Toffee Breaking My Heart

by Elise
(Apple Valley, CA)

I'm trying to make homemade toffee, but the toffee's breaking my heart!

I didn't use a thermometer but I did use the ice water trick! I cooked my toffee to the stage where it immediately flattened at bottom of cup and was completely hard. Maybe this was not long enough?


I want to know if I can fix it? I already added both chocolate and nuts. Also my recipe called for butter which I used melted but for the measurement, did this cause the problem never seem to completely gel with sugar?


Thanks for any help,
Elise

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Hi Elise,

It definitely would be worth your while to invest in a candy thermometer. :) They aren't very expensive and can take a lot of the stress out of candy making.


Having said that, it sounds like you maybe only got the candy mixture up to the hard ball stage (around 250-260 degrees) rather than soft or hard crack stage (290-300 degrees).


If the toffee candy isn't as hard as it should be, the likely culprit is that you didn't get it hot enough.


When using the cold water method, you want the candy to be like threads in the water that are brittle.


Sometimes you can reheat the candy mixture if you failed to get it to a high enough temperature, but in your case since you've already added the nuts and chocolate, it's too late to re-boil it.


You haven't given specifics about how your chocolate toffee is at the moment. Is it a slab of toffee with chocolate melted on top?


If so, you may be able to salvage it by popping it into the oven at about 375 degrees F. and heat it for about 10 minutes. (Keep an eye on it so you don't burn it.)


I'm not quite sure I understand what you are saying about the butter and sugar problem. Do you mean that the sugar didn't dissolve properly? Or did the butter end up separating?


If those are the problems you've experienced, use the search feature in the upper right of the page and you'll find several conversations going on about these very issues.


You might even want to start by looking at this page discussing toffee making.


Let us know if your "toffee breaking my heart" experience turns around to become "I love my toffee" instead. :)

Blessings,
Angie