The BEST English Toffee Recipe That Everyone Will Love (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between toffee and English toffee? ›

Americanized toffee may include nuts, while a completely traditional British toffee will not. On the other hand, English toffee uses pure cane sugar, brown sugar, or molasses as its sweet base and always involves chocolate.

Simmering the syrup for English toffee to the requisite 300°F temperature can (and should) be a slow process — up to 20 minutes or so. Don't hurry this gradual transformation; syrup that doesn't reach 300°F, or close to it, will make candy with timid flavor and chewy (not crunchy) texture.

Stirring too quickly or too often can cause the toffee to separate. Moderate the heat as needed – turn it down if the toffee is boiling or cooking too fast so it doesn't burn.

If the two elements melt unevenly it can result in separation. If you have good stovetop burners, we recommend turning them to medium-low to allow the butter and sugar to melt gently in the beginning stages. If the heat is too high, but butter might melt too quickly and can separate from the sugar.

The soda reacts with the acid to make bubbles, and the syrup foams. When the cooked syrup is poured out and begins to harden, many of the tiny bubbles are trapped before they can escape (another reason the baking soda is added at the end).

+ What is the shelf life? Three months unopened, if stored in a cool dry place. + Can it be refrigerated? Yes, but it needs to be set out of the refrigerator to bring to room temperature before serving.

Once the butter has melted, stop stirring and bring mixture to a boil. Once boiling, cook, stirring only 2 to 3 times, until it turns a dark amber color and the temperature reaches 285 degrees F (137 degrees C) on a candy thermometer, 20 to 30 minutes.

This should NOT be a non-stick pan, because non-stick pans allow crystals to be pulled into the cooking toffee and will cause the batch to crystallize. The heavy pan distributes heavy evenly so the toffee cooks without burning.

To avoid starting again, try these tips. Dissolve the sugar completely before increasing the heat and bringing the mixture to the boil. You'll know when it's dissolved – there won't be any crystals on your spoon. Brush any sugar crystals from the side of the pan with a wet pastry brush during the toffee-making process.

This means that as boiling continues, a portion of the sugar separates into its constituent parts—glucose and fructose. Adding cream of tartar and a dash of vinegar to a toffee recipe helps bring about this change.

What temperature should toffee be cooked at? ›

Make sure that the point of the candy thermometer is not touching the bottom of your pan. Continue to stir occasionally, the mixture will slowly thicken and will turn a more yellow hue as it cooks, and cook to hard crack (305°F/151°C).

Here's how you know when the toffee is ready. Keep one of the almonds near the pan. It's your color cue. When the toffee is the color of the almond skin, it's done!

If the sauce has separated then warming it gently and stirring occasionally should help it to come back together. If it still has a film of fat on the surface after warming then whisking in a tablespoon of hot water (from a freshly boiled kettle) can also help.

As the toffee cools and the molten sugar crystals become solid again, they are attracted to the 'seed' forming new lumps of tiny crystals – hence the grainy texture. This can also happen if the toffee is stirred, or agitated, after it has begun to boil or on cooling (as happened with this pink-tinted toffee).

This toffee is cooked initially to 310°F (154°C), then the salt and baking soda are added, creating carbon dioxide. The foaming and bubbling aerate the candy somewhat, making the texture lighter and the candy easier to bite into.

Toffee is butterscotch that has been cooked for a longer period of time. Toffee begins as a base of butter and brown sugar that is gradually cooked to the hard-crack sugar stage between 295 and 309 degrees Fahrenheit.

In America we call most toffee, English Toffee. What's the difference between English and American toffee? The main difference is that traditional English toffee is created without nuts, while American toffee is created with a variety of nuts. The most common nuts being the almond.

Toffee is a hard candy made by cooking a sugar syrup with butter to the hard crack stage, 300–310°F (149–154°C), and then pouring it out to cool. It can have inclusions or not, and it can be made either very dense and hard or can be lightened by adding baking soda when the candy is almost done cooking .