Homemade Bit-O-Honey... or not...

I couldn't decide whether or not to post this recipe because, as the title implies, the intent was to make a homemade version of Bit-O-Honey.  My version, though it did taste good, didn't quite capture the same flavor as the official candy.  My family loved this recipe though, so I decided to post it.

This was also my first time attempting to make homemade candy, so I used a combination of the ingredients listed on the original candy and the instructions for a honey caramel candy found at Naturally Sweet Recipes.

I simplified the original list and ended up with 6 ingredients (one not pictured).




















Honey - 1 c.
Coconut milk - 1/4 c.
Almond Meal - 1/4 c.
Coconut Oil - 2 Tbsp.
Vanilla Extract - 1 Tsp.
Almond Extract - 1/2 Tsp.

Pour one cup of honey into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Continue to boil until the honey reaches "hard crack stage", which is just over 300 degrees F on my candy thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer, I found this page that explains another way to check candy stages.  To avoid burning the honey, I kept the stove top on the lowest possible heat to keep the boil and continually stirred the honey with a wooden spoon.

Once the honey hits "hard crack" stage, immediately remove it from the heat and add the other ingredients (coconut milk, coconut oil, almond meal, vanilla extract and almond extract). Stir until everything is combined.

Pour mixture into a parchment lined (or well oiled) dish and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour or until cooled and hardened.
*I also had a random candy mold lying around so I put a little but into the mold to see what would happen.

Once everything was cooled (which took about an hour in my fridge), I took them out to make individual candies.

The molds were easy, I just turned the whole thing over and applied slight pressure to the middle of each candy mold and they popped right out.

To make the rest of the candies, I pulled the "honey brick" out of the container and used a large knife to cut individual pieces.  The honey brick was fairly hard so I had to use a good amount of pressure and a back and forth rocking motion to get through it.

I cut the brick into bite size squares and  wrapped each piece individually using sections of wax paper.

Keep candy in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

Final notes:

Although my family enjoyed my recipe "as is",  I still feel the recipe needs some tweaking.  The flavor was a little strong for my taste, so I think next time I'll omit the almond extract completely.  The amount of coconut oil can probably be reduced as well.

I'd also like to use this recipe as a base to experiment with making honey lemon throat drops.