Christmas Crunchie

An even more successful experiment from the kitchen this winter was my attempt at making a Crunchie. No, that's not an exercise (although we certainly needed more exercise after polishing off the Crunchies). When we lived in England, we got hooked on Crunchies. Probably the only Cadbury chocolate product that I truly crave, it's a crunchy, honeycomb candybar dipped in chocolate.

Each year for Christmas, I buy one to put in Jim's stocking. Usually, I have good luck finding them at CostPlus World Market but they seemed to be lacking in the usual Brit food this year (couldn't get a plain HobNob to save my life). So, what's a gal to do but make her own?

I had collected some recipes last year for honeycomb candy but hadn't gotten around to making it, fearing the horrendous mess it might make judging from the stories many other novice honeycomb makers reported. The recipe is quite simple but there is a point where the candy can boil over in spectacular fashion (think science project volcano), so if you choose to attempt this at home, be sure to use a much bigger pot than you think you'll need. And don't even try it if you have one of those glass-top stoves that doesn't take kindly to molten sugar all over it.

I'm happy to report that my experience was a good one. Not only did I not create a mess in the kitchen, the honeycomb was delicious. Too delicious. I had to dip it in chocolate just to stop eating it. And that only worked while I was waiting for the chocolate to dry. I boxed some up to put in the stocking and then proceeded to hide the rest, lest Jim discover it before Christmas morning or I eat it all on my own.

Christmas morning came and I knew I'd succeeded in recreating the Crunchie when Jim declared it the best present of all. And I got the gift of leftovers (something that never happens when there's just one Crunchie in the stocking).