Monday, December 10, 2007

REVIEW: Toffee Troubles

I am so impressed at how EASY this toffee recipe was. However, a few things didn't work out quite right... help please?

When it was "the color of Peanut Butter", I poured it out only to find the "toffee" was swimming in melted butter in the pan. It was mostly hard after leaving it in the fridge for 2 hours, (still kind of chewy-hard, not rock hard) but once I left it on the counter overnight, it was gooey-ish and the chocolate was melted. It does taste right though. But it is kind of grainy. Did I not heat it long enough? Did I use cheap sugar? Will baking chocolate not melt as much as choc. chips?

I promise I used real butter this time.

Please help. I want to make a million batches of this for everyone we know, but I want to figure out what I did wrong first...

12 comments:

Alicia said...

Let me ask the professional, my sister in law. She should know what to do.

Rynell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rynell said...

I have had this problem with the toffee before. Recently, I adapted the recipe a little bit. I increased the sugar in the recipe a little and that seems to help. Also...do not let it smoke. It's overdone at that point. Sometimes the butter and sugar will separate, but come back together, other times it won't come back together. (Sorry-- toffee can be finicky.) Try this slight adaptation of the original recipe.

1 Cup Butter (no substitutes!)
1 ½ Cup Sugar
1 Cup Walnuts
1 Cup Chocolate Chips (semisweet or dark work best)

Chop nuts and spread on cookie sheet. Cook butter and sugar together on medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and the color of peanut butter. (I always get out my jar of PB and compare the color as it cooks.) Pour mixture over nuts. Wait approx. 1 minute for mixture to cool slightly then dump chocolate chips evenly over toffee mixture. Chips will begin to melt, use rubber spatula to spread chocolate evenly. Then sprinkle additional chopped nuts on top of chocolate. Put in refrigerator for a couple of hours to harden then chop into pieces of whatever size you desire. You can either chop the toffee directly on your cookie sheet or move the slab of toffee to a cutting board to chop up. I move the whole slab to a cutting board so I protect my cookie sheets.

Also...when comparing the jar of PB--some brands are lighter in color than others. I would lean towards the lighter color.

The quality/grain of sugar could make a difference, but I usually just use regular granulated sugar not fancy superfine, though that may be worth experimenting with.
I hope this helps. Best of luck in your toffee making!

Rynell said...

sorry this comment posted twice. Darn Blogger.

Lesley said...

Thanks Rynell! I will try finer grain. I have never heard of nuts on the bottom! What a fun twist!

I think humidity is a factor here, too. They day after I made it, we were at 97% humidity. That HAS to effect it. Houston shmuston.

Alicia, I am eager to hear what the professional says.

Alicia said...

You just heard from the professional- Rynell. She is my sister in law and she makes the best toffee- that was her recipe. Good luck- I hope it turns out! I want to try making this sometime soon too. Thanks Rynell!!!!

Rynell said...

Oh yeah--never make it when it is very humid. That will surely ruin it. Sorry! I should have mentioned it.

And...you need to use a heavy bottomed pot & a heavy cookie sheet. (I use a jelly roll pan.)

Lesley said...

Ahhh... okay, thanks Rynell! Well, you-know-where will freeze over before we have a dry day in Houston. But I will wait for something below 90% humidity. Thanks so much for the advice, guys! I will be trying it again this weekend.

Katie said...

Hey, use cane sugar not beet sugar. You are cooking it tooo long too and definately use choc chips not baking chocolate. Follow the instructions above. If it doesn't work let me know. I can ship you some batches. We don't have humidity problems here :)

Lesley said...

THANK YOU!

Chris J. said...

Have you tried going to the store and buying toffee?

If I were you, I'd bill Scott for your time. What do you think is the going rate for a personal chef? $100/hr? That sounds about right.

Lesley said...

I think my time is worth at least $100/hour. Especially when I could be reading about Armaments instead of cooking. But what if it tastes awful? I'd hate to be fired.