cooled, store in an airtight container away from moisture. If it gets damp, it’ll turn rock hard and lose its airy, crunchy texture.

Make your own Dalgona shapes, press cookie cutters or a metal stamp lightly into the caramel while it’s still slightly warm and pliable (but not liquid). Then challenge your friends to free the shape without cracking it ;D

This recipe for Honeycomb Caramel • Korean Dalgona Street Candy was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Caramelo Crocante de Favo de Mel Honeycomb Caramel foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.