toffee - what went wrong
Discussion
morning,
so, last night i made a zillion billion tons of toffee for the masses.
recipe was:
300g demerara sugar
100g unsalted butter
8tbsp water
6tbsp of syrup
combine & gently boil for 15mins
made bonfire [4 golden syrup, 2 treacle] and treacle [6 treacle, obv!] - both of which turned out fatastically and causing denture problems for greedy colleagues as we speak.
however, i made cashew nut brittle by using 6tbp golden syrup and 300g cashews. these were roasted/salted but i washed and dried them before stirring into the mix on the last minute of the boil.
at the edges its fine, chewy instead of brittle but very good. the middle is just unedible to my palette though, the sugar has recrystallised and its like that coconut ice stuff texturewise.
bit miffed but can't fathom out why it happened???
so, last night i made a zillion billion tons of toffee for the masses.
recipe was:
300g demerara sugar
100g unsalted butter
8tbsp water
6tbsp of syrup
combine & gently boil for 15mins
made bonfire [4 golden syrup, 2 treacle] and treacle [6 treacle, obv!] - both of which turned out fatastically and causing denture problems for greedy colleagues as we speak.
however, i made cashew nut brittle by using 6tbp golden syrup and 300g cashews. these were roasted/salted but i washed and dried them before stirring into the mix on the last minute of the boil.
at the edges its fine, chewy instead of brittle but very good. the middle is just unedible to my palette though, the sugar has recrystallised and its like that coconut ice stuff texturewise.
bit miffed but can't fathom out why it happened???
Hmm if the other ones worked out ok then I'm not too sure.
I always put a teaspoon of malt vinegar into my toffee mixture, just like nan taught me.
Perhaps you didn't get your mixture hot enough? Can drop a teaspoon of toffee mix into a saucer of cold water and if it sets and turns into a little ball, it's ready.
I always put a teaspoon of malt vinegar into my toffee mixture, just like nan taught me.
Perhaps you didn't get your mixture hot enough? Can drop a teaspoon of toffee mix into a saucer of cold water and if it sets and turns into a little ball, it's ready.
Anna_S said:
Hmm if the other ones worked out ok then I'm not too sure.
I always put a teaspoon of malt vinegar into my toffee mixture, just like nan taught me.
Perhaps you didn't get your mixture hot enough? Can drop a teaspoon of toffee mix into a saucer of cold water and if it sets and turns into a little ball, it's ready.
You yorkshire folks and teaspoons of vinegar. I always put a teaspoon of malt vinegar into my toffee mixture, just like nan taught me.
Perhaps you didn't get your mixture hot enough? Can drop a teaspoon of toffee mix into a saucer of cold water and if it sets and turns into a little ball, it's ready.
What's his face off the TV puts a teaspoon of vinegar in his yorkshire pudding mix too because his nan told him.What does it actually do?
escargot said:
Anna_S said:
Hmm if the other ones worked out ok then I'm not too sure.
I always put a teaspoon of malt vinegar into my toffee mixture, just like nan taught me.
Perhaps you didn't get your mixture hot enough? Can drop a teaspoon of toffee mix into a saucer of cold water and if it sets and turns into a little ball, it's ready.
You yorkshire folks and teaspoons of vinegar. I always put a teaspoon of malt vinegar into my toffee mixture, just like nan taught me.
Perhaps you didn't get your mixture hot enough? Can drop a teaspoon of toffee mix into a saucer of cold water and if it sets and turns into a little ball, it's ready.
What's his face off the TV puts a teaspoon of vinegar in his yorkshire pudding mix too because his nan told him.What does it actually do?
Someone else said:
Cream of tartar, vinegar, and brown sugar are all commonly used in toffees. Each of these ingredients is acidic, and with reference to candy-making, each is referred to as an interfering substance, a term that aptly describes its function in a boiling syrup.
In a candy syrup, the sucrose molecules of sugar react with water in the presence of an acid to form an invert sugar. This means that as boiling continues, a portion of the sugar separates into its constituent parts—glucose and fructose. Adding cream of tartar and a dash of vinegar to a toffee recipe helps bring about this change. The presence of invert sugar is important because it influences the amount of crystal formation as well as the size of the crystals that form as candy hardens.
The bottom line on this one is that the proportion of interfering substances in the syrup has a strong influence on the texture of the finished toffee.
Or simply because this is the way I've always done it, and us simple folk don't like change In a candy syrup, the sucrose molecules of sugar react with water in the presence of an acid to form an invert sugar. This means that as boiling continues, a portion of the sugar separates into its constituent parts—glucose and fructose. Adding cream of tartar and a dash of vinegar to a toffee recipe helps bring about this change. The presence of invert sugar is important because it influences the amount of crystal formation as well as the size of the crystals that form as candy hardens.
The bottom line on this one is that the proportion of interfering substances in the syrup has a strong influence on the texture of the finished toffee.
Anna_S said:
Hmm if the other ones worked out ok then I'm not too sure.
I always put a teaspoon of malt vinegar into my toffee mixture, just like nan taught me.
Perhaps you didn't get your mixture hot enough? Can drop a teaspoon of toffee mix into a saucer of cold water and if it sets and turns into a little ball, it's ready.
+1I always put a teaspoon of malt vinegar into my toffee mixture, just like nan taught me.
Perhaps you didn't get your mixture hot enough? Can drop a teaspoon of toffee mix into a saucer of cold water and if it sets and turns into a little ball, it's ready.
You obvious aimed at treacle toffee.
But try this one -
Everton Toffee
1lb castor sugar
1 teacup of water
1/4 butter
1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar
Dissolve sugar in cup of water add butter and vinegar or lemon juice. Boil until hard when dropped in water.[Sample as you go for required texture]
But try this one -
Everton Toffee
1lb castor sugar
1 teacup of water
1/4 butter
1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar
Dissolve sugar in cup of water add butter and vinegar or lemon juice. Boil until hard when dropped in water.[Sample as you go for required texture]
taldo said:
you've cracked the sugar, happens when it gets to hot or you boil it for too long iirc.
im getting flash backs of being a young commis trying to make cinder toffee... oh dear.
it could be, but the small amount i made without nuts was fine and i boiled the batch of treacle i made for much longer and that was the best of the lot!im getting flash backs of being a young commis trying to make cinder toffee... oh dear.
mad another batch of bonfire last night, boiled to be chewy not brittle then rolled into balls and covered in melted green & blacks. its amazing but i'm having to give it away in the office again else i'll eat it all!
hmm, this is confusing! it definately sounds like you've cracked it, but if the other batches you made turned out ok after being boiled for longer i can only assume that for some reason the rogue batch got too hot? did you stir it as frequently as the other two? as im sure you know sugar does not stop getting hotter at boiling point, so if you havent stirred it as much it might have reached that crucial temperature when it cracks??? all just a theory though!!! mystical stuff sugar.
the bit i made without nuts was from the same pan, i just tipped a bit into a small tin to see what it tasted like before stirring the nuts through.
the guys in the office who took it said it was their favourite though, so go figure.
can't stop making the stuff now, i made choc covered caramels last night! will be fat as f
k before the weekend's out!
the guys in the office who took it said it was their favourite though, so go figure.
can't stop making the stuff now, i made choc covered caramels last night! will be fat as f
k before the weekend's out!shirt said:
the bit i made without nuts was from the same pan, i just tipped a bit into a small tin to see what it tasted like before stirring the nuts through.
the guys in the office who took it said it was their favourite though, so go figure.
can't stop making the stuff now, i made choc covered caramels last night! will be fat as fk before the weekend's out!
haha, sounds great, well at least you're knocking it out for fun now!the guys in the office who took it said it was their favourite though, so go figure.
can't stop making the stuff now, i made choc covered caramels last night! will be fat as f
k before the weekend's out!shirt said:
morning,
so, last night i made a zillion billion tons of toffee for the masses.
recipe was:
300g demerara sugar
100g unsalted butter
8tbsp water
6tbsp of syrup
combine & gently boil for 15mins
I tried making toffee for the first time ever yesterday, followed this recipe. But it came ot very soft. so, last night i made a zillion billion tons of toffee for the masses.
recipe was:
300g demerara sugar
100g unsalted butter
8tbsp water
6tbsp of syrup
combine & gently boil for 15mins
I wanted hard break-your-teeth toffee but ended up with a soft mess (although it tasted great)
I added it all in the pan, brought to the boil, then turned it right down so it was bubbling gently for 15 minutes, poured it out into a lined tin, and let it sit. What have I done wrong?
nothing other than the hob setting by the sound of it. turned right down is too low.
try again with the heat set at 1/4-1/3. stir constantly. you should notice a distinct difference after 10mins. have a bowl of iced water handy and drop a little in every so often so you can see the effect of more heat. 15mins is hard as you like but very brittle so crunched nicely.
try again with the heat set at 1/4-1/3. stir constantly. you should notice a distinct difference after 10mins. have a bowl of iced water handy and drop a little in every so often so you can see the effect of more heat. 15mins is hard as you like but very brittle so crunched nicely.
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