MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

     Title: English Toffee -- Part 1
Categories: Candies, Desserts, Nuts, Chocolate
     Yield: 1 1/2 lb/700

     6 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips
          - (170 g)
     1 c  Sugar (200 g)
   1/2 c  Slmonds; chopped (60 g)
     1 ts Vanilla extract (5 mL)
   1/8 ts Salt
     1 c  Unsalted butter (225 g)

 Toffee is a hard candy made mainly with sugar and butter. In
 America, the term "English toffee" is generally used for
 toffee prepared with a coating of chocolate and almonds.

 This recipe is easy to prepare and yields a full flavored,
 crunchy toffee that has just a little "stickiness" when
 chewed.

 To create toffee, we will basically heat sugar and butter
 until the sugar reaches the hard crack stage (300°F/150°C).

 If you don't allow the sugar to reach this temperature
 before cooling, the texture will be different. For example,
 if heated to the soft crack stage (the temperature range
 just below hard crack), the candy would be more like a
 butterscotch than a brittle, crunchy toffee. (In some parts
 of the world, this is also considered a toffee, but it's not
 what comes to mind when I hear the word.) If the sugar is
 heated beyond 320°F/160°C, then it might not retain its
 solid form and turn into liquid caramel over time.

 Select a small saucepan. Make sure the saucepan is large
 enough to contain about double the volume of the butter and
 sugar. As the mixture cooks, it will bubble and increase in
 volume - using too small of a pan may result in overflows.

 Melt the butter in the saucepan with the sugar and salt plus
 a little (about 2 ts, 10 mL) water over gentle heat.
 (Low heat is important to prevent separation later. Just be
 patient and let it melt together.) The extra water will make
 it easier for the sugar to heat evenly and melt together.

 Stir the mixture constantly while heating over medium-high
 heat. The butter and sugar will bubble and foam as the water
 boils off. This can take several minutes because butter
 contains a decent amount of water. The volume of the mixture
 will increase dramatically at this point. At this point the
 temperature should be relatively constant at a few degrees
 above the boiling point of water.

 Once the water has boiled off, the mixture will collapse and
 thicken. The temperature will also start to rise again. The
 goal is to remove the pan from the heat once the mixture
 passes 300°F/150°C and before it reaches 320°F/160°C.

 Use an instant read thermometer or candy thermometer to keep
 track of the temperature as you heat and stir because the
 temperature can change pretty rapidly once the
 off.

 CONTINUED TO PART TWO

 From: http://www.cookingforengineers.com

 Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives

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