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| A good piece of Toffee should be savored. Savor its smooth and buttery caramel flavor, its crunchy texture, and its delicious coating of dark chocolate and toasted almonds. Often called Butter Toffee, Buttercrunch Toffee, or even English Toffee, it's so good that it's almost impossible to eat just one piece. A few notes on equipment. First, usea heavy bottomed saucepan so the sugar syrup doesn't scorch while it's cooking. Also, buya good digital candy thermometer with a probe, or a mercury thermometer with a metal clip so you can fasten it to the side of the pan. When using a candy thermometer make sure the thermometer or probe does not rest on the bottom of the pan as this can cause an inaccurate temperature reading. When making a sugar syrup, sugar crystallization tends to be the biggestproblem as it will turn a smooth sugar syrup into a grainy mess.This is caused by the formation of sugar crystals which can start a chainreaction of crystallization (the process of sugar particles clinging together)that makes the mixture grainy. So, to prevent this from happening, stir thebutter, sugar, water, and corn syrup until they start to boil as this ensuresthat the sugar has completely melted. Then, stop stirring. Cover the saucepan with a lid for about one minute to allow the sides of the pan to wash themselves down and dissolve any sugar crystals. Then remove the lid and cook the sugar syrup until it reaches the correct temperature.Do not stir themixture as it cooks, as introducing a wooden spoon to the mixture as it boilscan cause crystallization. After you make the Toffee, cleaning the saucepan is an issue. The best way to remove all that hard caramelized sugar is to fill the saucepan with water and bring it just to a boil. Then turn off the heat, cover the saucepan with a lid, and let it sit until the sugar dissolves. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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