I've been on a mission this Christmas to make candy. My favorite chocolate shop candy is hard to find, old timey sea foam. This candy goes by different names all over the country and even in the world, including honeycomb toffee, sponge toffee, cinder toffee or hokey pokey. According to wikipedia, it is called sea foam in Maine, Washington, Oregon, Utah, California and Michigan. I made it from a recipe I found online .... this blogger calls it "Buffalo Sponge Candy". I made it pretty much according to her recipe, except I didn't have a means to sift the baking soda here at the lake house so I just was sure to make sure there were no lumps in it and added it carefully and gradually to the syrup. It came out just fine.
I dipped it in Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate. Tempering chocolate can be a challenge.... here is how I do it. For both making sea foam and tempering chocolate, you will need an accurate digital thermometer. I like Thermoworks thermometers. All in all, it was a partial success. The sea foam came out great, but I did mess up a bit of the dipping chocolate and a few pieces bloomed a bit because my temper was off. (I got impatient and nuked the remainder of some that was left over). Bloomed chocolate is fine to eat, it just doesn't look as pretty.
Merry Christmas Eve! The sun is shining here in the Keweenaw, and we had some nice lake effect snow last night. I am looking forward to spending some time outside.
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