Honey Candies

From thenerdyfarmwife.com

This first easy honey candy recipe is inspired by “Glass Candy” from the cookbook Grain Free Gourmet by Jodi Bager and Jenny Lass. I love their cookbooks and highly recommend anyone that wants to cook grain-free and refined-sugar-free own a copy of both! Mine are well worn and worth every penny I spent and then some!

• 1 cup honey

• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup nut butter (I used crunchy almond butter here, you can also use peanut butter, cashew butter, sunbutter, etc)

Pour the honey into a heavy saucepan. Place pan over medium heat until mixture starts to boil. Adjust the heat lower if needed and let boil until honey reaches 300 degrees F (hard crack stage.) This takes around twenty minutes.

Remove from heat, add vanilla and nut butter. Stir thoroughly then immediately pour onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in freezer or refrigerator to cool. Once completely chilled, break into long strips, then break those again into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Store in freezer.

Honey & Vinegar Candy

• I’m always looking for ways to use some of my infused vinegars, such as Blackberry Vinegar, and this easy honey candy recipe fits the bill perfectly! For the batch pictured above, I used blueberry infused vinegar (made exactly like the blackberry version.)

• 1 cup honey

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (or fruit infused vinegar)

• (optional) 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pour the honey and vinegar into a heavy saucepan. Place pan over medium heat until mixture starts to boil. Adjust the heat lower if needed and let boil until honey reaches 300 degrees F (hard crack stage.)

Remove from heat, add vanilla, if desired. Immediately pour onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in freezer or refrigerator to cool.

Once completely chilled, break into long strips, then break those again into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Store in freezer. These start off crunchy, but turn rather chewy after a few seconds!

A few tips to remember:

• Be sure to calibrate your candy thermometer periodically. Dip the tip of it in a small pot of boiling water (you can do this while cooking pasta too, as a time saver) and let it stay for a few minutes without touching the sides or bottom. It should read 212 degrees F (at sea level). My candy thermometer happens to be ten degrees off! So, I have to keep that in mind when making candies and adjust accordingly. It WILL make a difference in your recipe. (For more information on this, check out Ray’s comment below.)

• Honey can scorch and burn if heated too high – be sure to stay nearby and keep checking the temperature with your candy thermometer.

• Store honey based candies in the freezer (in single layers, between parchment paper) until right before ready to eat.

• You can also pour the hot candy into lollipop molds. (Just remember the “chew factor” for small kids!)

• Try different flavored extracts instead of vanilla – such as: lemon or peppermint for a great taste variation.

• Fill your still-hot pot with warm, soapy water soon after pouring out the candy and let it soak for a while in your sink – it will make cleaning up infinitely easier!