English Toffee

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

I doubled this recipe, used a chef's pan for my cookie sheet, and did not spread it over the entire pan. I let it cool slightly in the saucepan before pouring it into the sheet pan, and because it was slightly cool, it stopped spreading on its own at just the right thickness. The edge was not too thin.

I used a good chocolate (in bar form, and melted it over the double boiler rather than trying to melt it directly on the toffee. It was way easier to spread and to control the thickness.

This was my very first effort at candy-making and it turned out perfectly! Two things helped tremendously--the candy thermometor, and the direction that it would take about 10 minutes of boiling.

In addition, to the pecans in the toffee itself, I added some finely chopped pecans on top of the chocolate. That hides any imperfections (or fingerprints in the chocolate.

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

Use 1/2 cup (2 sticks Butter
Use 1 cup Sugar
Completely melt the Butter first on low heat and then add Sugar.
Increase heat to Medium while stirring constantly and until Sugar is smooth and liquid and fully mixed into melted butter.
and forget the Pecans!!!!!
Use 3/4 cup of finely small chopped Almonds and add to mixture of Butter and Sugar as soon as the Sugar is mixed into the butter.
Stir CONSTANTLY
When mixture begins to boil add 2 tbsp Water and 1 tbsp Light Corn Syrup
Heat mixture to 300 degrees and pour onto greased or non-stick cookie sheet or other suitable surface.
Add melted chocolate to top.

I have made about 12 batches of this recipe over the last month, and even though I am a beginner to candy making, every batch has turned out perfectly and tasted AMAZING! It tasted to me like a Heath or Skor candy bar.

The trick is to stir every part of the mixture constantly and to keep the sides and bottom of the pan stirred very well and CONSTANTLY by using a silicone spatula. If you don't it WILL burn! I always use a 9x15 non-stick cookie pan/sheet to pour it into and I always grease the bottom of the pan. I also don't use butter in my recipe, I use the bargain shelf 60-70 cent per pound economy margarine and it has worked really well for me and been affordable considering the amounts I was making.

And, trust me, almonds are really the way to go!

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

This recipe looks wonderful and I'm sure it is great when properly made, but I must have gone wrong with something. I have a little experience in candy-making and I've made other kinds of toffee successfully, but this one was all grainy when it cooled. I cooked it to 300dF and it was lighter in color than peanut butter, and still grainy as though the sugar hadn't melted. Is that possible at 300d? Should I have cooked it longer? Or, should I cook the sugar and water to a syrup before adding the butter and then proceed as directed? I want to try this again, please tell me if you have any advice to make it smooth and crisp. Thanks and happy holidays!

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

This recipe is really easy to make.

I cooked the sugar/butter mixture to almost 305-310 degrees to assure it came out crispy.

I also suggest melting the chocolate chips in the microwave to make them pourable, as they take a long time to melt on their own, and may not even melt fully if your toffee is not hot enough by the time you get it in the prepared pan.

Other than that its awesome! We love you Paula!

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

I've been baking all my life but never attempted making candy. Didn't have a candy thermometer so had to rely on the "hard strand" test - glad I helped my mom make popcorn balls as a kid and knew what to look for. I was worried it wasn't cooked enough but the color was right and it formed brittle strands - turned out fabulous...even my very opinionated baby brother likes it. Only change I'd make is to use a smaller cookie pan - it spread to much and was very thin on the edges.

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

I made 3 batches yesterday. At first I followed some of the recommendations to use 1 and a half cups of sugar and only one cube of butter. That turned out to be a hardened sugar mess. I ran to the market and bought a Candy Thermometer.

Then I followed the recipe exactly. Only this time I really took the 10 minutes or more until it came to a boil. I stirred it constantly and then checked to make sure all the sugar crystals were disolved.

One other thing I did wash to check the Candy Thermometer for accurancy. My water boiled at 195 degree F. That could be the altitude. I am over 5,000 ft above sea level.

With the second batch, I turned down the heat low enough so that it was a very slow rolling boil and I did not stir. It took 20 minutes to reach 285 on my thermometer and was the color of a light peanut butter. I poured it into my buttered cookie sheet with non stick aluminum foil The recipe says to spread it to 1/4 thickness. There was not enough toffee to come near to that. Mine kind of spread on it own to maybe 1/8 inch and still only covered about 2/3 of pan. When It was cooled I tasted it. Still abit too sugary and not a real crisp snap.

The third batch was better but my cooking time doubled. Too much work. But the taste is fantastic.

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

I used a candy thermometer and followed recipe exactly, except I doubled it. Things were going smoothly until I had to add the vanilla at which point the butter separated due to the temperature change so I was left with extremely oily toffee. Going to try again though, wondering if slightly warming the vanilla or omitting it will solve the problem.

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

Followed the recipe to the "T" (ok, i used hazelnuts and it turned out perfect! Never made candy before, so I picked up the $4 candy thermometer at the grocery store while buying butter. If you don't have one, just spend the extra $4.

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

This was first ever attempt to make candy and I saw Paula make this on her show. She made it look easy, so I decided to give it a try. It was easy and it turned out wonderful! Thank you Paula!

Flag

Flag This Review?

You must provide a reason for flagging this review.

Please provide the reason why you think this review is inappropriate.

• Submit

or Cancel

Let me start by saying I am not the world's best cook. : I made four batches of this for friends and my own family, and it took about three hours. It was great fun, and I didn't have any mishaps, except I left out the vanilla on the last batch. I tried dark and milk chocolate morsels. While the taste is most delicious, the toffee itself did not harden. I was expecting a harder crunch. It had the consistency of something more like a praline. Everyone still loved it, and I am keeping my refrigerated as it tastes best that way to me. Of course a hard tofee would break your teeth if refrigerated. I guess I would like to know if that is the consistency others got, or if I just failed somewhere along the way.

I did not use a candy thermometer, but I watched for it to carmelize and just used my best judgement there based on the 10 minute suggestion. I even dropped the mixture into cold water and it quickly formed and hardened. I did not want to burn it, but I wonder if it had gotten darker in color would that have created the consistency I needed to harden.

Thanks for any feedback. I would definitely make again if I knew it would turn out harder, although my aging teeth probably appreciate the way it did turn out. :