My good friend and cooking buddy Amy Marrero Doyle forwarded this recipe to me because it uses honey rather than corn syrup.
Few people know that corn syrup was developed after the Civil War as a cheap substitute for honey and cane sugar. Because it is a liquid, honey can be substituted one-to-one for corn syrup in any recipe!
This post is reblogged from Food52.
Homemade Tootsie Rolls
Makes 22-24 pieces
½ cup honey
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
1 to 1 ¼ cup instant non-fat dry milk powder
In a large bowl, combine honey, cocoa powder and vanilla using a whisk. Add the melted butter and whisk until well incorporated. Add in the powdered sugar and pinch of salt; whisk again until well combined.
Using a wooden spoon, mix in the instant milk powder ¼ cup at a time until a dough forms. When you can no longer stir the mixture with a spoon, knead it with your hands. Keep adding in milk powder until a firm dough forms. You may not have to use all the milk powder. The finished dough should be firm and a little sticky but not so sticky that you can’t handle it. Roll the dough into a ball and place on waxed paper lightly sprayed with cooking oil or coated with butter or vegetable oil.
Let dough rest uncovered on the wax paper for 5-10 minutes. As the candy stands it will relax from a ball shape into a disc. Cut candy into ¾-inch strips and then into 2-inch lengths. If candy sticks to the knife, spray it with cooking oil or coat it with butter.
Cut wax paper into 3 ½ x 5 inch pieces. Wrap candies with the wax paper pieces.
Store candies in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.
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Thanks for the recipe! This is the recipe I used for making bit o’ honey but I lost the recipe. Sub peanut butter for chocolate. I’m also going to try to make ginger chews with this recipe.
You’re welcome!
That is fantastic. Love the idea of making bit o’honeys with peanut butter, too. I’ll have to try both!
Candy is so much better made with honey instead of corn syrup!!
looks awesome! i didn’t know what interesting fact about honey and cane sugar.
Not many people do know that.
That’s the reason corn syrup is in everything. It’s cheap and it’s sweet.
And it’s making us all fat… 😦
How do these taste?
Pretty much like Tootsie Rolls, only softer. For me, that’s a good thing!! 🙂
Yum!
I’m glad you said that. I have very expensive dental work and will not eat the real chewy or hard candy. This looks so yummy. Might have to try it for Christmas. I know about the corn syrup, too. It’s in so many things. And it does pack on the pounds. 🙂
[…] Homemade Honey Tootsie Rolls (romancingthebee.com) […]
Another good day of learning something new. Thank you sooo much. Love, love, love tootsie rolls but know how bad corn syrup is for us. I have a recipe for bourbon balls that uses karo light syrup and lots of bourbon. Wonder is I can replace the syrup with honey. Then I might make them again.
Honey can always be substituted for corn syrup!!
Bless you. I love those bourbon balls. And I love honey. How great is that? I’ll let you know how they turn out. They are a Christmas favorite.
I’d love to see the recipe!!