Cooking For Engineers

[guest]

[omnigrits]

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.

[gd]

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?)

[kad]

Omnigrits, wwhat do you mean by hard fat?

[garvey200]

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

[Jane W.]

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!

[j.whitley]

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

[anon]

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.

[Guest]

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!

[Ragav]

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

[gret]

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

[Candy Man Dave]

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.

[Little Bear]

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.
[/quote]

[CICI]

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]

[bassetlover]

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