Mardi, eat. live. travel. write., is hosting Forever Nigella April: It’s a Royal Street Party. I love a good street party so naturally I wanted to join in on the fun. I went to the library and checked out two of Nigella’s wonderful cookbooks.
The Hokey Pokey recipe caught my eye. (Hokey Pokey is the Cornish term for honeycomb.) She describes it as “the perfect present to take to a dinner party. Better than flowers…no one can resist a bit of Hokey Pokey.”
So having picked out a perfect, irresistible party recipe, I decided to present it in a golden container with red tissue paper. Very elegant for street food I thought. The recipe was so simple I didn’t even worry about that part.
Unfortunately, I guess I can’t Hokey Pokey! I tried this recipe twice and both times ended up with huge ugly blobs. My first thought was not to post it, but since someone recently asked me if there was anything I couldn’t make, I thought it was time to post another failure. I’m blaming this failure on my high altitude. But I do think posting the failure shows some “Nigella-ness”.
I’m scheduling this to post about the time of the Royal Wedding. I wish the Royal Couple much happiness and good fortune. I won’t be staying up to watch the event live, but am looking forward to seeing the Princess’s dress.
Thanks Mardi for hosting this month. I’m also looking forward to the roundup of delicious Royal Wedding party food. Visit the Forever Nigella home page for more information about joining the fun next month.
Don’t miss out on a new recipe. Subscribe to Barbara Bakes by Email
Some of the links in my posts may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Thank you for supporting Barbara Bakes when you shop!
I love to bake, especially cookies, cakes, and pies. I’ll post my adventures in the kitchen, my favorite new recipes, as well as our family favorites.
Ciao Barbara,
I fallimenti capitano, non è colpa tua!! succede e basta, a volte capita anche con ricette che sono sempre venute benissimo e improvvisamente non vengono e non si riesce a capire dov’è l’errore….
Comunque se ho ben capito la ricetta, dovrebbe trattarsi di torroncini!?
Anche io una occhiata alla coppia reale la voglio dare, anche perchè è da 1 mese che alla tv non si parla daltro….come potrei ora non guardare?
Ciao a presto!
A wonderful treat!
Cheers,
Rosa
Perfect treat for the royal affair!
I, too, will probably be asleep during the wedding, but am looking forward to the reviews of the “dress”.
Have a great weekend, Barbara!
xxoo,
RMW
That looks wonderful.
Sorry it wasn’t a success for you! I’m glad to know that you’re somewhat human, though.
I tried honeycomb once. It was a flop. Can I have your permission to blame my failure on the altitude too?
I don’t think it was a failure. Well I’m going to say that cause when I made it it looked just like that but still tasted to-die-for!
I love the concept of the Royal Wedding street party. I’ve always wondered about Nigella’s Hokey Pokey. It always looked good to me in the book and seemed rather easy. I guess we all have kitchen flops from time to time. In the end the flops make us better cooks/bakers. In a strange way I kinda like it when a recipe flops because the lesson I learn is usually a good one.
I think it looks fine! And I bet it tasted fantastic. I made hokey pokey too and I can’t stop eating little bits of it when I think nobody is looking!
You are funny, Barbara. It looks pretty close to Nigella’s; how did it taste?
That’s what counts. When I have failures, I give it three tries and then give up. I’m on try #2 for something right now.
I have to admit it did taste pretty good. Except it hardened so quickly that the baking soda didn’t have time to get mixed in completely and there were little pockets of it. Grrrr
Daaaahling, you and I are on the same wavelenght. I was just thinking about hokey pokey today (though I always referred to it as “honeycomb”). I had an idea of making it, than using it in powdered form to decorate truffles…
I think its so cool that even YOU can make kitchen mess ups, because everything you make always looks so spectacular. I think its so important to show that nobody is perfect
Better luck next time.
*kisses* HH
p.s. maybe try another recipe?
I can’t resist it either – I adore those ‘crunchie bars’!
What a shame yours was ‘blobby’, it looks good to me.
Awwhhh, I wanna go to a street party with food like that. Awesome.
Barbara, I totally love this post – love hokey pokey and I am so happy you posted, even if it was not the usual heights of your perfection
Definitely Nigella would have posted this – I find it VERY Nigella-ish and can tell you that it would have been eaten up at my own Royal Wedding party on Friday. Thanks for participating!
What a fun event, I love the idea of a street party! It was truly perfect timing for posting with the Royal Wedding!
wow I’ve never seen something like that! quite interesting loking!
oh bummer it didn’t work out, but it sure looks fun. what a great tribute to the royal couple.
Mum that looks absolutely lovely and absolutely exudes Nigella-ness!
xxx
Love those hokey pokey cuties..have sent my street foods too to the Nigella event. Love the way you have presented these goodies, Barbara.
Wasn’t her dress gorgeous?
I’ve never heard of Hokey Pokey until now…I bet it’d be good atop ice cream!
I’ve never made honeycomb but I did just recently got a recipe for it. Now you make me want to try it.
An employee of my hubbys asked me for your snickerdoodle snack cake recipe. I printed it out for him and gave it to him with a bag of cinnamon chips. He was so happy to get the recipe! LOL
Hope your birthday was sugar coated!
I saw Nigella make this on the Cooking Channel and hers didn’t look that good either. I wouldn’t feel bad!
It actually looks quite good, Barbara! I have wanted to make honeycomb for a while (since I tasted it dipped in chocolate in London) and didn’t know she had a recipe! Yum I have to make this! And at first I thought you were referring to the Royal Wedding as Hokey! LOL! I actually loved her dress…
I love the name of this recipe and I remember watching Nigella make it on tv. Well done for winning and if you DM or email me your address I’ll pop your prize into the post! Xx
I hope you liked Kate’s dress…. and the cake!
I’m sure the Royal couple and their guests would like a bit of Hokey Pokey! LOL…now why does that sound SO wrong?? I’ve made this recipe before and loved the way it went all bubbly and pouffy in the pan, so spectacular but more importantly, so tasty!
I’ve tried many hokey pokey and cinder toffee recipes including Nigella’s and let me say it is not easy. I haven’t made a batch yet that I’ve been totally happy with. Love the presentation.
This looks lovely and great pictures. Congrats on winning too!
I never heard of Hokey Pokey before, but it sounds interesting, if challenging. Nice job, and congrats on your prize.