Last Friday, I found out that Whole Foods Market in Kensington was running a short Summer Chef Series - a lovely initiative where the public could see free cookery demonstrations by various leading chefs from eg Salt Yard and Min Jiang, although we were encouraged to donate to the charity of their choice*. All the chefs were giving up their time for free so it would have been churlish to refuse.
I bombed it down to the first session to see Tristan Welch of Launceston Place preparing three desserts, which even a pud virgin like me could handle at home. He made Raspberry and Black Pepper "Angel Delight", Banana Split with Rum and Chocolate Mousse, and Cinder Toffee aka puff candy, honeycomb toffee or hokey pokey - all super-simple and gorgeous.
The recipes are all in September's Delicious Magazine, but we were given copies to take away (as well as a welcoming glass of Prosecco), so here's Tristan's recipe for Cinder Toffee.
Cinder Toffee by Tristan Welch
- 75g honey
- 140g liquid glucose
- 400g sugar
- 5 tbsp water
- 20g bicarbonate of soda (sifted)
Then add the bicarbonate of soda to the saucepan and whisk quickly into the mix.
Pour the lot onto a greaseproof paper-lined tray and leave to cool - it will froth and expand quite a lot during this time, but do not panic.
When the cinder toffee has cooled, smash it into pieces with a rolling pin and serve.
I stirred little chunks of this light and crumbly toffee into vanilla ice cream to make hokey pokey ice cream and it was absolutely beautiful.
The best thing about this cinder toffee is how smoky it is - like my husband said, it tastes just like a bonfire. I've no idea what magic is employed to make this the case ...
*in Tristan's case, the charity was Pakistani Flood Relief - see www.dec.org.uk for more details
The best thing about this cinder toffee is how smoky it is - like my husband said, it tastes just like a bonfire. I've no idea what magic is employed to make this the case ...
*in Tristan's case, the charity was Pakistani Flood Relief - see www.dec.org.uk for more details
Comments
So what was your winning hokey-pokey recipe then, Mr MasterChef 2009? :)
@The kitchen princess diaries - Oh do - it's fab!
@Mat Follas - Ooh, that sounds too tricky for me! So you don't use baking soda any more? You need to update the hokey pokey recipe on your blog then :)