Honey candy

Prepare a 23x33 cm/ 9x13 inch baking dish lined with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and the sides of the baking dish with butter or cooking spray.

Place both sugars, water and corn syrup in a large saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring well until the sugars dissolve, about 10 minutes. Set a candy thermometer to the sides of the saucepan. Cook the mixture, without touching, for 20 – 25 minutes, or until it reaches 132oC/ 270oF. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180oC/ 350oF and set a rack in the middle position of the oven.

Add the butter, honey and salt into the pan and cook, stirring continuously, for 10 – 12 minutes, or until the mixture reaches 150oC/ 300oF. Remove the pan from heat and add the vanilla, stir well. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, swirling so that it can spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. Let the mixture cool down for 15 minutes.

Trying to cut the candy from the corner of the pan to check it is soft enough to cut or not. If it is too hard to cut, place the pan in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, until the candy lightly softens.

Turn the pan over onto a cutting board and remove the parchment paper. Cut the candy about ¾ of the way through into 2.5 cm/ 1 inch squares. Let it cool completely until can break into squares, about 5 – 7 minutes more.

Store the candies in an airtight container, as layers between parchment papers, at room temperature up to 2 weeks.