Cookaholics Bulletin Board

There is so much color, aroma, and flavor development that takes place between 300º and 320º that it is the secret that makes this toffee special. When toffee is practically perfect, the color of the almonds so closely matches the color of the toffee that they almost disappear. I wait for the faintest whiff of burning before I pour.

One thing that I did do differently is I didn't melt the chocolate ahead of time. Once I poured the Toffee into the pan, I put the unmelted chocolate on top of the Toffee and covered the pan with another pan. After a few minutes, the chocolate melted and I spread it around and put on the nuts. One less bowl to wash.

Follow up - I really really really like these wrappers. They work well, are cost effective and while I thought I'd miss the colours of the foil wrappers, I don't. Would buy these again, and at $18 or so for around 800 wrappers, they are a real bargain. Even getting the foil ones on sale I was paying $3/50...so this is a tremendous savings.

pete made your toffee to take to work. it was delicious as always!
thanks

I am playing cards tonight and decided to make some Toffee and take it for the host. Looking through my pantry, I found a partial bag of Light Brown Sugar that was pretty much Brown Sand with a few solid lumps mixed in. Having made Toffee before using Brown Sugar, I decided to use it up instead of using White Sugar. I am cooking away with my Candy thermometer and the stupid thing isn't working. It isn't rising past 200 degrees and before I realize it, it's time to pull the pan off the stove. I'm not sure where I was temperature wise when I pulled the Toffee, but I was lucky and caught it in time. I guess it's time to get a new thermometer.

Hey Todd,
Good save! That happened to me last year. What a pain. I was/am too lazy to test it in boiling water first. I had an instant thermometer that saved my candy (probably Pennie's caramels).
Nancy

Not certain but I would think that the unrefined solids in brown sugar might burn before you reached the 315* target temp.

I have used Brown Sugar to make toffee for years and it works for me. My grandmother taught me how when I was younger and I used to stay with her on the farm during the Summer. 3/4 cup of Brown Sugar and 1 Stick of Butter. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 7 minutes or test in cold water. The batch I made last Saturday is fine. I'm not sure what the temperature or the cooking time was when I pulled it from the stove. I was working by sight because of my broken thermometer.

If you confirm the 315* temp on a batch made with brown sugar let me know how it turns out, I'm curious.

Am making 6 batches tonight with ladies from parent council. This is the 3rd year that we've done this as a teacher present from council. We'll make the batches and cut and package in a week.

I wonder if Marilyn knows how popular her recipe is? I've have teachers ask in the fall wif we would be doing the toffee again at the end of the year.
I need to pass the torch next year though, since my oldest will be graduating and moving to high school after next year.