English Toffee

[rio marie]

Hi Everyone

I'm starting to make my holiday candy and last night I made English Toffee well now it's a mass of sugar and alomonds with the consistency of brown sugar. It's the reciepe I got from the class I took in October. The first time I made it it came out great! The second time it was a little different and then last night a total failure. It totally crystalized on me it didn't even go toffee brown but stayed a light blonde color.. I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong. My first mishap was using a 3qt instead of a 4qt sauce pan. I saw the crystals on the side but didn't wash down.... I didn't because I didn't have room it was on the rim and the mixture was going to boil over which I averted by stirring. I think that was a booboo too. Do you or do you not stir. The recipe says once it recahed 260 degrees add the nuts and stir stir stir which I did but at that point I think it was lost, I was just hoping for a miricle . So any suggrestions? I"m going to WalMart after work to get a 4 qt pan. What should I do with my bronw sugar with almonds? It's now residing in a tupperware container. I appreciate all your responses and suggestions.

I did cook it to 305 degrees but at point nothing was going to work.....

Have a great Holiday!

Rena

[CanadianBakin']

With your botched batch you could probably chop it fine and serve over just about anything...ice cream, pumpkin pie, etc.

Stir on medium until you're sure all the sugar is dissolved, wash down the crystals , turn up the heat and then leave it to boil on it's own till you get the right colour, then add your cream and butter and nuts or whatever and as far as I know it's ok to stir then.

edited to add: I just looked at the recipe I use and for it you just throw everything in the pot at the beginning and stir till it hits 280F. Only once have I had it not turn out but it was years ago and I have no idea what I did wrong. It was still candy-like but much softer and a bit grainy.

Edited November 25, 2008 by CanadianBakin' (log)

[Darienne]

Hi Everyone

I'm starting to make my holiday candy and last night I made English Toffee   well now it's a mass of sugar and alomonds with the consistency of brown sugar. 

Rena

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Hi Rena,

I read your message and smiled broadly. I can't help you at all, but I can identify closely with your problem. My lovely Pecan Brittle is now sauce for ice cream or frozen yoghurt.

Best of luck to you and Happy Holidays.

[CalumC]

What is english toffee to the american? Theres chewy toffee and theres bonfire toffee (which is also divided by some into cinder toffee and tin pan toffee).

[pastrygirl]

What is english toffee to the american? Theres chewy toffee and theres bonfire toffee (which is also divided by some into cinder toffee and tin pan toffee).

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Hard, crunchy, brittle, usually with almonds and ideally coated with chocolate.

[Chocolot]

Having just finished making 2000 pounds of "English toffee", I'll jump in here. My version is the crunchy, brittle type covered with dark chocolate and dry roasted chopped almonds.

In answer to what went wrong. Wrong size pan that you already figured out. You probably should have just halved the recipe. The crucial step is dissolving the sugar completely before starting the cook. I start out on low heat and let the sugar dissolve, then turn it up and stir the whole time. I cook it until I get a puff of smoke, stir it down and wait for the second puff. It is around 300 degrees. When it is poured out, I spread it with an offset spatula to the thickness I want. Some people don't touch it after pouring it, but that makes it too thick for me. I cover a sheet pan with the almonds, so that a very thick layer sticks to the back of the toffee. When the candy is just starting to cool, I throw a handful of callets on top and when they are shiny, I spread out and cover with more nuts. I don't want tempered chocolate on the toffee because when it contracts, it lifts off the toffee. If you want to dip completely in chocolate, pour out on parchment, score when cooling, break apart and dip when cool. You can roll in chopped nuts. You can also put raw nuts into the batch when cooking, but I prefer the other method-just my way of doing it.

[Darienne]

Having just finished making 2000 pounds of "English toffee", I'll jump in here.  My version is the crunchy, brittle type covered with dark chocolate and dry roasted chopped almonds.

In answer to what went wrong.  Wrong size pan that you already figured out.  You probably should have just halved the recipe.  The crucial step is dissolving the sugar completely before starting the cook.  I start out on low heat and let the sugar dissolve, then turn it up and stir the whole time.  I cook it until I get a puff of smoke, stir it down and wait for the second puff.  It is around 300 degrees.  When it is poured out, I spread it with an offset spatula to the thickness I want.  Some people don't touch it after pouring it, but that makes it too thick for me.  I cover a sheet pan with the almonds, so that a very thick layer sticks to the back of the toffee.  When the candy is just starting to cool, I throw a handful of callets on top and when they are shiny, I spread out and cover with more nuts.  I don't want tempered chocolate on the toffee because when it contracts, it lifts off the toffee.  If you want to dip completely in chocolate, pour out on parchment, score when cooling, break apart and dip when cool.  You can roll in chopped nuts.  You can also put raw nuts into the batch when cooking, but I prefer the other method-just my way of doing it.

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Great post. I am going to do just that but with pecans. I have lots of pecans. We just can't get them like this back in the northeast.

Thanks, Chocolot.

[PopsicleToze]

When the candy is just starting to cool, I throw a handful of callets on top and when they are shiny, I spread out and cover with more nuts. 

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What are callets? I'm assuming they're little bits of chocolate, and I tried to look it up before asking and this is what I got:

Main Entry: cal·let

Pronunciation: \ˈka-lət\

Function: noun

Etymology: perhaps from Middle French caillette frivolous person, from Caillette fl1500 French court fool

Date: 15th century

chiefly Scottish : prostitute

[CanadianBakin']

When the candy is just starting to cool, I throw a handful of callets on top and when they are shiny, I spread out and cover with more nuts. 

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What are callets? I'm assuming they're little bits of chocolate, and I tried to look it up before asking and this is what I got:

Main Entry: cal·let

Pronunciation: \ˈka-lət\

Function: noun

Etymology: perhaps from Middle French caillette frivolous person, from Caillette fl1500 French court fool

Date: 15th century

chiefly Scottish : prostitute

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I couldn't quickly find a definition but here's a link to check out: https://www.goldaskitchen.com/merchant.ihtm...pid=7147&step=4

[PopsicleToze]

Thanks! I've never seen them and will look for them at the market.

[Kerry Beal]

Having just finished making 2000 pounds of "English toffee", I'll jump in here. 

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2000 pounds!!! Tell us about the logistics of an operation so large.

[Chocolot]

Having just finished making 2000 pounds of "English toffee", I'll jump in here. 

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2000 pounds!!! Tell us about the logistics of an operation so large.

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It was an interesting 10 days. We did 12# of butter at a time. Cooling was the big problem. When it was finally cool enough to open windows, production moved quickly. Most days we did 6 batches but on a good day we did 8. My husband has never done anything in the kitchen besides burn toast and I made him a toffee maker:-) He also scrubbed the pot. Packing takes a long time. I learned a lot--mostly to never take an order that large again!!

[Kerry Beal]

Having just finished making 2000 pounds of "English toffee", I'll jump in here. 

←

2000 pounds!!! Tell us about the logistics of an operation so large.

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It was an interesting 10 days. We did 12# of butter at a time. Cooling was the big problem. When it was finally cool enough to open windows, production moved quickly. Most days we did 6 batches but on a good day we did 8. My husband has never done anything in the kitchen besides burn toast and I made him a toffee maker:-) He also scrubbed the pot. Packing takes a long time. I learned a lot--mostly to never take an order that large again!!

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It boggles the mind. I can't imagine making the same thing 10 days in a row. Also can't imagine packing that much stuff. Also can't imagine getting my husband to help in the kitchen!

[Desiderio]

can't imagine getting my husband to help in the kitchen!

[alanamoana]

When the candy is just starting to cool, I throw a handful of callets on top and when they are shiny, I spread out and cover with more nuts. 

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What are callets? I'm assuming they're little bits of chocolate, and I tried to look it up before asking and this is what I got:

Main Entry: cal·let

Pronunciation: \ˈka-lət\

Function: noun

Etymology: perhaps from Middle French caillette frivolous person, from Caillette fl1500 French court fool

Date: 15th century

chiefly Scottish : prostitute

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nice definitions!

PopsicleToze, each brand of high end chocolate has a different name for the small format chocolate that they sell (chips) -

Callebaut - callets

Valrhona - feves

Clulizel - grammes

E. Guittard - wafers

etc. etc. It's all part of their branding.

[Darienne]

Callebaut - callets

Valrhona - feves

Clulizel - grammes

E. Guittard - wafers

etc. etc.  It's all part of their branding.

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Not to forget Cacao Barry - pistoles

[rio marie]

OMG 2000lbs wow I'm amazed to say the least. My roommate bought me a pan but it won't work. It's 6.5 liter, I don't know metric measurements but it looks to be over 4 qts. It's to bottom heavy. But I will take all of you suggetions that I got and work with them again. I have to get this down I already sent our my price list and Toffee is on there. Oh well, I really appreciate all your responsed and glad I'm not the only one that makes mistakes .

Thanks everyone!

Rena

[Chocolot]

OMG 2000lbs wow   I'm amazed to say the least.  My roommate bought me a pan but it won't work.  It's 6.5 liter, I don't know metric measurements but it looks to be over 4 qts.  It's to bottom heavy.  But I will take all of you suggetions that I got and work with them again. I have to get this down I already sent our my price list and Toffee is on there.  Oh well, I really appreciate all your responsed and glad I'm not the only one that makes mistakes  .

Thanks everyone!

Rena

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I don't know what your pan looks like, but the size and the fact that it has a heavy bottom sounds good to me. It might be small for real production, but for small batches it seems right.

[pastrygirl]

It's 6.5 liter, I don't know metric measurements but it looks to be over 4 qts.

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A liter is slightly larger than a quart, approximately 4-1/4 cups.

[rio marie]

Thank you everyone for your input. I tried again tonight to make toffee and to my surprise it came out wonderful except for a splatter of toffee on my bare foot. I was pouring out onto the baking sheets and all of a sudden I felt the top of my foot burning and look down and saw some toffee on the floor but none on my foot. Oh well little lost but I got a whole batch. I used a stock pot this time and it seems to work fine.....

Thanks again and happy chocolate making!!

Rena