I made 'Crunchies'!

[Kim Shook]

My stepdad is English and got us addicted to English candy early on. Our favorites have always been Crunchies, Flakes and Jelly Babies. I just made a candy that is amazingly close to a Crunchie.

Sponge Monkey Candy

Named in honor of those creepy little characters that Mr. Kim is unaccountably fascinated by. Foamy and crunchy, with tiny little bubbles, these candies are not overly sweet despite being made with sugar and sugar (corn syrup). These are very good, but if you melt Cadbury Dairy Milk (two 4.5 oz. bars) and dip each piece in the chocolate you have almost a perfect confection. They taste very similar to a Cadbury Crunchie bar. Amazingly good.

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark corn syrup

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon baking soda

Heat sugar, corn syrup and vinegar to boiling in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring, to 300 degrees on candy thermometer (or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into threads that are hard and brittle): remove from heat. Quickly stir in baking soda thoroughly. Pour mixture into ungreased rectangular pan. 13x9x2 inches. Do not spread; cool. Break into pieces. Makes about 3 dozen candies; 50 calories per candy.

Sponge Monkey Candy

[annachan]

Thanks for the recipe My British husband loves crunchies! Since we're making candy for the holidays this weekend, I'll make him a batch.

[loiosh]

Yum, honeycomb. It's frequently made at home in Australia, though we usually use golden syrup instead (hard to find, but you can get it at Cost Plus, I think). You shouldn't really need vinegar to make the syrup froth up -- at least, I don't remember seeing it in common Australian recipes.

I like honeycomb with dark chocolate on it. If you have extra it's fabulous crumbled up on ice cream.

[miladyinsanity]

I've made sponge candy before as well, but I'm pretty sure my recipe didn't call for vinegar.

[Becca Porter]

Vinegar is common in candy recipes because it cuts down on the sugariness. I look for recipes that include it. This looks great thanks.

[Pam R]

I tried this recipe this morning - I absolutely love Crunch bars. Though it tasted pretty close... I don't think my candy got... poofy enough. Do you think I should add more vinegar or baking soda? or both? hmm..

[Kim Shook]

I tried this recipe this morning - I absolutely love Crunch bars.  Though it tasted pretty close... I don't think my candy got... poofy enough.  Do you think I should add more vinegar or baking soda? or both? hmm..

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Maybe a little bit more baking soda. You have to mix it up thoroughly.

[JanMcBaker]

Vinegar is common in candy recipes because it cuts down on the sugariness. I look for recipes that include it. This looks great thanks.

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Recalling little toy submarines that came in cereal boxes waaay further back than I'd like to admit which used vinegar and baking soda for propulsion, I'd guess both are needed for that big frothy reaction.

[annachan]

My stepdad is English and got us addicted to English candy early on.  Our favorites have always been Crunchies, Flakes and Jelly Babies.  I just made a candy that is amazingly close to a Crunchie. 

Sponge Monkey Candy

Named in honor of those creepy little characters that Mr. Kim is unaccountably fascinated by. Foamy and crunchy, with tiny little bubbles, these candies are not overly sweet despite being made with sugar and sugar (corn syrup). These are very good, but if you melt Cadbury Dairy Milk (two 4.5 oz. bars) and dip each piece in the chocolate you have almost a perfect confection. They taste very similar to a Cadbury Crunchie bar. Amazingly good.

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark corn syrup

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon baking soda

Heat sugar, corn syrup and vinegar to boiling in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring, to 300 degrees on candy thermometer (or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into threads that are hard and brittle): remove from heat. Quickly stir in baking soda thoroughly. Pour mixture into ungreased rectangular pan. 13x9x2 inches. Do not spread; cool. Break into pieces. Makes about 3 dozen candies; 50 calories per candy.

Sponge Monkey Candy

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I used your recipe and it came out great! Thank you very much!!!!!

Because of the comment made before, I did used a little more baking soda than called for, about 1 and 1/2 tbsp. I found that after I stir in the baking soda, I really can't mess with it much. The first batch, I scraped out the bowl and the part I scraped out didn't come out poofy. The second batch, I just let the candy pour out of the pot and left whatever didn't pour out on its own alone. That batch came out better, poofy all over.

What I will do next time is to sift the baking soda. I noticed that there were a few lumps of baking soda when cutting the candy. I dug those put when I saw them.