Comments | saffronhare: toffee may be brittle, but it's not so hard

saffronhare

toffee may be brittle, but it's not so hard

Dec 12, 2013 09:49

Last night, I was pretty darn successful in my campaign to do Mostly Nothing with my shoulder. I had other people do all the chopping for the chicken soup we assembled for tonight's dinner. Because I had more than one person helping, I got to admire the assembly of the ingredients next to the stove -- all in lovely little bowls -- over a couple ( Read more... )

Comments 7

renniemom December 12 2013, 16:07:02 UTC

Any tips or tricks? I made 2 batches. The first was too sticky and didn't harden, the second scorched. I'm using butter and brown sugar.

saffronhare December 12 2013, 19:12:03 UTC

This was my first batch of toffee ever. It smelled and looked and tasted about right, but I don't have a huge frame of reference. The most I can do is tell you how we did it ( ... )

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saffronhare December 12 2013, 19:19:22 UTC

That's a good point. I'm always plagued by doubt when judgment of color is part of the recipe, which is why I adore having that candy thermometer. Is it golden now? How about now? Or was it at the ideal level of goldenness about 45 seconds ago and now I've wasted a pound of butter?

rowangolightly December 12 2013, 18:05:13 UTC

Yep, difference is between granulated sugar and brown sugar.

"Caramel is typically made with granulated sugar, milk and/or cream, butter, and sometimes vanilla. The primary flavors of caramel are the sugar and milk/cream.

Butterscotch on the other hand is made with brown sugar. It's primary flavors are brown sugar and butter. It typically also contains milk/cream but they are not as prominent as caramel.

Toffee is butterscotch that has been cooked to the hard-crack stage.

There is no liquor in butterscotch. (ED by Susi: why not?)

There is a lot of leeway in what things get called caramel, butterscotch, and toffee. The important differences to keep in mind are that caramel is made with granulated sugar, whereas toffee and butterscotch are made with brown sugar and much more butter."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy

saffronhare December 12 2013, 19:20:10 UTC

I suspect booze would affect the boiling temperature?

rowangolightly December 12 2013, 19:33:40 UTC

I suspect you're right. I haven't tried it myself but it's on my to-do list.

Rum toffee? mmmmmm....

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saffronhare December 12 2013, 22:46:39 UTC

Yes. The candy thermometer has degrees and also "hard crack" written on it (along with other levels, but "hard crack" is my favorite).

:)