Gourmets 50 Most Influential Women in Food # 44 Nigella Lawson—Hokey Pokey

Hokey Pokey

Nigella Lawson is number 44 on Gourmets list of the 50 Most Influential Women in Food. I’m sure there is not a foodie around who has not heard of her. She came to fame in the U.K., with a  flirtatious personality and a relaxed approach to cooking, which has won her fans from all over the world. She has said of herself, "I am not a chef.  I am not even a trained or professional cook. My qualification is as an eater.”
Nigella was born in 1960. Her father was the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and her mothers family owned the J. Lyons and Co. empire.  After graduating Oxford University, she started to work as a book reviewer and restaurant critic. She later became the literary editor of The Sunday Times. 
Lawson published her first cookbook in 1998, How to Eat. It sold 300,000 copies and became a bestseller. Her second book in 2000, How to be a Domestic Goddess, won her the British Book Award for Author of the Year.
In 1999 she began to host her own cooking series, Nigella Bites. The Nigella Bites series won Lawson a Guild of Food Writers Award. She came to the U.S. to host the food Network’s Nigella Feasts in 2006, followed by a three part BBC Two series, Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen, in the U.K. Later she did yet another series for the BBC Two called Nigella Express. This show was still being produced in 2011.
Between her cooking shows, cookware sales and her cookbooks; Nigella has built a multi million dollar business.  She has sold more than 3 million cookbooks worldwide! 
I decided to make Nigellas Hokey Pokey, also called Honeycomb Candy. I made two batches of this in less then 30 minutes. It came out quite good.  If I wasn’t watching my weight this week I could have eaten it all!

Ingredients for the Hokey Pokey…I used Lyle's Golden syrup

Sugar and syrup bubbling up…now whisk in the baking soda

Pour onto parchment paper to cool

Broken up pieces of Hokey Pokey

This was so delicious!

Yum!

Hokey Pokey (Honeycomb Candy) - Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 tablespoons golden syrup or 4 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda

Directions

1. Stir sugar and syrup together in a cold pan. Put over medium-high heat; from this point, do NOT stir, but only swirl the pan. Cook until golden and thick, and bubbles are beginning to mount.
2. Turn off heat and add baking soda. Whisk vigorously. Pour onto a silicone liner (Silpat) and let stand 15 minutes. Smash into large pieces.

 

These are the very talented bloggers who are on the quest to blog through Gourmet’s list of the 50 Women Game Changers in Food…Make sure you stop by and check them out!

Val - More Than Burnt Toast

Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed 

Susan - The Spice Garden

Heather - girlichef 

Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney

Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades
Mary - One Perfect Bite 

Sue - The View from Great Island 

Barbara - Movable Feasts
Linda A - There and Back Again 

Nancy - Picadillo

Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits
Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen

Annie - Most Lovely Things 

Jeanette - Healthy Living
Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook 

Alyce - More Time at the Table
Martha - Simple Nourished Living 

Jill - - Saucy Cooks 
Sara - Everything in the Kitchen Sink