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Honey Puffs
3 cups sugar 1 cup cream 1/4 cup honey 1 egg white, beaten stiff 1/2 cup nut meats 1/2 cup candied pineapple Boil sugar and cream until it will almost thread, and add honey. When it reaches soft ball stage, take from fire and beat it into stiffly beaten white of an egg. Continue beating for 1 minute and add nuts and pineapple chopped. Beat until firm and creamy, and shape into balls between fingers with wet napkin, then cool. A few grains of salt adds to flavor.
This is a honey divinity built on cream rather than water, which makes it richer and far more prone to scorching. A candy thermometer replaces both of the stage tests given here.
- The stages, in numbers"Almost thread" falls somewhere around 220-230F in most tables, just before the syrup spins a thread from the spoon, though the definition varies from book to book. Soft ball is usually given as 235-240F; take it off the heat at the low end, since a cream-and-honey syrup carries residual heat and stiffens quickly.
- The hinge: pour slowlyAdd the hot syrup to the beaten white in a thin steady stream while beating constantly. Dumping it in cooks the white into threads and the candy will never go creamy.
- Cream will scorchUse a heavy-bottomed pan and stir until the sugar dissolves, then keep the heat moderate. Milk solids catch on the bottom long before the sugar reaches soft ball, and a scorched batch tastes burnt all through.
- Honey lowers the setHoney is largely invert sugar and keeps the finished candy softer than a plain divinity. Expect a fudge-like body rather than a crisp meringue, and beat to "firm and creamy" by feel: the mass should hold a ridge and lose its gloss.
- One egg white to three cups sugarThat is a small proportion of white by modern divinity standards, so the mixture aerates less than you may expect. A stand mixer makes the sustained beating easier.
- Nut meatsSimply shelled nuts. Walnuts or pecans suit it; toast and chop them, and chop the candied pineapple fine so the balls hold together.
- Weather mattersConfections of this type refuse to set on a humid day. Choose dry weather, or cook the syrup two or three degrees higher.
- Yield and storageRoughly three to four dozen small balls, depending how large you shape them. Cool on parchment or waxed paper and store airtight between layers of paper; they dry out fairly quickly.
Divinity and its many named cousins spread through American cookbooks in the early twentieth century. Substituting cream for water and honey for part of the sugar was one way to enrich the type.