I am amused that the google ads are showing stretch mark treatments. :)
Does the moisture in the fridge make the toffee soft and chewy, or is it's time on the cold box too short for this to happen?
I keep mine in an air tight container. Unfortunately, I don't have any toffee left to experiment with, but, next time I make a batch, I'll keep one out of the container and see what happens to it.
Oh my, this sounds heavenly.
I haven't been able to find satisfactory toffee here for baking and eating, so making my own sounds like a wonderful solution. However, I don't have parchment or one of those silicone mats - is there something else I could use instead?
Mixing toffee into Rice Krispie Treats is also delicious. <3
I'v done a bit of candy making and a marble slab is very nice but most people don't have them, but you can use a glass cutting board instead just put a little bit of butter on it first.
Nathaniel
I've made this kind of toffee in the past, and just used a buttered cookie sheet, with and without foil (butter the foil instead of the cookie sheet) and it worked fine. This was one of my favorite "discoveries" when I was learning to cook, knowing I could make it at home. But, we eat it too fast so we don't make it often - it's too good!
The other night I was making a butterscotch topping for some sticky buns, and while I was going for a softer candy stage than hard-crack (I was shooting for softball or thereabouts, but really I was eyeballing it for just the start of coloration) the recipe I had called for you to add the butter (one stick (1/2c) for a cup of sugar) as soon as you were ready to stop the sugar from getting hotter. The butter was cold and I had chopped it into 8 chunks, and it worked like a charm. It's a fair bet that this recipe started with the butter in because you migth not have time to fully mix the butter and sugar once the sugar starts to get really cool and firm.
So if you're going for a softer texture on your butterscotch, add the cold butter later-- it'll hang on to its water content and it'll stop the sugar's heat-up.
I like the fact that it's called English Toffee despite the fact teh only thing I've ever had in England which is similar is a Scandinavian Daime/D'aim bar :)
This looks really good. I love this stuff.
I ought to make a batch... but for the last few years I've been being it online for some family and friends for Christmas just so I can have some. If you haven't tried this, it's worth it. So good.
http://www.enstrom.com/
Yowza-- I burned my first batch-- evidently I've got the heat too high, and maybe I should get out a wider saucepan, as I'm using my smallest (which I thought would be okay because it has very high sides). Anyway, the heat was high (I've got an electric burner, not gas, alas) and the candy started taking on a very dark color well below 300F degrees.
I decided to carry it to the finish, because all it would cost me from that point was a teaspoon of imitation vanilla extract and a small portion of chocolate chips. The candy came out darker than the semi-sweet chocolate was, in color. It's still cooling, but I'm game to take a taste, at least. But it won't be going with me to tonight's party as initially planned.
I have a similar recipe for toffee that I make during the holidays. It used to make up beautifully, but the last few times I have attempted to make it I have had trouble with it breaking (separating) before it gets to 300 degrees. I have tried practically every brand of butter and make sure I use cane sugar. Does anyone know why this happens?
Thanks!
Rachel
Well I tried it :o) Everyone likes them. "Not too sweet" and "Nice as a gift" were some of the comments I got :o)
I didn't have parchment paper - actually I've never heard of parchment paper in the baking context.
I read somewhere that we could also use aluminium foil. So i used that and it turned out just fine.
Malaysians tend to like the ones that are more chewy though so i'll make a couple adjustments next time - First thing i gotta do is get a themometer! :o) Thanx for this recipe!
Why is it called english toffee?
I have lived in england all my life and i have never seen anything like that!
I don't know why toffee+chocolate+almonds is known as English toffee, but butter toffees were first created in England in the late 1800's. My guess is that an American family began to produce these candies and marketed them as English Toffees in the early 1900's. Soon, that's what they were known as: English Toffees. (English muffins have a similar origin story.)
Ok so I want to make toffee for a friend of mine to be shipped probably using a 3 day service, do you think it would be disastrous when opened even if in an airtight container?
No, I think it will be fine. Even if the chocolate melts a little during transit (perhaps if the package sat in the sun), if you friend lets it cool before eating, the chocolate won't get all over their hands. It might not arrive looking identical to how you prepared it, but it should taste about the same. :)
Just made this tonight with left over Valentine's Day chocolates (chopped up, instead of chocolate chips). . .it was fabulous!!!! Better than the recipe I lost years ago. Thank you!
I found that reducing the heat throughout the process, and stirring regularly, will avoid the breaking problem. Even if it looks like it's breaking, it will usually come together fine as long as the heat is not too high.
For Michael Chu who says he lived in England all his life and doesnt know why its called English toffee by Americans - link to this:
http://members.cox.net/jjschnebel/engtoff.html
Good morning everybody! For Mr. Chu, toffee is also an old colonial dessert in the former spanish empire South American colonies, mainly Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Peru (since late 1700´s). For instance, it is called "dulce de leche" (literally, milk candy, in Argentina) or "manjar" (Chile) and is a very popular and frequent in both homes and restaurants. You can find "dulce de leche" in many presentations, including the ones developed in Cooking for engineers, and, more usual, as a more semi-liquid dessert, including "dulce de leche mousse" (superb!!). And it don´t use butter, as main difference, only sugar, milk, vanilla and bicarbonate (a touch) if it will be stored by long. The steps are almost the same. And Michael Chu answered the "anonymous" question, only. He explained the meaning from his point of view; the question come from another participant, Audrey...
I tried making toffee before but found it quite dificult and messy. We always like to send toffee from the Arizona Toffee Company.
www.arizonatoffee.com
This is a wonderful website. I love seeing the science behind cooking explained!
I make probably twenty or thirty batches of toffee a year, for gifts and parties. Over the years I've discovered some variations that you might be interested in.
I usually use a 9x13 pan lined with aluminum foil-that way I can just wrap up the sheet of candy in the foil if I don't have time to break it up and package it once it's cool. No need to butter or otherwise prepare the foil.
I usually pour the candy over a layer of nuts (about half a cup) in addition to spinkling another half cup over the chocolate at the end. I usually use almonds and semi-sweet chocolate, but not always. Chopped peanuts are very good with milk chocolate. So are macadamias and coconut. White chocolate is good with pecans. If you toast the nuts in a dry saucepan right before you use them, they will have a lot more flavor.
I always melt the butter then add the water, sugar, and a tablespoon of corn syrup (it's supposed to help keep the sugar from recrystallizing, although that might just be a useless artifact of my starter recipe.) I use three tablespoons of water-or any other flavored nonalcoholic liquid. I've successfully used strong coffee, strong spiced tea, maraschino cherry juice, and orange juice. Alcohol based flavorings should, of course, go in right at the end.
Sometimes I add a 1 oz square of unsweetened chocolate at about 230 degrees. It's especially good with walnuts, and coffee toffee. Watch it carefully, though-it's more likely to burn.
One of my most popular flavors is coffee toffee. I use coffee instead of water, and I coarsely grind expresso beans, pouring the hot candy over half of them and sprinkling the rest over the chocolate.
I also make a cinnamon white chocolate variety. I use strong spice tea in the syrup, pour the candy over toasted almonds, sprinkle with chopped white chocolate (good-quality real white chocolate doesn't melt as readily as regular chocolate-I usually need to stick in a low oven for a few minutes to melt), and sprinkle with cinnamon. This one is very popular.
Orange juice in the syrup, and curls of orange zest sprinkled over the chocolate is good. Maraschino cherries (well drained and dried!) and their juice in the syrup was tasty, though sticky.
You can also make toffee with brown or tubinado sugar. It tastes wonderful, but watch it carefully-because of the impurities in those sugars that make them taste so good, the syrup burns very easily.
Just tried the recipe. It actually turned out well enough to eat. However, it didn't ever seem to boil all the water off before it made it to 300 degrees. At 300, it looked like it was just starting, but of course by then I had to remove it from the heat. The result was a granulated mess that oozed butter.
After dumping on to some parchment paper in a cooking sheet, I dumped the excess butter off. It's still very heavy in butter, but tastey none-the-less. Most certainly isn't as smooth as the picture, though. Any idea if it would help to melt everything before adding the sugar, or perhaps cooking it more slowly? This took me about 15 minutes to heat to 300.
If your butter isn't melting fast enough to be stirred into the mixture, then melt it first before you add the sugar. Everything should be combined before the sugar temperature starts to rise up - we need to boil off the water content in the butter as well. If the sugar, water, and butter are mixed, then the sugar's temperature will not rise significantly until most of the water has evaporated.
Great recipe! What is the shelf life (at room temp) for this toffee?
This toffee can easily last for two or more weeks at room temperature in a sealed container. Technically, it'll be perfectly safe to eat for a few months, but the texture may have altered by then.
I have made similar toffee recipes in the past and it appears that while the chocolate and the almonds remain unchanged over time, the butter/sugar toffee layer begins to darken. What exactly is occuring when the toffee darkens?
i tried your recipe today. the end result was hard candy and oil. the mixture totally separated. but the candy part hardened and it tastes not too bad. is the toffee supposed to be hard? i wanted a softer toffee. it's just weird if it's hard and has the chocolate and almond. i followed your recipe to teh T and the stages looked the same except after it foams it contimues to foam and foam and then separate. :angry:
I made a few more batches of toffee varying the steps a bit until I achieved the result you described - hard candy in a large puddle of oil. I managed to get this result buy melting the butter first and then pouring in the sugar. The butter and sugar never really integrated even after the sugar had melted and seemed to be mixed in.
I now believe that carefully melting the butter and sugar (with a tad of water to help) together at the start is essential to making this recipe work easily. Make sure the two are melted together before bringing the heat up to boil the mixture.
Ah, so you're supposed to put in the sugar first? That explains it.
I tried your toffee recipe twice, and got the same result as farjane both times. Today I made some of your fudge, which worked out very well, and sprinkled some toffee pieces into it. I guess I'll have to wait and get a second taste opinion, though (I'm bringing it over to the house of my boyfriend's relatives).
okay. So, I have the recipe down pack. Now, how can I extend the shelf life? I know that over time the toffee becomes "fudgy" and have tried to dip the toffee pieces completely in chocolate and that seems to help. But, how do I extend it even longer? Thanks :unsure:
Thanks again for another great recipe!
AVOIDING SEPARATION OF BUTTER AND SUGAR. I made this recipe for the first time about 3 years ago with the intention of giving bags out as gifts to clients. My sister had made it tons of times with no problem. I made it over and over and over again always getting the same result....SEPARATION!....It was driving me crazy because I even went to my sisters house to have her watch me and tell me what I was doing wrong. The same thing happened! :angry: We were pretty much calling it "Toffee Karma" at this point but I refused to give up. After much searching and reading on the internet I found my answer. HUMIDITY! I had always had a pot of water on one of the other burners slowly simmering to add moisture to our dry winter air. The humidity, in such close proximity to the toffee making, was causing my toffee to crystalize. It just so happened that when I went to my sisters to make it, she was making a pot of soup for dinner while I was making the toffee, so of course....I got the same separation problem. You wouldn't believe how much butter and sugar I wasted before figuring this out. So....
Tip 1: [u:a9f338c1d3]Most important tip of all[/u:a9f338c1d3].....have a coolish [u:a9f338c1d3]DRY[/u:a9f338c1d3] environment in your kitchen.
Tip 2: It sometimes works to add about 1/8 cup of hot water (very slowly so you don't get splattered!) if you notice the mixture starting to separate. Or [u:a9f338c1d3]better yet[/u:a9f338c1d3], just brushing down the crystals forming on the side of the pan and the spoon handle with a pastry brush dipped in water. I felt that the more water added to remedy the situation, the more the final texture was altered (not in a good way) I know adding water sounds contradictory to the humidity explanation above....and that's why it took me so long to figure it out....but it does work. It doesn't cause more crystalization when applied in this way, it just melts the forming crystals and washes them back down into the toffee
Tip 3: I felt that heating the sugar and butter up to quickly (being impatient and setting the burner on high just to get it going) seemed to create a higher likelyhood of separation problems. So be patient...it really doesn't take too long.
Tip 4: Stirring too vigorously also seemed to contribute to separation problems. I [u:a9f338c1d3]do[/u:a9f338c1d3] stir quite regularly, and toward the end I stir constantly, but [u:a9f338c1d3]gently[/u:a9f338c1d3].
STORING TIP: Humidity matters here also. That's why recipes usually recommend an covered/air-tight container. I have had no problem storying mine in the frig [u:a9f338c1d3]BUT[/u:a9f338c1d3] it's very important if you're going to do this, to [u:a9f338c1d3]let it come back to room temperature before allowing it to come into contact with the air in the room[/u:a9f338c1d3]. Any moisture in the room will condense on the surfact of the toffee if it's cold (just like on a cold coke can) and affect the texture of your toffee (it gets sticky) Storing it in the frig, in itself, has never been a problem for me, and I almost think it's even safer in there as the refrigerator air is usually quite dry. However I always keep it covered till it's come to room temp.
I hope I've just saved someone from going through what I went through! This toffee is so absolutely fabulous it's totally worth making! And it's really easy actually.....believe it or not!
Any idea why the chocolate sperates from the candy? Thanks for any tips.
Hello, everyone!
I loved this recipe, but I need the recipe (or at least, a similar one) of that type of toffee they put in the Mars bar.
Thank you!
P.S.: I need it urgently! Please! :shock: :shock: 8| 8| :unsure:
We have been having trouble with toffee. We have a candy thermometer and are watching the temperature and just before it reaches 300 the butter starts to separate out. One time it was after we took it off the heat and we added the vanilla and the butter separated out. What are we doing wrong? We did not have this trouble in previous years. No matter how much we stir the butter does not mix back together until the toffe is burned to near a crisp. Thanks.
I live above 6000 ft, do I need to do anything different at this altitude? My husband is very excited for me to try the recipe.
Thanks,
Sarah
first round, this thing came out great. Second round, pool of grainy toffee covered in greese. grrrrrrrr. I'm trying again in the morning ( i ran out of butter ) there seem to be 2 trains of thought found in the forum i will try them both. start at a nice cool temperature to combine the butter and sugar, and stir gently. I'll repost my findings in the morning.
I have enjoyed your toffee in the past but I have braces, so whenever I try to eat this I end up being scared of cracking something. Any ideas?
Thanks!
I'm surprised to see such a glaring technical oversight that no one has picked up yet in this recipe that is supposedly on a website devoted to an analytical discussion of cooking. Namely, the part where it says to stir constantly over medium high heat is incorrect. Stirring increases the chance for crystallization to occur thus leading to the separation that so many people have complained about. Also, it's better to heat it gradually over low to medium heat rather than medium high. The person who posted the suggestion of dipping a brush in water and rinsing the sides of the pot had the right idea. Less chance of crystallization occurring that way. All of this info can be found in Harold McGee's book, On Food and Cooking.
In response to Sara's post, yes, you should adjust. I live at 5000 and so I reduce the temps suggested in all recipes by 10 degrees. Click the link below for great info on cooking at altitude. Good luck.
http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/cesnutrition/Publications/Baking_Food_Storage/AltAdjust.htm
My own thoughts on the recipe are that it works well and is very similar to all other recipes I have seen. As far as stirring goes, it shouldn't increase the chances of separation. I think the idea is to not allow the mixture to stick and burn. I use a double boiler and so I don't really take that risk. However, I still stir constantly and never have separation issues.
I just finished my 3rd batch of this and it was the only one that did not "fully" separate before hitting the 300 degree mark. The first 2 batches are sitting in the bottom of the trash can. The oil from the butter was poured off the finished product. The remaining stuff was particularly granular. I suppose my desire to beat this recipe overshadows the cost of the wasted ingredients.
On the 3rd batch I decided to lower the heat. While it did not separate it is still too grainy. If Heath made its' bars this way no one would be excited by the prospect of eating them.
I was delighted to find the "Cooking for Engineers" site. I expected a culinary Mr. Wizard or an online Alton Brown.
As I read the questions and comments on this recipe that go back almost a year and recognize that no one has responded I wonder what the value is of having the 'engineer' here?
Unfortunately, it sounds like a lot of people seem to have problems with separation. As I've said in a previous comment, I've only managed to separate my toffee once and that was after deliberately trying to do so. In that attempt, I melted the butter on high heat first, dumped in the sugar, mixed until blended and then when I poured it onto a sheet pan, it was oil and hard stuff. That's pretty much not following the recipe. I've gone through about 8 pounds of butter (thank goodness for Costco) during the last couple months making sure that my recipe is correct - and I stand by it as written. Do all the steps - butter+sugar+salt+water melted at low heat, bring it up to 300°-310°F while stirring, take it off the heat and mix in vanilla extract, pour and spread. I am at sea level, however, so that may be an issue for high altitude cooks.
So, if you can't get your toffee to stay together, please don't just say it doesn't work or separates - please let us know what elevation you are at, and what steps you followed - even if it's the same as the recipe, write down what you did. There's no other way for me to figure this out, and figure it out I do want to do. :)
Mike, you mention to stir constanly over medium-high heat. My stove has defined temp ranges of Warm, Low, Medium, Medium-High and High. Each of these temps have sub-graduations.
When I cooked 1st batch at the low-end of Med-High the mix separated at approximately 275 degrees. I was not sure what, if anything, I had done wrong so I made batch 2 the same way as batch one. Same result.
The last batch I made I cooked it in the upper range of Medium. The mix began to mildly separate at 300 degrees but I poured it out on a cookie sheet immediately. I have not thrown it out but I am not willing to give it as a gift yet, my ultimate goal. The consistency if granular. Is this what you get? If so, your recipe may not be what I am looking for. If not, I still need to tweak my procedures.
I don't know how to gauge the effectiveness of my stove's rheostat to deliver a specific level of heat. My minor test program suggests that I need to lower the heat even more to get a better result.
I did not time the cooking process. Have you? Elapsed time would at least allow unsuccessful cooks (that being me) one possible thing to look out for.
BTW I am at 558 elevation. Close enough to sea level but too far from the sea....
I followed all directions just the way I did on previous ventures, with one exception, I cooked at a lower heat.
Butter, sugar, salt and water went in together over a low-medium burner. I stirred it rarely. When all was melted I increased heat to mid-medium stirring a little more frequently, but not constantly. When temp reached 200-210 I began to stir regularly. Pulled from heat at 300, added the vanilla, mixed thoroughly and poured onto a buttered cookie sheet. Texture of the batter looked fine. It is currently cooling.
Yes, it is important to melt the ingredients on low heat before bringing it up to the target temperature. Perhaps this was not emphasized enough in the article (it just said melt over gentle heat), so I'll update the article to clarify this. Hopefully future toffee makers will be successful on their first try. Thanks Jim! Send us another update after it's cooled to let us know if it's what you were aiming for.
I've been making toffee for years, and throw away about 1/4 to 1/3 of what I make cuz i don't get something right. This site is very useful, and I can't wait to try another batch after reading these tips. I wonder though, I usually try to double or even quadruple my batches to speed things along. I didn't see anything in the forum regarding larger batches. Is it okay to do that if I follow everything to a "t"?
Thanks
I recently discovered this site, specifically while looking for a good recipe for english toffee. I've made it several times over the years, but stopped doing it myself 5 years ago. This year, I decided to take matters into my own hands, after a few too many batches of grainy/oily toffee.
Tonight I made my second batch according to this particular recipe. Last weeks batch came out perfectly, save that I didn't have any chocolate or nuts. I followed the directions to the letter. Tonight I deviated a little. I melted the butter and sugar together at low-medium heat, gradually increasing the temperature, once I felt the sugar crystals had dissolved. Then stirring only occasionally, I waited on medium-high heat for the temp to rise to 310F. Additionally, as an experiment, I swapped out 1/4 cup of the sugar for the same amount of dark brown sugar, because I wanted to generate a darker color.
The batch is cooling now, and it looks fantastic. I'll write back after I can taste it, to see if the brown sugar had any impact on the texture of the finished product.
Brian
As stated above, it is critically important to heat the butter & sugar gradually. I did a batch starting at low and never raising the temperature above medium. It came out great, except at the very end the temperature reached 290 and I started detecting a slight burnt odor. Trusting my nose more than the thermometer, I pulled it off at that point - and it is perfect.
I double checked the thermometer, and it seems to be spot on (at least for the boiling temperature of water). So perhaps a few degrees cooler (not a lot, just a few) might make things better.
Incidentally, if you pull it off too soon, and it doesn't solidify, you *CAN* reheat it very slowly and when it has re-liquified bring it up to the correct temperature. Of course, it is much easier to just do it correctly the first time.
A few years ago, Sunset magazine had a good feature on candy making. One of their tips for making toffee and fudge is to make sure all the sugar is melted in the butter over a lower heat before you raise the temperature. They suggest one of the ways to make that easier is to use baker's sugar*, that extra-fine sugar you can buy in grocery stores. I've made the toffee with and without the baker's sugar, but always melting the sugar until there are no granules left, and my toffee has always come out perfect every time. It just melts faster with the baker's sugar.
(*Based on my cake baking experience, I buy only C&H pure cane sugar, because every cake baker I've heard from on the subject says the beet sugar doesn't perform the same. For example, my cake decorating instructor says every flower she's made with non-C&H sugar has shattered as it dried. C&H makes a baker's sugar that is easy to find in stores.)
When making toffee (or other candies), what is the optimal relative humidity range? I've heard that humidity will affect candy making and have been told by older relatives not to make candy on rainy days, etc. If you have links to articles describing what the weather/humidity should be, I would appreciate those.
Thanks!
I was really excited about this recipe and quite hopeful everything would be fine...until the temp reached about 210degrees. As requested, here's the steps I took:
Elevation:3247
Humidity: 36%
Temperature: 76degrees
Electric stove: heated butter, water, salt, & sugar at level 2 (out of 10) - once completely melted, raised temp to level 4.5 (out of 10). Stirred constantly from that point forward. Mixture did not "double" as mentioned in recipe notes...possibly from too much stirring?? At about 210 degrees some of the butter separated from the more solid mixture. I continued stirring a bit longer hoping I could get it back together, but to no avail. I pulled the pan from the heat at about 220 or 230 degrees and poured onto waxed paper. But I was distracted by this "problem" and I forgot to add the vanilla! I tipped the cookie sheet so the butter would run to the edge and then drained it off. My nephews seem to think it's still edible (pure sugar? What do you think??!!) - I went ahead with the chocolate topping, but didn't waste the almonds.
Ingredients:
Morton's Salt
Great Value Unsalted Butter (Wal-Mart Brand)
Whatever sugar was in the big canister in my sister's kitchen
From reading another's post, maybe I cooked it at too low a temperature after I got it melted?
I don't think it the temperature - I've successfully made this with the burners on low the whole time - just takes longer. This is going to be a shot in the dark - try adding more water. Let's say 1/4 cup water instead. I'm a little concerned that your butter didn't even foam up with the sugar before separating (the reason why you need a larger pot than you'd expect), so I think adding some water will help. Maybe all the water is boiling out before the sugar is reaching a high enough temperature - so we try adding a significant amount of water to the recipe. Hopefully, that will help. Let us know what happens.
This has happened to my twice, once last year when using european butter and just last month with regular unsalted butter. Last month I made 4 double batches of toffee (it's a crowd pleaser). The first batch separated into oily mess as you described. I'm pretty confident the problem is with melting the butter too quickly, as Michael's instructions detail, or in my case unattended sans stirring. My next three batches were fine when I was more careful melting the butter. It was so tempting to just walk off with the butter on low and do other preparations.
If the butter melts quickly/unattended and you can see clear yellow mixed with the butterfat, I think you risk the nasty separation scenario you describe later on in heating. Once that happens it is a lost cause. I melt the butter first, very slowly, stirring frequently and once it is melted (but still opaque yellowish white) add the sugar and water and increase heat. Hope this helps.
What is the proper long term storage of english toffee and how long does it last under proper storage if you follow your recipe?
I've found that the toffee keeps pretty well in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The toffee gets less crispy after about a week or so due to absorption of moisture but should still be fine to eat for a couple more weeks.
If this has already been discussed, my apologies, but sugar doesn't begin to brown until around 305 f., so the only thing browning in this recipe is the butter solids. This creates a fairly mild flavored very light colored toffee. I believe most commercial toffees, such as Heath, brown the sugar as well. Browning/caramelizing the sugar creates a far greater depth of flavor and a bold toffee taste/dark color. As you reach caramelizing sugar temps, though, the butter will burn, so... if you want a bolder flavored toffee, you'll need to brown the sugar, add water to bring the temp down, then add butter and take it back to the hard crack stage.
One other thing I noticed is the lack of a crystallization inhibitor. The butter helps a little bit to prevent the sugar from precipitating out/re-crystallizing, but if you want a better insurance policy, I'd add a little corn syrup. Corn syrup (or inverted sugar) is pretty standard as a crystallization inhibitor in hard candy.
And, lastly
Sorry to be such a stickler, but the water never 'boils off.' The boiling temperature of the water rises as the dissolved solids become more concentrated. Even at 300 (hard crack stage), there's still a trace amount of water in the toffee.
Hi all--
I have made toffee as holiday gifts for more than 20 years, and as my list has grown, so has my toffee quantity. This year I made more than fifty pounds' worth.
In November of 2005 I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico (altitude 7000 ft.) I wondered (feared!) it would affect toffeemaking, and indeed it did. I did much experimenting last year and this year to fathom the hows and whys, and here is my tuppenceworth:
Whoever said upthread that humidity affects toffeemaking is dead on. It does. Our air here is very dry and that's helpful.
I learned to make toffee by first melting the butter at any heat that wouldn't burn it, then turning it to medium-low and stirring in the butter and cold water. My family recipe included a tablespoon and a half of water at sea level, for the quantities above (cup of water, cup of sugar.) Some years back I switched to double batches (2 cups of each,) which made the water quantity 3 tbsp.
After wasting a couple of pounds of butter and sugar last year, I altered the water content to a little over 2/3 of a cup. That gave me non-separating toffee 75% of the time, the other 25% of the time I had to add more water when it started separating, and re-cook the batch (sometimes twice!) However, I noticed no difference in texture or taste in those batches. So I thought I had the high altitude problem licked.
This year I stocked up on butter when the local co-op was having a sale on Plugra european-style butter. (Normally I go to Costco and buy the 4 1-lb. salted butter solids packs.)
I went through five pounds of butter and sugar before I finally twigged to why the toffee wouldn't toff: "European-style" butters are made by a different process than ordinary pasteurized American butter. It won't work. Period. Fermented butter won't toff, at least not in high altitudes. Back to plain ol' cheap butter.
High altitude requires much more attention to small details of when and how much to stir, where to set the heat at the different stages of toffeemaking, and judging done-ness. I make a carmelized-sugar version of toffee which is (I think) a bit more demanding than the lighter version discussed here, and that may have something to do with it. After 20 years I'm pretty good at judging by feel, smell, and look, which is a good thing because when I tried a candy thermometer last year I ended up with badly burnt toffee (again, I think because of the altitude.)
Summary:
Melt butter
Turn to med-low/low heat, add sugar and water, stir slowly to blend
As it starts foaming, stir regularly and turn the heat up a notch
As the foam subsides to bubbly thick syrup, turn the heat up another notch (heat should now be about med/med-high)
Stir gently, occasionally, as the mixture starts to brown and no crystals are left
As the mixture reaches a light-brown color, begin constant, gentle stirring. It will still feel quite "thick" as you stir.
Steam will begin to puff as larger bubbles in the mixture pop, keep stirring
The mixture will reach a mid-brown, caramel color, and the steam will have a little smoke in it. The burn-ey, toffee-ey smell will become very noticeable. The mixture will feel less thick and more liquid.
Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla and (if using) diced almonds
Turn it out into a nonstick baking sheet and spread
Sprinkle chocolate over top
When chocolate is melted, spread to cover
Sprinkle with powdered or fine-chopped almonds
Refrigerate for an hour or so
Give the baking sheet a slight twist to "pop" the toffee loose
Break into (approx.) 3-4 cm. irregular pieces
Store in a zipper plastic bag (squeeze out air before sealing) in the refrigerator
The amount of water you begin with is of little importance for this type of application. Starting with 1/4 cup will give you the same results as starting with 10 cups. The only difference is that the 10 cup version will take a lot longer to make, as it will take longer to reduce the level of moisture in the syrup to the amount necessary for hard candy.
Sugar only begins to caramelize at around 305, but to achieve good color, you need to go considerably higher than that. If you have butter/butter solids in the solution, they'll burn long before your sugar is caramelized. It sounds like you're happy with the recipe you've got, but if you want a nice deep dark colored toffee without burning the butter, I highly recommend a two stage processs- caramelizing the sugar, adding water to bring the temp down and then adding the butter and browning it.
silly question but I made toffe years ago. with a simular rexcipie to this but we used brown suger instead of cane, wiould this one work with brown as well?
Anyone try this using maple syrup in addition to the cane sugar? Or honey?
If they don't work, perhaps they should be added at the end, along with the vanilla.
Michael, since you have tackled oil, flour and food additives, perhaps a article on different sugars would interest the community.
Out of curiousity I recently bought some Barley sugar syrup from King Authur Flour, but don't know quite what to do with it.
Hi!
I made this recipe for Christmas, and everyone raved about it.
For Easter, I decided to double the recipe and give some as a gift.
Everything looked fine during melting/heating process. It reached 150C without any problems.
However....after it set only the ends were hard and crunchy. The middle was much softer and almost like a toffee/butterscotch fudge. Any ideas on what went wrong?
I divided it between two parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Do you think it was still too thick in the middle?
Would a metal tray hold the heat too long and cause cooling problems? Should I have lined a glass tray or just lined the countertop?
Also, after I removed it from the heat and added the vanilla, it seemed to bubble a lot more than I remember. I had trouble mixing the vanilla in and I actually thought some of it might be burning because I was seeing brown streaks in the toffee. There were no brown streaks after it set, but could that have caused the problem?
Thanks in advance. I love the site. I also used your Biscotti recipe yesterday and they turned out great :-)
Nice recipe. It works great. B)
Also, don't forget to visit ToffeeKing Forums in my profile! ;)
I recently bought a digital thermometer and came across this site as an ideal excuse to test it out. I want to thank Michael for such a fun recipe, it worked out great. The consistency of the toffee is spot on with just the right amount of crack and brittleness, the flavor is a little on the light side as per previous comments but still delicious. I pulled the mixture off at 305 degrees and dropped a half a cup of toasted almonds in to make it taste slightly toastier, next time I think I'll try to toast raw almonds in the mixture from the start and pull it at 315 to try to boost the flavor quotient. I also added a tablespoon of corn syrup to the mixture to ward off crystalization, used low heat to melt the butter initially, and covered for 2 minutes once it started to boil to let steam condense and run down the sides of the pot to rinse off any stray crystals. After 2 minutes I pulled the cover, went to medium heat and started stirring. It worked perfectly, no crystalization issues whatsoever. Thanks again.
Always include the salt, or just use salted butter- otherwise it will separate and the butter will drain away.
You also don't need parchment paper or anything. Just pour it into a clean sheet; when it;'s cool, it will pop right off the sheet.
Hi,
I did this recipe, but added Birch sap syrup in the ratio of 1:1 with the other ingridents.
Did it live on web cam with quiet a few viewers watching me, and then a write up about my little adventure on a forum board.
Here's the link.
http://overthegate.myfreeforum.org/about1634.html&highlight=
Regards From Gareth
Mead; If it's good for ancient Druids, runnin' nekkid through the woods, Drinkin' strange fermented fluids, it's good enough for me!
www.overthegate.com
This treat is far better to serve for colleagues for your birthday, than the usual cake. Make a tin of them and leave them on your desk for everyone to pick from, and you will get all the positive attention you could wish, for the rest of the week!
After having made these excellent treats for several birthdays, I started to coat them with chocolate and roll them in chopped almonds after cutting them apart (using a pizza cutter). This way the chocolate stays on the toffee, and fingers are protected from chocolate by the almonds, when picking. Another advantage is that the chocolate tended to fall off when breaking the toffee apart. And so did the almonds.
First, thanks for running a great site. Just a couple of comments on the recipe. I make toffee the same way, but with a teaspoon full of vinegar in the mix. Don't ask me what the vinegar is for. It's just the way I was taught the recipe. Surpirisingly you don't taste it in the toffee, so I guess it must be in there to do something to the butter during the process. Maybe one of you chemistry guys can figure out what. Second, I don't have a themometer so I do the temperature by smell. As soon as the mix begins to smell like you're wondering of it might be burning its done. Don't wait until you nose tells you its burning for sure. By that stage its burnt. Another way to tell is that a drop of mix off a spoon into cold water solidifies and sinks if it's done. You don't need to test for degrees of solidity - the test is basically as between a ball of toffee or a slick of goo. Thanks again for the site. Mike in England.
I just recently tried a simular recipe with perfect results.... untill the 4th batch and now i cannot keep it together. But reading all the tips and coments i will try again.
I also have a dehumidifyer in the kitchen due to my candy making (living in MI it get's fairly humid this time of year). Should I keep it set a 35% humidity?
I made it great and gave it out only to have orders come back at the point when I couldn't make it anymore.
I have a recipe that calls for cooking the toffee on the stove first, then pouring onto crackers and baking for 5 minutes. My question is if the toffee should still come up to the same temperature/consistency of regular toffee. I am thinking it might be less, due to the fact that we are then baking it.
Thanks
I've been making toffee for 15 years, and I've never had a problem with it separating... I use a heavy All-Clad sauce pan, and add all my ingredients at the beginning on low-medium heat (butter, sugar, water, corn syrup).
Over the course of the years, I've found that it takes me a good half hour to make a batch of toffee. It cannot be rushed, and I have a special wooden soon that I use to constantly stir and incorporate the ingredients. It looks very much like a regular wooden spoon, but the tip is flattened, so's I can get into the corner of the saucepan. I wet down the interior sides of the pan, so it cooks evenly.
Usually after it hits 270, there's a tiny window where it finishes up at 290-- it goes wicked fast, so I watch it like a hawk.
I am trying to package toffee to sell. Does anyone know how to keep it from getting soft? What is the best way to package it? Right now, I am putting it in mason jars. Any suggestions to make it stay hard, and last a long time?
I am trying to get a jump on my holiday baking this year and made six batches of toffee this afternoon...some more successful than others...guess I should have read this website BEFORE making them! Trying to watch your favorite football team and make toffee at the same time may not be such a great idea....anyway, all six batches are now sealed in airtight FoodSaver bags in my refrigerator downstairs. I haven't broken them into pieces yet, they are still in large sheets. I am wondering if I made them too early, or if they will still be good next month when I really need them. Would it be better if I put them in the freezer? I guess I will find out when I pull them out and break them up.
I just came across this forum by accident. It's Great! I'm a professional toffee maker. I make between 7,000 to 10,000 pounds a year, since 1995. My company is Columbine Gourmet Almond Toffee.
As I get time I will visit the forum and help with any questions you may have about making toffee. As many of you have discovered, toffee making can be difficult.
I just made this recipe and had a similar problem to what I've seen described in previous comments.
Here is what I did:
1. I placed the sugar, salt, butter, and water in the pan and heated on low heat (1.5/10) until the butter was fully melted and the sugar partially dissolved (no visible pieces of butter but mixture too thick to be only liquid). This took about 7 minutes.
2. I raised the temperature slightly (to 2.5/10) and continued heating and stirring until the sugar had fully dissolved. This took about 5 more minutes.
3. I raised the temperature to medium heat (5/10) and continued stirring constantly. As the temperature increased toward 212°F, the mixture became fluffier and more solid until it reached a marshmallow-like consistency. The volume did increase somewhat but not as far as double the original, and the mixture did not foam up.
4. As the temperature further increased, the mixture lost its marshmallow-like texture as it separated into ghee and sugar-whey clumps.
5. I poured off the ghee (butter oil) and dumped the sugar-whey(butter solids) clumps onto the baking sheet. Their consistency after cooling is similar to sugar cubes but somewhat harder to break apart.
And what I believe I did wrong:
# I did not clip the thermometer to the side of the pan but instead used an instant read (which generally takes 3 or 4 seconds per every 50 degrees, ie, it takes 18-24 seconds to show 300°F).
# I stirred constantly from start to finish.
# I did not raise the temperature high enough.
I will try again tomorrow and report back.
--genomerick
genomerick,
just out of curiosity, where are you located (approx. what altitude?). I'm a little surprised by your description of step 3. Around this point, the water you added as well as that in the butter should be boiling and the whole thing should be foaming up (not becoming more like a solid).
Did you read my post about making toffee to sell? Can you help me out?
I'm about 250ft above sea level.
I tried making the toffee again today. I looked at a few other recipes first and found that most recipes that included salt called for more than 1/8t, so I used a whole teaspoon of salt today. I also included more water for similar reasons (I used 2T water) and did not stir the ingredients while the butter was melting.
Ingredient changes: frozen butter (still 1 cup), more salt (1t total), more water (2T total), and corn syrup (1T).
Procedure with changes:
1. I added the frozen butter, sugar, salt, and water to the pan, turned the temperature to 2/10, and walked away. The butter took about 25 minutes to fully melt.
2. I increased the temperature to 4/10 and added the corn syrup. When the mixture reached boiling point, I placed a lid on the pot for about 5 minutes. The mixture foamed and doubled in volume, neither of which happened the day before.
3. I stirred constantly (but less vigorously than yesterday) as the temperature continued to rise.
4. When my thermometer read 305°F, I took the darkened foam off the heat, mixed in the vanilla, and poured it onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Comments:
After refrigerating my toffee, it has a very nice texture and fairly well falls apart in my mouth. However, I discovered that when it cools to room temperature it becomes slightly sticky and does not fall apart in my mouth the same way. I suspect that I cooked my butter-sugar foam slightly too long. The refrigerated end product is delicious!
Having made the recipe a second time, I think my two big mistakes yesterday were stirring too fast and not using enough salt. I think the air I whipped in caused yesterday's mix to reach that warm jelly / marshmallow-like state, which then separated into liquid oil and solid sugar with whey as I heated it further. Of course, when I noticed the separation I began stirring faster, which only furthered the reaction.
If I'd used the extra salt yesterday, it wouldn't have mattered so much that I stirred too vigorously, but if I'd stirred more gently I wouldn't have needed the extra salt... Anyhow, I won't include the corn syrup next time, but I'll probably keep the extra salt and water.
I enjoyed making this recipe.
--genomerick
I HAVE A GE ROASTER OVEN AND THE INSTRUCTIONS HAVE BEEN LOST ... DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW LONG AND WHAT TEMP TO COOK A 19LB TURKEY? :unsure: I WOULD LOVE THE HELP.
I tried to make this twice last night without success. It separated towards the end. I woke up early because I couldn't stop thinking about it and tried again. I only had beet sugar on-hand and noticed it stayed grainy even when I melted it a long time, so this morning I dissolved the sugar in 1/4 cup of hot water, then added it to my melted butter and right away I could tell it was smooth and syrupee. I held my breath and gently stirred as I slowly heated it up to 300. It turned out beautiful and delicious. Then I used the granular sugar-butter mess from my unsuccessful batch of toffee to make chocolate chip cookies. :)
I find all of these comments very interesting! My recipe is totally different from these, passed down by my aunt and my mother. My recipe does not use butter, but Imperial Margarine. Also, no water, salt or vanilla. Just margarine, sugar, and almonds (in the toffee). Choc. chips on top and finely chopped walnuts.
It has been a few years since making this and my first batch last night failed. I think my pan was to big and I cooked it to fast. Just made my second batch and am a little unsure of it. Color is not what I had hoped for. Having made this many times in the past I am unsure what I am doing wrong, and unfortunately, I can't call my aunt or mother as they are no longer with me. All of that to be said, when it cooks right, it is absolutely fantastic. I grew up eating it as my kids have. I give it as gifts at Christmas. I can't imagine how incredible it would be if I used butter instead of margarine! Good luck to all of you!
My OLD candy book says the vinegar Mike mentioned is added to stop crystallization and separation of the butter and sugar
I tried this recipe this afternoon. I followed the recipe to a T, and all seemed to be going well until the sugar mixture hit just under 300 degrees, when I pulled it off heat. It was still foaming like mad, and I realized after I'd stirred in the vanilla that it had separated. I soldiered on and dumped the contents (a lump of molten sugar and a puddle of clarified butter) onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. I spread the chocolate and almond slivers, and let it cool. After cooling, I mopped up the liquid butter and stuck it in the fridge for the time specified. I broke it up using a pizza wheel (which, by the way, works marvelously), and refrigerated.
Even after the separation, the texture and flavor are perfect, although there is a bit of greasiness due to the butter. Obviously, something went wrong, yet it turned out pretty much as I would have liked. I'd like to try this again to see if I can get a better result. It may have something to do with my 5000-ft. altitude, but I'm not sure. The air here is bone-dry, and the only liquid to hit it after cooking was the vanilla. I'm open to suggestions.
I have the same question as another person from a year ago: why does the chocolate sometimes separate from the toffee when breaking into pieces? Thanks for any advice!
I, too, have been making toffee for years but have never had the separation problem. I melt my butter on low heat, add sugar - water - and corn syrup and continue to cook on low to 300, stirring occasionally. I stir in crushed almonds and then pour onto a greased foil lined cookie sheet. After chilling in freezer I top with melted chocolate and sprinkle with almond dust. Re-freeze and then chocolate and dust other side. My only problem is that once in a while a batch ends up stickier than I like. Can any of you chemists out there explain?
I have read most of this forum and the reason there seem to be so many conflicting experiences and opinions is that this is a complex process called condensation polymerization. Success will depend on your choice of saucepan (diameter, depth, heat transfer of material all affect boiloff rate and heating rate, which need to be balanced in the right "window"), heating rate, stirring rate, .... all of these things work together, so you need to try a few batches to find what is right for your conditions. For example, I use a heavy aluminum-clad deep pan and heat fast enough to keep the volume just manageable, which means I INcrease the heat as the process goes on, and it is quite successful. The opposite of some posters' experiences!
Browning is at least in part from browning of the butter-- you can taste that, in a typical toffee. For this reason, while it is important to stir correctly for the polymerization, you don't want to stir so much that the butter doesn't brown-- you can make a relatively flavorless toffee that way.
Corn syrup can be added to extend the glass transition temperature of the resulting polymer. Which means that it increases the probability that you will end up with a candy that has not "sugared," or turned grainy, when it cooled. Otherwise, cooling rate can be critical to the results as well and is hard to control. So syrup is a good idea. You usually don't need as much syrup as recipes call for-- a tablespoon is a LOT for this volume, more like half or 1/3 that would be plenty.
As a substitute fopr tempering the chocoloate you can either add a little paraffin or buy "melting chocolate" which usually then does not taste as good as the kind that gets all over your fingers. Your choice.
So, to the poster who wanted more engineering, hope you got your fix.
After reading most posts I just wanted to include a few of the same comments from before. I have been making toffee since I was about 7 with my mother (I'm 42 now) I have NEVER had a batch that didn't turn out correctly. I do NOT refrigerate and never have. I have found that when left out of an open container it will get soft and in the container it will last a while longer, although most of my friends devour too quickly.
I have found two things help me when making toffee.
One) Cook on MEDIUM heat. I know it will take a long time to cook this way but it really does pay off. I was taught old school where we didn't have a candy thermometer and therefore had to do things by feel and sight. I will usually melt the butter first about half way then add the sugar. Stirring constantly is also a must, which keeps it from burning to the bottom of the pan.
Two) Take a measuring cup, or something large enough to put your fist into and fill it with COLD water. When you notice the mixture starting to brown to the color you like and is starting to separate in the pan, take a small amount on the spoon and drop it into the water. If it immediately turns into toffee (crisp and not gooey) and the water stays mostly clear, then turn off the heat and pour into your prepared (buttered) pan. Cover with the chocolate chips and nuts ifyou like. Let it cool at room temperature until firm. I have also used whole Hershey bars which I just lay on the surface and smooth later.
It should take no effort to break this into smaller pieces and then transfer to another container for storage.
So I may not be a scientist or chemical expert, but I have Grandmother's and Mother's experience and seem to do well with those items. Good luck and I hope someone finds this helpful.
My toffee becomes sticky when out of the refrigerator. How can I rectify this?
The quality of sugar is PARAMOUNT! Just like "Ladysketcher" said, it ALWAYS fails for me (separates) if I use beet sugar. I haven't tried the vinegar thing with the beet sugar to see if that would help, but when I use pure cane sugar, I don't need to do anything but stir and it turns out! I wonder if those who say it "always" turns out for them, ALWAYS use pure cane sugar. If I'm wrong tell me, but that's what I've found.
I've tried different temperatures, different thickness and kinds of pans, different stir rates or none at all, and even different spoons, you name it, I've tried (I was on a quest to find out the secret) and basically after many years of ongoing tests (I've wasted SO much butter and sugar), the only thing that really matters is the kind of sugar! Be careful though, because even "extra fine" candy making sugar can be made from beet sugar and it fails for me....so that's the important secret I've found... [u:46d4df414d]PURE CANE SUGAR![/u:46d4df414d]
Also, an idea to get it to turn out without a thermometer. I never use them when making this. I've had faulty thermometers, so I don't trust them. Besides, I have found for this, I don't need it if I follow my grandmother's "secret." Our family has made it for at least four generations (who by the way came from England) and my grandmother who is over 90 says that the no fail way for her has always been to stir until it is the color of a paper bag. She always keeps one close by to compare, because the color can change sometimes very imperceptably, and a paper bag is sometimes a lighter brown than your mind's eye thinks. I also do the ice water drop test (see post above), just to make sure, but secretly, I think it's probably mainly so I can get a sneak preview taste! Yummy!
I have made about 6 batches and haven't had a separation problem. I melt the butter at low heat and add the sugar when the butter is about 1/2 melted. Once the butter is all melted, I raise the heat to medium and constantly stir the mixture. I use a Themopen to monitor the temperature. I once let the temperature get up to 320 and it started getting greasy.
Per suggestion, I just pour it on to a aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. I preheat the cookie sheet to 220. If I don't preheat, the toffee sets up too quickly and is uneven in thickness. I tip the sheet to spread out the toffee.
I modified the recipe and everyone likes it.
I added 3 oz of finely chopped dried tart cherries. The contrast in flavors is really good.
To make it more colorful, I added a cup of white chocolate morsels and used the toffee to melt them. Then I added the cherries. I waited for the white chocolate to set up. Then, I added another layer of milk chocolate (1 cup), but I had to melt it in a microwave. On top of this I used 1 cup of crushed macadamia baking nuts (Costco) and pressed it into the chocolate.
I find it easier just to use salted butter instead of the unsalted butter and adding salt. I can't tell any difference in the flavor.
I didn't have good luck with this recipe. Everything was fine until the mixture boiled off the water. All of a sudden I had syrupy stuff & butter floating all around it. I think I knew at that point that the recipe was ruined, but I spread it & put the chocolate & almonds on it any. It looked like it will be crystalized. What did I do wrong? If toffee is this difficult to make, I think I'll come up with something else for my Christmas plates.
I followed the recipe except 2 tsp corn syrup, store brand sugar, store brand butter. I went really slow until the butter melted and sugar mixed in at below 100F. I put my stove in the middle of the heat range and stirred real slow. Pulled it off 20 minutes later at 300F on cheap thermometer to stir in vanilla. Its going to be great because the little bit on the thermometer got cold pretty quick and set up hard and crunchy. I am a male, 25 year veteran machinist but a total beginner with candy making, even though I do all the cooking at our house candy is a new frontier for me. Patience in the beginning may be a key on breaking but all the senior women in the family told me to put the corn syrup in to make the sugar behave.
We wanted to make toffee like Karen's Kandies Old English Toffee, and tried your recipe. We used salted butter instead of adding salt to the unsalted butter. It was quick and easy, and everything came out perfectly! Not only that, it looked just like KK's OET (we used crushed almonds instead of slivered--it looks better).
Thanks for this recipe!
The recipe was simple to follow and came out great. I sprinkled crushed chocolate on the parchment paper before pouring out the toffee mixture. Then added more crushed chocolate on top with the nuts. Viola, double sided chocolate toffee. Once it was firm it was simple to cut into pieces. Try Sam's Club Ghirardelli chocolate for candy making - stays firm even out of the refrigerator.
this may be a stuoid question but can this (or other toffee) recipes be made with margarine instead of butter to eliminate the dairy aspect?
Hi. I've been having the same problem on & off with the chocolate shearing off when breaking up the candy. It's been very frustrating since I've made this candy for years and this has just started happening the past few years. It's impossible to give it as a gift if all the chocolate falls off!
At any rate, I think I've finally figured it out. I think that the chocolate falls off when breaking up the candy if you let it get too cool before breaking. Sometimes I put mine the fridge and don't break it up for several hours later or even the next day. If the candy is cool enough to break, but the chocolate is not rock hard, then it is a little flexible when you break up the candy and doesn't shear off. I'm now going back to breaking it up about 30 minutes after cooling down and I can see that the chocolate is still flexible.
Hope this helps. Also, I'm putting on the chocolate a little thinner than before.
I tried this recipe. I use a candy thermometer and I have tested its accuracy. Yet every time I try to make candy, the mixture crystalises. It doesn't seem to matter if I barely bring the mixture to 300 deg. or if I hold it there for several minutes. Please help me, I want to gt this right. I also, want to stop my family complaining as they polish-off another failure.
Yes this recipe works with vegetable margarine... but the idea of it causes me to shudder.
I think someone earlier mentioned that this might happen when using non-sugar cane sugar (beet sugar). I'd be curious to see if this is the culprit - if your bag of sugar doesn't say "can sugar" and just says "sugar" as it's ingredient then there's a good chance that it's beet sugar. Supermarket brands often switch between cane and beet sugar based on availability and so are not usually recommended for baking since results can vary with the same recipe and you can't predict/adjust for it.
Has anyone tried this in the microwave? My mother-in-law gave me the recipe years ago. I've only had a total failure once (when I melted the butter first). My recipe calls for a bit of corn syrup. Otherwise, it is the same as above. I use store-bought butter and sugar, so I don't think it's necessary to use baking sugar. The only problem I've had is that my toffee is often crystally, rather than chewy or crunchy. I've never used a thermometer, so will try that today and see if maybe I'm not getting it hot enough.
So, I soften the butter (do NOT melt), mix in the rest of the stuff, and set my microwave for about 500 watts (50 percent power for an 1100 watt), and cook the mix in a heavy glass bowl for as long as it takes- usually 15 to 20 minutes. I stir every 3 minutes, washing the spoon after every stir. When it's done, I mix in almonds, spread it on a cookie sheet, and top with chocolate chips and crushed almonds. Try white chocolate for a neat twist.
If anyone tries this, let me know how it turned out. I'd like to find out how to get mine chewy/crunchy every time.
I got a similar recipe from my cousin and made 3 batches. My first batch separated...I just hung in there and kept stirring until I got to 300 degF. at around 270, the butter and sugar began to recombine. Once it reached 300 I took it off heat and kept stirring. Poured onto ungreased cookie sheet, sprinkled the chocolate chips, waited about 2 min before spreading the chocklate, sprinkled the remaining chopped almonds and voila...the best tasting toffee I've ever tasted. This recipe uses 1 lb regular salted butter, 2 c. sugar, 2 c. chopped almonds and about 1/2 c. chopped almonds and roughly 2 c. choc chips for the topping. One helpful hint. After I applied the chopped nuts to the chocolate, I scored the toffee into diamond shapes which made it easier to break apart later, minimized the "lost" nuts, and makes for more uniform shapes.
Is it ok to add slivered almonds in with the sugar and butter? My favorite toffee is the kind with the nuts mixed in but I don't want to ruin the recipe!
That should be fine, but I wouldn't add the almonds until you take the toffee off the heat, just before pouring.
I love your recipe and I have judged by the comments of other users that this recipe works out great but i wnated to ask you that as i do not have a candy or instant read thermometer, what should i do to measure the temperature of the toffee and what is a possible sustitute for chocolate chips.Can I use fortified margarine than usingbutter. Please help me soon. Bye
I have been making a variation of this recipe for years with much success and a few wipeouts. I believe the chocolate separation happens in two cases: the chocolate was not melted on top IMMEDIATLEY after the toffee was spread or the whole tray was put into the fridge/freezer too soon.
I usually leave it on the counter for at least an hour before refridgerating.
I'm sure this confection is very tasty but it's nothing like the toffee I learned to make as an apprentice sugar boiler far too many years ago in Lancashire and in London. That wonderful taste (and colour) of true British toffee comes not from caramelised sugar but from the controlled burning of the sugars in condensed milk, which is an essential ingredient along with some kind of fat other than butter. It used to be mostly hydrogenated palm kernel oil in the industry, but ordinary vegetable fat/shortening works fine at home. I guess you'll be wanting a recipe, won't you. You'll need a kitchen scale for this one.
24oz sugar
24oz glucose/corn syrup
24oz condensed milk
10oz hard vegetable fat
2oz unsalted butter
1 tsp salt
Vanilla essence
Put the sugar in a large pan - far larger than you think you're going to need, like a stock pot of a least 5qt - with a little water and bring to the boil. Add the glucose syrup when the sugar has dissolved and boil hard to about 290F. Meanwhile, melt the fat in another saucepan and add the salt and condensed milk. When the sugar has reached the desired temperature, which can be varied according to whether you prefer soft, chewy toffee (lower temperature) or hard, sucking toffee (higher temperature), take it off the heat and pour in the fat and condensed milk. IT WILL FROTH AND SPIT!!! Return it to high heat and stir constantly with a long-handled wooden spoon. Wearing an oven mitt is a good idea at this point as the toffee will spit gobs of hot sugar as it boils. Don't stop stirring for a moment, unless you like burnt toffee, and be sure to get into the corners of the pan. A saucier would be perfect for this recipe, if you have one big enough.
After a while you'll see brown flecks appear in the mixture - this is the milk sugars starting to burn. The mixture will gradually become more and more brown. Once it reaches a medium to dark brown colour remove it from the heat, add the butter and a few drops of vanilla and return to the heat for a few moments, stirring until the butter is incorporated. Pour into a greased quarter sheet pan and allow to cool, then break into pieces and store in an airtight container, if it lasts that long.
I love the site/discussion! I've been making "almond roca" for years (a recipe from my grandmother).
2 c sugar
1/2 c water
1 lb of regular butter (not unsalted butter)
1 c chopped almonds (mixed in)
melted dark chocolate and chopped pecans (topping for both sides)
marble slab for cooling
decent candy thermometer
calphalon saucepan
gas stove
While living in the SF Bay Area, I would easily make 15-20 batches a year with 100% success. I would start with the sugar/water, let dissolve, then added the butter, 1/8 of a stick at a time. Usually once the butter was melted and frothing/foaming, I would stir in the chopped almonds and then stir continuously until it hit 300 (or the color of peanut butter). I never did anything to address separation, crystallization etc...becuase I never experienced it.
In 2005, I moved to Seattle and my success rate dropped to 10%. Besides my location (humidity?), I also now use a Al-Clad saucepan pan, and went through a brief stint with an electric stove (now using gas again). Separation has been my biggest problem, but I have also experienced burning before reaching 300 (perhaps a faulty thermometer).
For the first time in 20 years, I used a squirt (1 tbsp?) of Karo light corn syrup (added after all the butter was melted) and I think I may have solved my problem. The first batch with Karo, I tried not to stir too much (recommended in other post), however, as I like to add my almonds to the mixture while cooking, this just caused the almonds to burn, though the toffee looks good. For my 2nd batch, I added the almonds at the end (at 300). They clumped together which caused some angst when I poured it onto the marble, but other than that, i think I have my first successful batch (right color, right consistency) since moving to the pacific nw.
Observation: there have been many other people experiencing "recent" problems with their toffee, in that, like me, they made it successfully for years, and then recently started having problems. Up till now, I thought it was my change in location that was causing my problems. Could there be other issues? Changes to manufacturing of the ingredients; butter, sugar? changes to water (minerals, additives?)
Omnigrits, wwhat do you mean by hard fat?
I am 17 years old and with my mother, we have started making toffee to sell at the local airport kioskis. It was going well until we started seeing BLOOM (the white, fat kind of BLOOM) on our Toffee. What do we do? We have been told that the Bloom comes because we didn't TEMPER the chocolate, but if we TEMPER the chocolate, it peals off the toffee. We have an order for 300 packets of Toffee, but we need HELP!!!
Caroline Garvey
I would like very much to learn how to make English toffee to sell at our annual church bazaar in November. I recently bought a half pound of toffee covered with chocolate and nuts and it was the most delicious candy I've ever eaten--in fact I ate the whole thing! I have read the comments on this site and now I am thoroughly confused - do I use all white cane sugar, or do I use part brown sugar? Do I use a recipe calling for water? vinegar? salt? Do I use a lid on pot until sugar melts? candy thermometer? 300 degrees, a little lower, or a little higher temp???
Could someone who knows how to make this candy please post a recipe addressing these questions? Now I'm almost expecting my first batch to fail!
The sun is shinning bright today so i mustered up the courage to make my first batch of English Toffee - using 1 cane cup sugar, 1 unsalted cup butter, 2 T. corn syrup, 1 T. water-cooking to 305 degrees. So far looks like it turned out great! I'm waiting for the chocolate to get firm to pack it in a tin and refrigerate. I've already sampled much more than I needed!
I will continue experimenting with the recipes I've collected from
the internet.
I love trying new recipes and hearing just what others have done to perfect a recipe.ww
i've been making almost this exact recipe for years, thanks to my mum. a key difference: add the almonds - whole, raw (blanched or with skins) - to the butter/sugar mixture from the beginning. when the mixture starts to darken, you will know it is ready because the almonds start making a popping sound.
rest of the recipe is the same.
this change adds a nice toasted nutty flavour to the recipe. it's seriously delicious and SO easy.
This was my first attempt at any sort of candy making, and the toffee came out beautifully. I'm planning on handing some out at a rehearsal tomorrow, and I'm sure all will love it. Thanks!
The above recipes for English toffee are all variations on an oroginal recipe. I have another recipe which I think is British toffee.
8oz. Caster sugar
2oz. brown sugar
100gms butter
2oz. golden syrup
2oz. milk
4oz. condensed milk
2oz. water
1/4 tsp salt
chopped almonds
In an issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine, they showed perfect rectangular shaped pieces of English toffee. I've tried to cut the toffee with a pizza cutter but the toffee still breaks apart randomly. I don't mind the irregular shapes but the neat rectangular shapes looked beautiful and it would make packaging the toffee much easier. Any suggestions?
Re: chocolate breaking off the toffee.
I used to put the toffee on the porch outside (winter in Minnesota) immediately after pouring on the chocolate and topping with nuts, but i think it hardened the chocolate too quickly. The chocolate needs time to meld with the toffee and then slowly return to room temperature.
gret
Have heard that using a thick walled pot is essential. That it is repeated tenperature change that causes seperation.
In a thick walled pot the bottom and sides stay closer in temp due to better conduction. When you stir the batch it is not alternatly heated and cooled by the bottom and sides of the pot.
This might explain the case of a poster from February 02, 2008, 12:53 PM, who had problems after moving from SF. After the move they switched from a Calfalon pot to a Allclad pot.
Hope this helps.
One of these dayz, I will read all of these wonderful comments on this site.
I did a search for "VINEGAR" in toffee. I was taught that a wee bit of vinegar helps to 'set' the toffee. The only other ingredients we used were equal amounts of butter and sugar.
A quick way to tell if your toffee is ready is by dropping a drop into a cup of ICE COLD water. The quicker the drop solidifies, the more 'harder' your toffee will be. If it turns to mush, you are nowhere near ready to pour ... I suppose that means you are nowhere near the 'crack-point' of the candy?
Practise makes perfect if you can remember what you did.
Or you can judge by your senses.
I've made English Toffe for gifts before. I've found that you can order the BEST English Toffee I've ever had by going to 2sisterssweets.com. They make it SOOO easy to order and honestly, it is the best stuff I've ever had. My friends are always thrilled when they get a package of it.[/i]
I have made toffee at least 20 times & used several similar recipes. here are my tips, no matter which recipe you decide to use. Have everything prepared ahead-
nuts toasted ( a must in my opinion)
nuts chopped
chocolate chopped if not using chips
vanilla or almond extract measured if using
I don't use parchment or foil, just spray lightly with vegetable spray (PAM)
My most used recipe comes from Maria (AKA Diana) at Recipezaar
Once you have everything ready it takes approx. 30 min from chopping the nuts ( I use an old hand held jar-type chopper) to cool time
Toffee
10 servings
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (pecans preferred)
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts (pecans preferred)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped bittersweet bar chocolate
I couldn't fit the rest of the recipe on my first post!
1. Cook butter, sugar, corn syrup & water over med heat until it reaches 290 degrees, stirring constantly; takes about 11 minutes
2. Remove from heat, add 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
3. Pour over coarselychopped nuts on baking sheet
4. Sprinkle chocolate chips over, allow to melt for 2 minutes
5. Spread with off-set spatula
6. Sprinkle with finely chopped nuts
7. Put in cool place to harden
8. Break into pieces, store covered (cookie tin) in cool place
9. Enjoy!
My toffee separates so reliably I'm thinking of giving up, but I do have one question....
Might the fat content of the butter make a difference? I'm in Germany (46m above sea level, humidity no idea) and all the butter currently on offer is 82% fat. If i does make a difference, what do I need to do to compensate?
Try not to stir any suger syrup mixture as stiring will cause suger crystals to form, and you end up with a horibble brittle texture instead of chewy.
Nope, that didn't work either.
First time trying toffee, followed the recipe instructions, especially about temperature (though I used a marble slab instead of a pan, and chopped walnuts instead of almonds), turned out beautifully. Pictures were so helpful! Next time I think I will use tempered chocolate, it's a bit of a pain to deal with melty chocolate when eating. Tasty, but a pain. :-) Also, will add more salt as the flavor was a bit blah. Texture is fantastic.
To the commenter wondering about getting small shaped pieces instead of the broken off pieces--I saw this site, which suggests scoring the toffee with an oiled knife while it cools.
http://www.chocolategourmand.com/recipes/candies/coffee_english_toffee.cfm
Though I've been making English Toffee around Christmas time off and on for years, the past few years have been total failures. I read all the helpful comments and suggestions in this forum and tried again this afternoon. Slowly raising the heat, 100% pure cane sugar, water, everything. At about 275 degrees, total separation.
In a last act of desperation, I decided to switch from my heavy Circulon sauce pan (non-stick coating) to my stainless steel home brew kettle. Even though this was way too big, and I had a difficult time keeping it from burning because the kettle is not very heavy, the candy turned out beautiful with absolutely no separation.
I love the circulon pans for cooking, but I'm going to have to get a heavy stainless or cast iron pan for toffee.
Thanks for all the advice - David
Does it make a huge difference if you use brown sugar instead of can sugar? I came across a recipe that used 2 cups brown sugar, 1 cup butter, 1/4 cup water, cook to "soft crack" 285 degrees, remove from heat and immediatlely add 1 TBS vanilla and 1/4 tsp baking soda. Having never made toffee before I did this and it seems pretty good, a bit chewy though. Any suggestions appreciated and any answer for the brown vs white sugar question? Thanks
I tried your English Toffee recipe today. Twice. Both batches tasted good but both batches seemed much too sticky when chewing. What did I do wrong? Thanks
I'm not a super experienced candy maker - but how sugar "turns out" is very dependent on the temperatures used. my first guess would be it did not get hot enough - the higher the cook temperature, the more brittle is becomes when cooled.
a candy thermometer is essential, and I've also learned when working with sugar you need a heavy pot and it will not be rushed.... once the water is gone I like to reduce the heat and sneak up on "the final temperature" very slowly to ensure the whole pot is up to temp.
hope that helps - if it doesn't sound like anything that may have got awry in your methods perhaps someone else can jump in.
I noticed that on March 2 Caroline Garvey posted she was having the same problem I was with the bloom on the chocolate. I have tried chocolate chips, candy bars and baking chocolate. All do the same thing. After a day of two the bloom appears. Any solutions or suggestions. Thanks.
It just takes a little longer, but temper your chocolate before using and you should be able to have beautiful looking toffee enrobed in chocolate!
Do a web-search for "Tempering Chocolate at Home" online and you'll find tons of websites that basically tell you to "work" the mixture by heating and cooling and "working" your chocolate. It makes for a better gift, too! For anyone trying to make individual pieces of toffee, I've used a coated ice-cube tray (yes, one of those old ice cube trays you have hopefully stored in the back of your cabinet!)...it takes a little practice but pour into as many as you have (pour all remaining on your slab or pan). The little "cubes" will pop out and then you can dip them in tempered chocolate and dredge in ground nuts of your choice!! You could even wrap individually in beautiful colored foil for a real special gift!! All the best to my fellow cooks for the upcoming Holidays!
I need to make an abundance of toffee. Can anyone advise if they have ever doubled the recipe and if so, how it turned out? I welcome any comment and/or advice.
I was having problems with the toffee separating too. I had a great recipe for peanut brittle that was cooked to a hard crack in the microwave and decided to try cooking the toffee that way too. I use an 8 cup Pyrex vessel with handle, put the butter, sugar, water (and corn syrup) in it and microwave about 5 minutes, stirring halfway, then removing it from the microwave when the color turns that golden brown. It worked like a charm!
I am making toffee for gifts for friends. I have made toffee on and off for ten years. Until I discovered this site, I always thought my failures might have been due to the type of pot (sides too thick? thin? cheap? expensive?). humidity (no toffee making on foggy or rainy days), not wearing my lucky socks or using my lucky spoon ?!?
Does humidity affect the setting up of the toffee? I followed Michaels' directions but when I pulled off my toffee and poured it into the cookie sheet, it didn't set up. Instead of toffee, it resembled butterscotch.
It is foggy and overcast right now, so might the excess humidity affect the toffee?
Thanks for any help!
My 9 yo daughter and I just made this. We followed the instructions exactly and it came out perfect! Delish! I think this will be our Christmas present this year. :D
Over the years, I've made many batches of toffee from my mom's old recipe and never had a significant problem, till last night. My recipe is identical to the one on this site, with the following differences: mine also has 1 Tbl corn syrup and it doesn't call for salt (mine calls for butter and doesn't specify whether to use salted or unsalted butter). Although I've probably always used salted butter in the past (my notes don't indicate whether I've ever used unsalted), last night, I used unsalted butter (and no added salt) because that's what I had. I may have also rushed the heating process a bit, especially at the onset. WELL, I experienced the separation problem that I see splattered all over these comments. I surely will not rush the heating process in the future; however, my question is: "what is the purpose of the salt?" Does it significantly influence the boiling temp of the mixture; is it just a taste thing; might its lack also contribute to the separation problem; what? And, why use unsalted butter plus added salt; why not just use salted butter? Looks like the separation issue has lots of ideas but I think the only ones that might explain my "failure" (I still managed to rescue the batch by blotting off the oil after pouring onto the cooling slab) is the salt (possible contributor?) and the rate of heating (probable contributor & possibly the only cause?). I've not taken note of whether my sugar is cane or beet (I'm aware, from cake decorating, that there are differences). Any new thoughts, especially on the salt thing? Thanks. David A.
The salt is for flavor. Adding a little salt to sweet dishes (like cookies and toffee) enhances the taste. We use unsalted butter and then add salt so the amount of salt introduced into the recipe can be controlled. Using salted butter makes the amount of salt in the recipe unpredictable, so someone who uses a salted butter brand that happens to salt their butter heavily will result in a product very different than someone who uses a brand that lightly salts their butter. In the case of butter, we're lucky that they sell unsalted. In recipes that involve chicken broth, for example, we're not that lucky because unsalted chicken broth in now widely available. In those cases we have to resort to the "salt to taste" direction.
I read an article at Cook's Illustrated (or maybe Cook's Country?) awhile back. I sure wish I could find it, but I seem to recall that salt was important to prevent separation. As Michael noted, use unsalted butter and add salt to ensure you get the same saltiness each time. If anyone else has seen it and recalls it, please post.
I also wrote the following in the recipe I typed from the article: "Toffee is more likely to separate when it is stirred too much or cooked too quickly. You can cook it at a lower temperature successfully, it will simply take longer. It needs to remain bubbling as you cook it." I do not know if that is a CI quote or I wrote it from the article or yet another source, however.
Over the years I've read a bit about candy making, but am always trying to learn more. Here's what I've learned/read regarding toffee:
1. Fast temperature changes are bad, so don't abruptly increase or decrease the temp while cooking.
2. Stop stirring at all after 265 F (this also in my CI toffee recipe notes)
3. Stirring throughout should be lazy stirs, not fast or vigorous. You need to do it some, but not excessively.
4. As noted above, do melt that sugar and butter slowly in the beginning.
5. Humidity definitely affects candy making, as noted above. If you are in a humid environment, consider waiting until it's more dry or use a dehumidifier.
6. If toffee does separate, try removing it from the heat and stirring vigorously and evenly. Then put back on the heat, but increase the heat gradually. Another option, as mentioned above, is to add some more water, but don't add more than a few tablespoons. Adding more than 1/4 cup will change the toffee too much and you'll sacrifice texture.
7. Adding corn syrup (glucose) does prevent crystallization, as noted above thread. According to Shirley Corriher about 1 T is all that is needed for a recipe like this because of the high butter content, which also inhibits crystallization. For a great description of why this happens, read the chapter on sugars in Cookwise.
8. The chocolate may not stick to the top simply because some of the fat separated out. Two tricks work. First, simply wipe off the top of the toffee before putting on the chocolate. Second, consider sprinkling some cocoa on top of the toffee to absorb the fat. I haven't tried this, but have read it works.
9. To get it to break evenly, you must score it before it's cool. You can score it pretty quickly after pouring. You can even cut it completely. But, once it's cooled and it's not been scored, it's very hard to get it to break the way you want.
10. Someone asked if you can use brown sugar. I use a recipe by Rose Levy Beranbaum in which she uses brown sugar: 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 2 T water, 1 t vanilla. She also uses nuts and chocolate. The main difference is she cooks only to 285, taking it off and adding 1/4 t baking soda along with the vanilla, then pouring over the nuts. She says the temp rises to 290 anyway. I prefer to cook it a bit longer to get a less chewy toffee. As noted above thread, hotter means more brittle. So, a 290 toffee is more chewy than a 300, which is more chewy than a 305. But, you do have to be careful not to burn.
11. Unsure of the baking soda purpose in the above recipe. It's not enough to really add lightness (air bubbles and all that) although some Websites suggest it does, but it could be to counteract the acidity of the brown sugar. Where's a food scientist when you need one. Harold? Shirley?
12. Rubbing butter on the sides of the pan before adding ingredients is helpful to prevent crystallization. The lid on the pan trick also works well, as does brushing the sides of the pan with water.
13. As noted by other posters, the cooking pan does matter and matters a lot. It must be larger than you'd think you'd need as candy can double in volume while boiling. It needs to conduct heat well. It needs to have straight sides. It needs to be heavy enough to prevent scorching.
14. Someone asked about making large volume of this. I seem to recall the CI article saying NOT to double it, but I can't remember why. Could be pan size not able to accommodate, but not sure.
After reading all the problems had by all I was terrified to make this. However, I wanted to make it. I think I probably had everything working against me in that I only made half of it because I only had one stick of butter. I would have bought more if I thought it would work but I had one stick of butter on hand and all the other ingredients so I went for it. I melted the butter on low while I read more comments. Then I realized my spatula was melting so I started using a metal spoon, apparently I don't have a wooden one. I stirred pretty much constantly but did so very gentlely. I was convinced it was never combined until the end, but I had nothing to lose at that point. I had to go off of gut feeling of when to take it off. I ended up doing it when it was golden brown and just seemed like the right color for me. I never set the temp above medium low because my stove cooks hot. Mine is considerably darker then the pictures because that is what seemed right to me.
As for my ingredients. I just guessed at the salt. One stick of store brand unsalted. Half a cup of store brand sugar, a drop of white vinegar (I am not kidding when I say a drop), and I forgot the vanilla because I was so scared of how it would taste.
Other things
Elevation 351 feet
Humidity 70%
Pan Emerial Stainless Steel Sauce Pan (pretty heavy)
two years ago I read all your remedies to keep the oil from separating out while you get the toffee close to 295 to 310 degrees. I did add the hot water trick which does get it back to gather, but I notice if you went above 300 degrees it would separate out again. I the bought the book "Candy Making for Dummies" by David Jones. In the toffee recipes he writes to add soy lecithin which prevents the fats from separating. I tried this last year and at first it didn't work, this year I added twice the amount recommended and made two batches and no oil separation. I recommend this book if you are a candy maker. :)
To Michael Chu: I noticed that you said the salt is for flavor only. I happen to think that without the salt you will get your toffee to separate. I made the mistake of using unsalted butter in my toffee today and got a separation anxiety and have never, ever had a problem before. Although I have heard about toffee separating, I didn't know what the big deal was until I used unsalted butter in my recipe without adding any salt. Have you ever tried making your toffee without salt?
I looked through my notes and I don't believe I have made toffee without salt. I'm going to definitely have to experiment with that when I get a chance.
Hi , I enjoy your comments on toffee cooking. I make pretty good toffee/ buttercrunch. I use your recipe as a base with slight variations. My main
problem is my toffee when it is set out for a couple of hours at room temperature the texture changes and it gets sticky and chewy when you start eating it. When I first take my toffee out of the refrigerator it has a rich
buttery taste with a nice crunchy texture that doesn't stick to your teeth. As
soon as it warms up the texture changes. I have tried using white cane sugar, brown sugar and using caramelized sugar. I then enrobed the toffee bars or pieces with temper chocolate. Afterwards, I would double wrap the pieces in aluminum foil . The best results came with the caramelized sugar toffee chocolate bars. However, after a couple of hours the toffee gets sticky again. Can you help me overcome this problem? Thanks, GK
I am having a problem with the chocolate separating from the caramel. I don't find any solutions posted. What am I doing wrong?
:( :(
Yea! I followed instructions very closely, and all three doubled batches turned out great. I used a large Magnalite Professional straight sided pot (similar to Calphalon cookware) and a wood spatula because I didn't have a silicone one. I did toast the slivered almonds in the toaster oven first because I like the flavor of toasted almonds better. North Carolina, where I am, can be humid and we'd had several days of rain with humidity above 70, so I waited until today when the forecast was for 57% humidity, plus I turned a back burner on low (the one behind the one I'd cook on) to dry out the immediate surroundings. I have an electric stovetop, and I cooked on just a notch above low until the butter/sugar/salt/water mixture was throughly blended. Then I raised the temperature to just a notch below medium for the rest of the time (on my stovetop, medium gets too hot). I stirred lazily and slowly until the temperature reached 265 degrees Fahrenheit. Then I just left the wooden spatula in the pot and refrained from stirring, except I did move the spatula a few times so the syrup sticking to it would cook evenly with the rest. I didn't have parchment, but I used aluminum foil (the slippery, nonshiny side up) and it worked just fine. And I used a pizza cutter to score the candy about two minutes after finishing with the chocolate and almonds -- that worked beautifully!
One extra tip for NON-analytical types who might like to consider the "Zen" in all of this. If you struggle with impatience when stirring slowly and lazily on low until the butter is blended, take this advice from a wise woman I once knew. I had asked her how in the world I could sense Spirit's presence when I'm so distracted by housework and children. She said, "Don't just wash the dishes. J-u-s-t w-a-s-h t-h-e d-i-s-h-e-s." I remembered her advice as I was stirring, and my mantra became, "J-u-s-t s-t-i-r t-h-e b-u-t-t-e-r." You may find yourself, as I did, in a most peaceful trance, and before you know it, your syrup will be at 265 degrees when you can stop stirring. :)
My first few batches this year turned into buttery batches of goo. I could not figure for the life of me what was going wrong as it was successful every time i made it last year. Well number one, make sure your sugar is pure cane sugar. I bought some cheap sugar for my wifes tea and placed it in my canister. I also had a 25 lb bag of C & H that I use for cooking. After three batches of failed product I decided I would try the new bag of C & H.
Bingo! DO NOT USE SUGAR THAT IS NOT PURE CANE SUGAR!
I also have changed this recipe as I like a darker, and harder candy. I added 1/3 cup of brown sugar and 1 tbsp. of corn syrup. Everybody in my family is raving about it.[/b]
What is the HIGHEST acceptable level of humidity for making successfull toffee?
I have a different recipe: 1 pound butter (4 sticks); 1 pound sugar (2 C); 1 pound chocolate (there will be just a bit left over for licking out of the melting bowl) and 1 pound nuts (also some left over, they mix well with the chocolate left in the melting bowl).
I have ALWAYS used salted butter, either Challenge or Land-o-Lakes. In retrospect, I am inclined to think that Challenge is slightly saltier than LoL, but I have never had a problem with either. Also, I have ALWAYS used C&H sugar, which is my personal brand preference in any case, and I think I lucked out here because I never would have figured out the beet sugar issue on my own.
I try to use the drop-it-in-water method of testing, but have found that once it reaches the point where I "think" it's ready, it's unlikely that I actually have time to wait for the water to cool it enough before it starts burning. I also burn about half of my batches because I'm impatient. Once I see and smell the burn, I simply stop scraping the bottom of the pan and pour it out. It never tastes burnt, even if some of the burnt part does go onto the cookie sheet.
I pour my candy out on a foil-lined cookie sheet (sometimes I butter the foil, if I'm in the mood or have the time) and let it cool. While it's cooling, I melt half of my chocolate in a double boiler (well, more often a glass bowl on a pan of water). Sometimes I use Nestle semi-sweet chips, other times I use Hershey milk chocolate bars. It's all good. This year I tried white chocolate with macadamias; that was interesting and I probably won't ever do it again, but still good.
After spreading the melted chocolate on the mostly cooled (sometimes fully cooled from the fridge, it depends if I decided to make the candy the night before) toffee, I sprinkle half of my crushed almonds on top, and press it into the chocolate. While the chocolate is setting (sometimes in the fridge, sometimes overnight), I melt the second half of my chocolate. After the chocolate has set, I flip the whole thing over onto another sheet of foil (sometimes using another cookie sheet to support it, sometimes not, depends how adventurous I'm feeling that day) and repeat the chocolate and almond thing on the other side. Let it cool, then break it up.
I've noticed that it breaks very well if you break it first at the middle, across the narrowest width. Then, each piece from there should be broken the same way, at the middle, across the narrowest width. Pieces generally stay pretty uniform that way.
I have to say that I am less of an engineer and more of a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of person, but I would have to say that in 20 years of making this stuff, I've never had what I would call a failed batch. Some have had a bit of oil on the top (never much), but that wipes off just fine. Last Christmas, I burned a batch beyond recognition, but being the frugal self that I am, I still turned it out on a cookie sheet "just to see how bad it really is." The kids disappeared that batch in less than 3 days (no chocolate, no nuts), so I can't think it was all that bad.
None of my batches taste exactly the same, which I think is contrary to the engineer's goal, but I would also say that all of my batches tasted wonderful and I would not call any of them a failure. It's a massively fun activity and for me, about 40% of the joy of it is in the making. Obviously, 60% of the joy is in the eating.
(Is this post too long? It's so much fun to talk about cooking!)
Susan ;)
I have been making a similar recipe every Christmas for more than half my life! (over 20 years now!) And I am SO happy that I'm not the only one with "separation" problems! I will try melting the butter & sugar together more slowly from now on! Also, I've begun suspecting the humidity in the room as well as whether or not I have the oven on have had an impact on the separation!
To comment on some of the other posts, I also saw more of a separation problem when I used unsalted butter, or omitted the salt from the recipe!
I cook using a large skillet instead of a saucepan - maybe I'll have to try that!
I also toast my almonds before I use them - tastes better that way! Also, when it's done cooking, I pour the mixture into an UNgreased cookie sheet, then proceed with the chocolate chips & nuts. I never have a problem with it sticking - heck - it IS half butter already! ;-)
Hello! I live in Stansbury Park, UT elevation 4300ft. My husband and I make candy for the neighbors every year and thought we would add a new treat to our usual. This is the first time we have ever made toffee and it turned out great. No separation problems at all. As we were reading all these posts, we started to wonder if the separation problem would have anything to do with the type of cook wear used!? We used a stainless steel pan. We melted the butter first on a low heat, then added the sugar, salt and water. Cooked that on the low heat for a bit then turned up the heat to a medium heat and let it boil away! At precisely 300 degrees, removed from heat and stirred in vanilla. The finished product looks great, and from what I tasted from the spoon, tastes great too! Thanks for this great recipe. :D
I just made 4 batches of toffee tonight using the same recipe and procedures and 2 turned out fine and 2 are sugary. I add 1 Tbsp. corn syrup and 3 Tbsp. water and live in Seattle so can't avoid the humidity! I just can't figure out what causes the inconsistency in my results. I have been cooking my toffee on med-low for about 25 minutes until it reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer.
I used your directions to make your toffee but I still had butter seperating from the mixture. It looked good at 235-240 but the longer I cooked it more butter began to seep out.
I stopped the process on the second batch at a soft crack stage. It has a nice bite although it is grainy. Do I need to factor in altitude to the temperature? I live at 4200 feet.
Is unsalted or salted butter better, could that be contributing to the problem? Would the size of the pan be a problem?
I am trying to get this made for gifts and my time is running out. Thank you for your help.
Thanks for a great website! my daughter and I had the same experience as many others -- that the butter-sugar mixture began to separate at about 280 degrees no matter how carefully we controlled the temperature, and the toffee was a total loss. However, we discovered that different brands of butter behave differently. In particular, Trader Joes butter always separated, but Land-o-lakes does not.
I need the same exact question answered please! Have same problem as George. As soon as I noticed the condensation on the candy and the stickiness I put the candy in seal a meal airtight backs and back into the freezer. Will this fix what I've already made?
Thank you so much for a great recipe. I did just what you said but added three pieces of advice from the comments:
*replace 1 of the tsp water with 1 tsp vinegar (not one crystal problem)
*melt the butter first at low heat before stirring in sugar and raising heat to medium
*stir lazily
Made it chocolate-free by choice and stirred in toasted almonds before pouring out. It's wonderful and set beautifully. Thanks!
We used to make toffee without difficulty, but failed every time after we moved to 4,000 ft elevation. A local cooking guru suggested that we must decrease the temperature of sugary syrups by 1 degree F. for every 500 ft elevation above sea level. He suggested cooking to a temperature of 7 degrees F. less than the recipe calls for.
To get my toffee nice & thin, I use a wooden rolling pin to roll the hot candy between 2 pieces of parchment right on top of my stone countertops. It works great!
First batch I made from another recipe, the butter clarified and never did combine right. I used this recipe EXCEPT I only used 1-1/2 sticks of buter (3/4 cup) and it turned out great..only takes about 10 mins to make!
I used a recipe from an old Betty Crocker book. Very similar to this one, except called for brown sugar. However this recipe said after melting butter and brown sugar together to cook on medium heat, stir constantly for 7 minutes. After that pour over nuts and continue as described in this recipe. I followed this recipe and made two pretty near perfect batches. There was no mention of temperatures on this recipe, but someone had told me that it needed to definitely get above 200 degrees. So on the first batch, I tried to measure the temperature at 7 minutes and almost burned it. I pulled it off quickly and stirred it back up before pouring into a greased pan. It tasted a little browner, but otherwise was still very good. The second batch was perfect, I reduced the temperature to low-medium, but stirred gently but constantly, and pulled off at about 6.5 minutes.
I am at about 720 feet elevation, and it has been dry lately. I was excited, because I was always afraid of candy making. This went so smoothly and was very successful. I used pecans because they are my favorite.
Another option aside from chopped/slivered almonds is to use chopped pecans. It'd be interesting to try toffee with almonds though... my mother uses chopped pecans (though the pecans are basically pebbles by size) and it's delicious.
My mother has made this stuff since Moby Dick was a minnow. Her recipe uses 1/2 C margarine and 1/2 C butter (salted, not sweet) and omits the salt. She adds one secret ingredient that makes it over the top. Add a tsp instant coffee to the vanilla before adding it to the candy. So much better than that stuff in the pink can... A copper candy pan will make quick work of the production--just under 20 minutes to cook the candy to 300F. Definitely worth the expense.
:D
I just :lol: began to make toffee december 08 probably about 30 times. Once I had the separation - my original recipe included teaspoon lemon juice with salt. So when it happened I took it off stove kept stirring and added lemon juice and it returned to its mix. I think this site and Michael Chu and the readers are great and I learned a lot reading this. I will try the suggestion with espresso beans. My problem is last few times toffee is too sticky eating it. Today I made it to reach 300 degrees so I want to see when its done out of refrigerator the texture. With each temperature the texture is different.
I am interested to package and sell it eventually however here in San Francisco CA area you cannot sell commercially without a certified commercial kitchen
toffqn
I think I know what causes the separation cause it just happened. I am making toffee almost every day to learn how to do it and the mistakes. So I think my thermometer isnt right and I want some recommendations about a thermometer. I knew by now the different colors it takes as it goes through stages. Yet when the thermometer still said below 300 I kept it going raised heat big mistake. Then it was very black and I removed it and sure enough on the granite board the butter separated.
Its in the frig so I will keep it there and look at it after I do my walk.
So I need a new thermometer and also to trust what I know about the indication of the colors and the stages
toffqn
>>thermometers
I've been using Taylor brand in many forms for ... gosh, hate to enumerate how many years,,,
recently got a dial type Taylor with a very effective rubberized clip - just looked, no model number on the thing - but it was all packaged up in plastic that needed plastic explosives to open . . .
I don't particularly like nuts in my candy, and I didn't have any chocolate, so I followed your recipe just to make regular toffee. It did not separate and the colour is slightly darker than shown in your picture. I used about 4 teaspoons of water in the melted butter/sugar mixture. I live at 330 m above sea level. I ran my stovetop fan on low constantly to try to suck out any unwanted moisture. I used what I believe to be cane sugar (it doesn't actually say, but a flowery description on the back describes the cane evaporation process) and plain unsalted butter.
It is cooling now so I have only eaten tiny little bits like what was leftover on the spoon, but it is delicious and very crunchy. It is slightly greasy on top but not separated.
Thought this might help in figuring out what's going wrong for some people.
Upon further investigation and breaking into pieces, I've noticed something odd about my toffee- the edges of the sheet are normal and have the proper texture, but the centre is somewhat grainy. I believe this came from pushing the toffee around after having poured it into the sheet. It was spreading fine on its own, but the instructions said to push it into a rectangular shape, so I did. The parts that were pushed became grainy and the edges, which flowed naturally, aren't as grainy.
The edges have a nice "snap" when you break them, but the centre only makes a dull sound, and feels more like compressed sugar and butter than toffee.
So I am making a lot of toffee for few months and I made mistakes so I want to write here
Recently i went to Fancy Food Show in SF CA and followed Michael Chu advice to go to all the toffee vendors and try their samples.
First I now know what I make its not toffee
I tried some excellent toffee - particularly like something from Claire in SF - I have the card and will post it later. Also Napa Valley Toffee. One toffee had cashew nuts. One lady makes Toffee pudding
It was a marvelous food show
My candy cause I had a faulty thermometer was very dark when it said 300 degrees. By then the sugar was burnt.
However I gave out a lot of this to people I know and most people really liked it. One lady friend kept telling me Its not toffee!.
Heres the thing - the toffee I tried at the food show would really make my dentist rich. I cant eat that often.
The candy I make - some form of candied dark chocolate with nuts is easy to eat if you dont mind the burnt sugar taste. My mixture doesnt separate only twice. I think its sometimes an elevation issue and Im in San francisco.
So now what? I havent made toffee in a week and Im ready to try again -- oops not toffee candied chocolate nut bar
I also need thermometer
toffqn
(have to change my user name cause Im not that)
Great work on this. I tried it for the first time this morning. Absolutely perfect! After reading some of the concerns posted I have to admit I wass a little worried. My current eleveation is approx 3500 ft AMSL and it is a cool dry morning. The secret I think, is to stir constantly. Also when melting the butter and water together listen for it. As it warms to much on the sides you will be able to hear it boiling. Start stirring then and do not stop until you get to the 300 mark. A moderatly brisk stir when adding the vanilla and it turned out perfect twice in a row. Good Luck
so a question
if it sticks to your teeth is that toffee?
I bought a thermometer and made it this morning
its good and its sticking to teeth
toffqn
the good toffees I've had did exhibit a fondness for teeth <g>
There should be a tackiness after the initial crumbly crunch. After that clean break, as the toffee is broken up, it can become somewhat sticky, but not as much as a caramel. It also shouldn't remind you of Jolly Rancher.
I do believe I made toffee Michael - want to try it again?
toffqn
I love the basic toffee recipe and it turns out great each time, except when I add chocolate to the mixture (not on top, but into the pot at the end). I've used 1/2 c. chocolate pieces and I've also used 1/2 or 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa. The taste is great but a whole lot of oil separates out after you pour it into the pan. Any hints on why this happens?
There could be many reasons for this:
abrupt temperature shift [ placing it in very cold or very hot temperature even for a very time span ]
Also keep an eye on the toffee cooknig process in the very start, when butter and sugar melt; a good reason for separation could be the uneven melting process of sugar and butter.
I have two questions. One is about the butter. Some people said that it goes wrong using European butter. I live in Europe so I don't really have a choice, and the butter I mostly use has 82% fat. Is that okay? Are there people having experience making toffees using European butter?
Now about the sugar. I read from a lot of people that you HAVE to use cane sugar, and not beet sugar. But I've always heard that sugar crystals are the same, no matter if they come from beets or cane. The only difference is that unrefined cane sugar has more extra nice-tasting thingies (I think it's called molasses), but basically it's all sucrose.
Couldn't it be that people have better results with cane sugar because the molasses make the sugar wetter, and for toffee one needs moist?
there's quite a few questions in there <g>
the usual distinction made between Eur / Amer butter is unsalted vs salted.
note that many many sweets have a touch of salt - it's a complimentary taste to the sweetness.
the fat content of butter varies from 80-86% but "brand names" control the fat content much more closely than that range.
82% is just fine.
cane vs beet - at a technical level you're suppose to be right.
regards molasses, there's not much of that left in refined white table sugar or either continent.
brown sugar, sugar in the raw, turbanado - there's a few hundred names applied to "less than fully refined sugar"
Many here are complaining that the butter separates from the sugar. I have found that when my butter is very fresh, that separation doesn't happen.
I combine the sugar and the room temperature butter very well before I turn on the heat. I use a low setting until all the butter melts, then turn it up to medium-low. This takes longer but the taste is wonderful. For a smoother texture, combine very well before turning on the heat and don't stir the mixture at all until it gets up past 250 degrees.
I tried toffee for the first time today. I cooked it on medium, stirred only occasionally, didn't have it separate, and all looked fine until I tried to break it. Some pieces break off OK, but some want to twist and stretch more than to break. I went ahead, hoping it would harden later, but it did remind me somewhat of Jolly Rancher after the first crunch. Any suggestions?
Sounds like you might be making toffee in a fairly humid environment. If it's humid or damp where you are, try turning on the air conditioning a couple hours beforehand to help reduce the moisture in the air.
Greetings from the Blue Mountains. This is my first time visiting your website, and I am reading comments before I try this toffee... and a few of your other recipes...(I originally came on to read about how to make your own butter, and subsequently have been browsing for 15 mins!) the pictures showing each step of each recipe are such a good idea!!
I thought of something funny regarding how Martha Stewart gets hers so perfectly square...
maybe Martha Stewart [b:cc11b49090]laser cuts hers? :D :)
[/b:cc11b49090]
I don't live at sea level either so it has been helpful to read about why scientifically the toffee may not turn out.
this recipe does not separate it self from any other cooking recipe as far as this being for engineers. There is no scientific twist to the recipe. Maybe you can go back and edit the article and add in some important facts that will make it more suitable for this site. Recommendation:
Toffees and caramels both contain butter (a fat) and sugar in high quantities. If the toffee or caramel is not handled properly during the cooking process, the butter sometimes separates from the sugar and forms an oily layer on top of the candy. This often happens during the cooking stage, but sometimes it separates as it is being poured out onto a baking sheet to cool.
There are a few reasons toffees and caramels separate. One of the most common triggers is when the candy has undergone an abrupt temperature shift, either becoming too cold or too hot in a very short period of time. Try not to "shock" your candy by drastically turning the heat up or down during cooking. Additionally, it is especially important to watch the candy in the beginning of the cooking process, while the butter and sugar are melting together, because separation can often result if these two elements melt unevenly. If you have very effective stovetop burners I recommend turning them to medium-low to allow the butter and sugar to melt gently in the beginning stages.
Toffee and caramel can also separate if the recipe calls for constant stirring and the candy isn’t stirred often enough. Additionally, separation is more likely to occur when using thinner (cheaper) saucepans, as they don’t conduct heat efficiently and lead to “hot spots” that can cause the butter to separate. Finally, humidity can cause the butter to separate, so if your kitchen is very warm and humid, it’s not a good time to be making candy.
So, can your separated candy be saved? If your candy separates during the cooking process, there is a chance you can save it. Sometimes separated toffee or caramel can be saved by removing the saucepan from the heat and stirring constantly and smoothly until it comes back together, then gradually returning it to the heat, stirring constantly. You can also try adding a spoonful or two of very hot water to the toffee to help it come together. Start with one tablespoon and stir the candy to help it come together. Add addit
Assemble the ingredients: 6 oz. (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup (200 g) sugar, about 1/2 cup (60 g) chopped almonds, 1 (5 mL) teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter.
Melt the butter in the saucepan with the sugar and salt plus a little (about 2 teaspoons, 10 mL) water over gentle heat. (Low heat is important to prevent separation later. Just be patient and let it melt together.) The extra water will make it easier for the sugar to heat evenly and melt together.
Stir the mixture constantly while heating over medium-high heat. The butter and sugar will bubble and foam as the water boils off. This can take several minutes because butter contains a decent amount of water. The volume of the mixture will increase dramatically at this point. At this point the temperature should be relatively constant at a few degrees above the boiling point of water.
Once the water has boiled off, the mixture will collapse and thicken. The temperature will also start to rise again. The goal is to remove the pan from the heat once the mixture passes 300°F (150°C) and before it reaches 320°F (160°C). Use an instant read thermometer or candy thermometer to keep track of the temperature as you heat and stir because the temperature can change pretty rapidly once the water boils off.
Right after pouring, use a spatula (again silicone works best for working with toffee) to spread the toffee into a rough rectangular shape.
While the toffee is still hot, sprinkle the surface with the chocolate chips. Wait until the bottoms of the chips start to turn shiny and dark brown as they melt from the heat of the toffee, about two minutes. Use your spatula to spread the chocolate. If the chocolate is still mostly solid, wait another minute before attempting to spread again.
Spread the chocolate so that it covers the toffee.
Sprinkle the chocolate surface with chopped almonds. If not using finely chopped almonds, such as the slivered almonds shown in the photos, visually inspect the the surface of the toffee to make sure the almonds are making good contact with the chocolate. Lightly press down on those pieces that are barely touching the surface of the chocolate.
Remove from the refrigerator and peel the toffee from the baking mat or parchment paper. Working quickly so the chocolate doesn't melt too much, break the toffee into chunks of the desired size and place into an airtight container. During the breaking of the toffee, you'll lose quite a few almond pieces, but don't worry, this is normal.