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Chocolate Separating from Toffee


Chezkaren

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A question about timing:

I'd like to make the trays of toffee a day or two ahead of the chocolate & nuts two-sided toppings.

Have not had any further troubles with chocolate separating after blotting and gentle dusting with cocoa. I am now making the toffee in two Perfect Brownie pans which turn out each 18 perfect little rectangles.

Should there be any problems if the toffee rectangles are made ahead of time?

Should be fine if you keep them in an airtight container.

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  • 2 weeks later...

New problem with a familiar recipe:

Made two batches of nut-sprinkled, chocolate-coated English toffee on the same day. The recipe calls for: sugar, butter, salt & nuts. Dusted with cocoa, spread with melted chocolate, dusted with finely chopped nuts. Both batches successful at this point. Put into air-tight container.

Batch #1 is the usual...still crunchy on day 5. Batch #2, tastes the same as batch #1, but is losing its sharp crunch.

Another learning experience is about to take place...I hope...

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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New problem with a familiar recipe:

Made two batches of nut-sprinkled, chocolate-coated English toffee on the same day. The recipe calls for: sugar, butter, salt & nuts. Dusted with cocoa, spread with melted chocolate, dusted with finely chopped nuts. Both batches successful at this point. Put into air-tight container.

Batch #1 is the usual...still crunchy on day 5. Batch #2, tastes the same as batch #1, but is losing its sharp crunch.

Another learning experience is about to take place...I hope...

More inversion of the sugar for some reason?

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What could I have done to cause more inversion of the sugar? Do not recall doing anything different. However, maybe I did?

Fortunately the toffee still tastes good and if you didn't know it was supposed to crunch sharply, you might still eat it with satisfaction. I hope.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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Toffee tends to "tenderize" after a few days. It is only crisp for a while. Maybe the one batch is just faster?:-) It doesn't really soften like with moisture, but it becomes less brittle. The bite is less hard. I don't think I am making much sense!

Ruth Kendrick

Chocolot
Artisan Chocolates and Toffees
www.chocolot.com

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But then why is the second batch faster than the first and by so much? It was made only a very few hours later and is now much softer while the first is still crispy sharp?

As for making sense...well, the weight of all those medals is heavy on your brain perhaps!!! :raz: Hey! You always make sense to me.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I've had that happen to me with a similar recipe and I'm trying hard to remember why...did you bring it to the same temperature both times or take a guess? The other thing I was wondering about is if stray sugar crystals might have caused the problem. Either way it tastes good but it is disappointing when it doesn't turn out the way you had hoped.

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

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I can't tell you why, only that it happens:-) I can make batch after batch of a particular candy, and each batch is a little different. Maybe the room is a bit warmer as you continue to cook, maybe you measured something slightly different. I once made 6 batches of pulled buttermints, one after the other. I had people here to pull them. Each batch crystallized a little differently. I'm sure there is a great scientific reason for it, but just be grateful the toffee didn't separate and enjoy it:-)

Ruth Kendrick

Chocolot
Artisan Chocolates and Toffees
www.chocolot.com

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Two useful replies. Thank you, both.

Good easily have been stray crystals. I was working on overload I think when I made it. I also accidentally allowed it to go a few degrees over the called for temp. It hit the correct temperature, I went to remove the pot, and suddenly the temperature was up 3 degrees. I was fine about the care for the temperature basically. Have one of those new-fangled instant read out jobbies. Love my my toy!

Yes, it tastes good. Just a question of to whom to give it now. With an explanation. The veterinarians would be fine... Have to check my list.

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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It all has to do with how much moisture remains. You cook to a certain temperature for a certain time for two reasons, one of which is because it's the easiest method you have at your disposal to remove approximately the same amount of moisture. However, if you have inconsistent ingredient additions (of which water is one...), your heating is inconsistent (such as resistance based kitchen stove-tops which go on/off to maintain temperature), your raw material composition varies from batch to batch, your stirring is different between batches, and your environment is different - you'll likely end up with a coupla percentage points difference in your solids content (and, thus, your moisture content). A difference of 1% moisture in your finished product will cause a sensory textural difference that's discernible to most...

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I agree with you Sebastian, but a thermometer tells you how much water is left. If you end with the same temp, it should be the same amount of moisture, shouldn't it?

Ruth Kendrick

Chocolot
Artisan Chocolates and Toffees
www.chocolot.com

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  • 2 months later...

There should be published some International Codes of Endeavor for Darienne. First: never do two things at once. And second: when you start screwing up everything, don't get stubborn and push on, just quit and go and lie down. You can make it tomorrow.

OK. I completely messed up the first batch of toffee, DL's Buttercrunch Toffee for putting into ice cream. I cooked it a tad too long and plunged it into cold water to stop the cooking process: it immediately adhered to the pot. Panic. Panic. What to do? No time to go and search for vaguely remembered instructions. So I added some water and the mixture came off the walls and floor of the pot and once again I had a viable batch. But because it was just slightly on the burnt side I thought, and I added too much water,I didn't know how to cook it to return it to what correct temperature or consistency. Poured it over the nuts. Oh what the heck! Poured the melted chocolate over that.

(Burned the next batch of nuts. Let the meat pies where the dogs could get them. They didn't. Lucky. Left the candy too near the counter edge. That's past when I should have quit. Now I am done.)

Now I have a delicious strange concoction of toasted nuts, hardened chocolate topping...and...very soft chewy taffy. What should I do with it? What can I do with it? Thanks.

ps. Did I quit? No. Cleaning up, I put the unused baking soda, which I left out of the second batch along with the vanilla, back into the cornstarch container. Right.

pps. One hour later but not to late to edit. DH suggests rolling the concoction into balls and making a truffle shape, dipped in tempered bittersweet. A great idea. NOT TONIGHT!

Edited by Darienne (log)

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I used to have the same problem with my toffee being inconsistent. Be it having different texture or sometimes with more oil on the surface. As I make this toffee over the years, I've noticed that timing is very important. When I add my sugar and when I add the almonds (I use slices) are important. Now, I haven't had made a "bad" batch in a long time. For the recipe I have, I know I have to add the sugar once the sticks of butter and margarine are half way melted. Almond goes in when the mixture foams. Cooked till my eyes and nose tell me it's done. I don't have a problem with my toffee separating and the toffee doesn't get greasy.

I don't temper the chocolate that I use for coating the toffee. I put it on when the toffee has hardened and cooled down, then sparkle roasted chopped nuts on top. I break them up by hand when the chocolate is set. I let it set in room temp. Some nuts fall off when I break up the toffee, but the chocolate tend to stay put. Oh, I do flip the toffee over and put the chocolate on the smooth side. It just makes spreading the chocolate easier.

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  • 1 year later...

Didn't know where to put this tip, a tip which all the rest of you out there may already know.

Getting the chopped nuts to stick well to the chocolate has been a problem at times for me and DH came up with a solution last night when the chocolate was already to set to receive the nuts. Put the pan under the broiler for a few minutes...keeping a sharp eye on it at all times...and the chocolate will remelt and accept the nuts big time.

Thanks, DH. :wub:

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I use a recipe almost identical to that of Darcie B, except when the toffee is still very hot, I sprinkle the chocolate (chips or chopped) over the toffee. The heat from the toffee melts the chocolate, which I then spread with an offset spatula. Then sprinkle with pecan pieces and press them in a bit. Perfect recipe for a half sheet pan. I dump all the sugar in at once and I generally cook to 315F.

I have never had the chocolate separate from the toffee with this recipe (have made a lot, it is my go-to holiday gift). I have a few pecan pieces fall off when I break the toffee up, but I recycle those in the next batch along with the chopped pecans. There are usually a few little pieces of toffee mixed in but that's fine.

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kerry,

they referred to your suggestion of dusting toffee with cocoa powder. Do you do this while the toffee base is still hot or wait until it cools?

When it's cool. I wipe first with paper towel to get any grease off the surface, dust with the cocoa, then wipe again.

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  • 3 years later...

so, not sure what's going on...but have been making toffee for years now but every once in a while, i have an issue where when its time to break up the toffee, the chocolate falls off, like it had never even adhered to the toffee?  and its not every batch, its just every once in a while.  so i (or an employee) makes toffee, we spread on 2 silipats, cover with parchment (we do this to help absorb some extra butter/fat when it cools) and then we use a papertowel and brush cocoa powder on both sides...after that we cover with a thin layer of tempered chocolate on both sides, one side either getting nuts or crushed pretzels.  (and we do with milk and dk chocolate)  sooooo, curious if our kitchen is too cold and the chocolate sets too fast?  not adding enough, or using too much, cocoa powder?  cooking too hot? (300F), not sure?????  has anyone else ever had this happen?  we dont have an enrober and we dont enrobe pieces completely like i see a lot of people do, there's a seam obviously from front to back, and of course when we break it that creates some open areas.  but when its done right, the toffee breaks into large and small pieces, both sides of chocolate entact, no problem whatsoever.  but then, sometimes, the chocolate slides off the toffee like it never had a chance in hell on staying on ;0)    any thoughts would be great.  xo guys!

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Have the same problem at home.  Not always.  Just sometimes.  And don't know why.  I follow just about the same procedures as does Chocoera.  So I too am interested in the answer to this problem. 

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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I know that someone who left their butter crunch in the car on a freezing weekend found that all the chocolate fell off after it had been fine initially - so I suspect temperature might play a part. 

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Hmm...that's a good point, Kerry.  I often put the toffee in the fridge after coating one side with chocolate and almonds to get it solid enough to turn it over and coat the second side.  Impatience on my part, no doubt.  Maybe the second coating is the one which falls off.  The toffee would then be cold when receiving the second coating of chocolate and not as receptive to the chocolate.  It's not as if the chocolate falls off both sides. 

 

Thank you.  As always.  :smile:

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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If you think about it, we use tempered chocolate in molds because we want it to shrink from the shiny surface of the mold. With toffee, you want to use untempered chocolate so that it doesn't contract away from the shiny smooth toffee surface. Using nuts or pretzels will cover up the dullness. Also, when breaking, make the break in the valley rather than a mountain top. You might want to check your technique if you are getting fat seepage. Good luck.

Ruth Kendrick

Chocolot
Artisan Chocolates and Toffees
www.chocolot.com

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thank you so much guys!  i really needed a second (third, fourth etc) opinion on this.  i think temperature is our culprit here..but i am curious on ruth's idea for untempered chocolate.  will give that a go.  PS: did a bacon batch and regular batch of toffee (one uses mk, one uses dk) and purposely left them at room temp in our warm kitchen,  compared to cooling room, before coating, and both batches were fine.  not to say this will happen again, but hey, a successful batch is a successful batch right? :0)

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