Homemade Honey Candy

Published: October 2, 2013Updated: August 12, 2019Author: Steph Loaiza
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Homemade Honey Candy

So one thing I love about this time of year is all the yummy treats! It starts to get cold, and all I want to do is stay inside and make delicious foods! When I worked at Cox Honeyland, one of my favorite candies was their Old-Fashioned Honey Candy – the kind you can pull! It is delicious, and it’s fun to make! 🙂

Serves: 48

Homemade Honey Candy

30 minPrep Time

1 hr, 15 Cook Time

1 hr, 45 Total Time

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups melted honey
  • 1 cup cream
  • 1 cup sugar
  • butter (or butter-flavored cooking spray)

Instructions

  1. Combine the first 3 ingredients and cook slowly on medium heat until it forms a hard ball when you drop it into ice water. It took me about an hour. As the mixture gets close to being done, the bubbles from the boil will get a lot smaller and closer together. Pour the mixture onto a buttered cooking sheet. When cooled, pull with buttered hands. Stretch, twist and pull until firm (this is the fun part! ;)) and then form into long ropes and place on waxed paper. Cut into bite size pieces. If you want, you can roll them in powdered sugar and wrap them in wax paper.
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https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/honey-candy/

This recipe is courtesy of Cox Honey

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  1. Alicia says:
    October 2, 2013
    This candy has been a family tradition for many years. We love it so much and have enjoyed sharing it with other family and friends!
    Reply
  2. Steph says:
    October 2, 2013
    They look yummy :) do they taste like bit-o-honey at all?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      October 3, 2013
      Just a yummy honey candy, similar but much better and that great homemade taste.
      Reply
  3. Nicole says:
    October 3, 2013
    Do we actually drop it in ice water to create a ball? I'm a bit confused on the process... :-/
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      October 7, 2013
      Just put a few drops of the candy into ice water to test.
      Reply
  4. emilie says:
    October 3, 2013
    I'm pretty good at just figuring things out as I go but I'm also a little confused by these directions. I cooked for an hour and did the water test and never really saw this hard ball formation. I poured it out on the buttered sheet but I'm not quite clear on the pull and twist part. Maybe if you included step by step pictures with the directions I bet that would help a lot. :)
    Reply
    • Jim says:
      April 18, 2020
      Agree - more questions than answers. It appears that this mixture needs to boil for an hour? Need a step by step rewrite. I’ll wait.
      Reply
  6. Kristy says:
    October 4, 2013
    I used to ask my grandma to make this for my birthday. I think I'll make this for all of my sisters for Christmas. It will bring back some nice memories. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
    Reply
  7. Haley says:
    December 1, 2013
    What kind of cream do you recommend using?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      December 2, 2013
      Heavy Whipping cream
      Reply
  8. Ann says:
    May 22, 2014
    I am excited to try this recipe... We used to make honey candy all the time, but did not use the cream... I'm sure this would be a great recipe as I love honey and I love cream even more. We used to just put honey, water, sugar and sometimes lemon to make a great cough drop with the honey, boil it to a hard ball and stretch it like making taffy.. If you don't want to do the water test method you can purchase a candy thermometer and just cook it to 255 degrees....
    Reply
  9. Zane says:
    December 24, 2014
    what about cream cheese? :D
    Reply
  10. Marren says:
    January 17, 2015
    I would love to try this recipe, but I am really confused about the ice water part. Do I boil it for an hour and then pour it in ice water? Help???
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      January 17, 2015
      The ice water part is just a little test that you can do. Drop a very small piece into the ice water and see if it goes hard. Don't put all of the caramel in. :)
      Reply
  11. Marren says:
    January 19, 2015
    Ah, thank you. That makes much more sense :) Also, (last question, I promise) during the cooking/boiling step, does it have to be stirred at all?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      January 19, 2015
      Hi Marren, I just talked to Steph and she said stir constantly. :)
      Reply
  12. Sharan says:
    February 12, 2015
    Can this be made with extra honey & no sugar?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      February 16, 2015
      We have only made this delicious honey candy as the directed on the recipe.
      Reply
  13. David says:
    March 18, 2015
    Followed every step. The end result was a nasty smelling glass like structure. Don't know where I went wrong.
    Reply
    • Angela says:
      October 18, 2016
      Sounds like too high heat and cooked beyond hard ball stage. Do you have candy thermometer? They help greatly. Can pick up a Walmart.
      Reply
  14. Jenna says:
    July 26, 2015
    Readers.. Not all grandmothers, great grandmothers had cooking thermometers. "Hard ball stage" referring to candy, means that you get a bowl of ice, add some water. When a drop of the honey candy mixture hits the iced water, it will crystallize if it is ready. At that point it's spread on waxed paper. When it cools enough to handle, children pull it, twist it into a braid, cool & cut. Oh, and don't substitute anything. This is a very old recipe. It's sticky but wonderful.
    Reply
    • Uncommonsensesc says:
      February 14, 2017
      At the hard ball stage, it's past the pull, twist, cool and cut part. You need the soft ball stage for this. Hard ball stage is for nut brittle where you just break it into bits when it's cool.
      Reply
  15. Michelle says:
    November 4, 2015
    I have made this candy successfully in the past. However last year every batch I made of this and other pull candies were sticky and sweated. What causes that?
    Reply
  16. Lauren says:
    October 14, 2016
    Have you ever tried using a sugar substitute like Splenda or a Splenda blend?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      October 17, 2016
      We have not tried any sugar substitutes with this recipe. It's so delicious the way it is we didn't want to cut any corners.
      Reply
  17. Caroline says:
    October 1, 2018
    What is the shelf life?
    Reply
  18. Mandy says:
    August 9, 2019
    Hello! Thank you for the recipe. My daughter is expecting in February and she’s planning a grey/white/yellow “bumblebee” nursery (not in your face bumblebees, just hints here an there. We are also planning her shower for the same theme. If you don’t pull the candy (like taffy I assume) does it stay soft and pliable like caramels or harden up like a Jolly Rancher?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      August 12, 2019
      Hi Mandy. Our Homemade Honey Candy is in between soft caramel and a hard jolly rancher. It's similar to taffy.
      Reply
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