Everyone remembers their grandparents for different things. One of the things for which I remember my grandmother is her cooking, and in particular the toffee she used to make when we all had colds. It is a lot softer than the toffee you get in the shops; very buttery and sweet. So today I set out to make a batch, following her rediculously simple recipe. It was headed up Good Toffee. I’ve yet to find the recipes for either Average or Bad Toffee.
6 table spoons of sugar
4oz of butter
3 desert spoons of milk
3 desert spoons of treacle
a little vinegarBoil gently for 20 minutes until a little dropped into cold water forms a ball.
I couldn’t believe it would really be as simple as that, but it was, and after pouring it into a small baking tray and stacking it in the fridge for the rest of the afternoon I now have 28 twists of treacle toffee neatly wrapped up in greaseproof paper to take into work on Monday.
You have to be very careful with the boiling. The whole mixture seems to be highly volatile and you need to keep the temperature down very low to stop it boiling. So low, in fact, that you couldn’t even see the flame on the gas under the pan, which was right down to its lowest possible setting. The bit about dropping it into water is quite clever, too; you simply scoop a little of your mixture out using a teaspoon and let it drip into a mug of cold water. If it solidifies into a little ball of toffee and sinks to the bottom you know it’s ready.
I think, tomorrow, I might make another batch, this time swapping the treacle for Golden Syrup, so I can mix up the batches for variety.
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I remember my English sister as a 12 year old going through a phase of making toffee.
Thank you for this input.
Nik what type of sugar, is it brown, white, refined or castor?
I don’t think it really matters as it melts, although I used castor sugar as it is finer. I suspect that brown sugar would make a very different kind of toffee, though, so perhaps sticking to the white varieties is best, particularly if you are using Golden Syrup rather than treacle.
I did a trawl for toffee recipes and yours came up. As the simplest version I tried it, fantastic. I hadn’t any treacle so used Golden Syrup instead, and it works very well. It was my mothers birthday and as a treat had decided to make the toffee as a change from her making me cakes. It was a hit with my father who is a retired owner of an old fashioned sweet shop and is well versed in products from dozens of old manufacturers. It has set me on a quest as he mentioned one called “invalid toffee” that had been very popular. I am now trying to find that one.
Can you please tell me how to make toffee.
please can you publish on here how to make your own toffee with a hint of chilli. trust me this is a lovely combination for donkeys xx.
My pet donkeys really need to be fed the right standard of home made toffee!
Fabulous, so easy, took a little longer than stated to get setting right but so easy & great taste! Thanks
was looking for a way to make simple toffee!! looks like i found it, cheers!!
tried the recipe fantastic ??? appart from one thing i cant seem to get it stay in a solid state once poured out and left to set , it soon goes back to a liquid state if left long enough ,, any ideas
ps ,, what amount of vinegar is required ??
yeh mine wouldnt set either.gonna try again-wish me luck with my cooking!
I am now 70 years of age and, when I was around 8 years old my Grandfather (who ALWAYS made Toffee) produced some in small tins. He had them on the draining board in the kitchen and I, waved my hand around them and suddenly plunged my right hand into the toffee. An experience I will never ever forget. The ottffee still tasted as good as ever though. Am about to try to make my own tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Veronica
Made both syrup and treacle Toffee, both of them better than anything you can buy in the shops and sooooooooooo easy to make.
Ann
It is very easy to make. It tastes excellent.
erm but do u put them all in cold water or is that just a way of testing it
more instructions pleeeaaasseee
You only drop a small blob for testing into the water. The rest of it, you pour into a shallow baking tray and allow to start cooling. When it is cool enough to draw a knife through and leave scores, score it into pieces and, when dry, break it up and wrap in greaseproof paper.
What does the vinegar do…?
And do i really need the syrup? just so happens i don’t have any! i can’t easily leave the house. will honey do? can i get away without it?
thanks!
You can’t do this with honey. You really do need to use syrup, because of its very high sugar content.
Thanks Nik – but isn’t honey pretty much entirely sugar? but then i guess syrup is entitrely sugar!
I think i’ll give it a go without either!
And does the vinegar do?
Well good luck. I’d be very interested to hear how it turns out with honey instead of syrup, so please do let me know.
The vinegar, I think, helps it all to gel together, although I’m not sure. This is a family recipe passed down from my grandmother and I have found that you can leave out some of her ingredients for other things – in particular she put salt in a lot of things. Again, I’d be very interested to hear how it works without.
Hi
I made both types with treacle and with golden syrup, we live in Mozambique so goodies / sweeties hard to get. But like some previous comments whilst the toffe tastes divine it doesnt set … i have to freeze it get some out and put back in freezer otherwise goes back to runny even in fridge. PLEASE can you tell me where i went wrong as want to try again but as only get to shop every 2 months due to a 12 hour drive into South Africa i cant afford to waste anything
How to make it set is to put it all back into the pan and boil it for longer. That’s all…
um yeh if my mum let me amke them im sure they would be good i have a recipe without syrup and vinegar will it work
I am going to make some of this toffee now with some sesame seeds for sale at my little charity stall on Saturday. Hope everyone likes it!
i have made this toffie and it tasted delisious i did not use vinigar at all and it turned out fine and tasty what i also done wis dribbled chochlate over the top once it had dried and it tasted delicious
thanks for the great recipy
xx
I used fig syrup instead of treacle or golden syrup and added lime juice…Im thinking of selling it commercialy its so good
Hi, I tried this toffee recipe thought it was great. Best toffee i have ever made thanks
Hi Everyone, The recipe above is a really good and easy one to get started with…how do I know…well I make toffees myself from an old recipe my Granny made up years ago with her brothers…it was called Riley’s Toffee and was very popular in Britain. Whilst I’ve never used vinegar in toffee myself…I can see how it wouldn’t harm things if you did use it. As for the question about the toffee not setting…here’s the secret…you’re not getting it up to a hot enough boil. It needs to get REALLY hot on a boil, but be careful – hot toffee is like hot tarmac – it sticks like glue if you get it on your skin…pls pls be V careful!! The best way to get this really hot on a home gas top stove is to place one of those disposable tin foil plates under the gas flame (cut out a hole in the middle and place it over your (unlit of course!!) gas ring) this will reflect the heat back into the pan. You do not take it off the boil, gradually turning it down slowly over 20/25 mins so as not to burn it, until it is really thick and when you run the spoon through it, it should part and then start to slowly come back together (think of the parting of the waves and you’ll be there!) Then it’s ready for the tin. This should stop the setting problems. I also set mine in a fridge over night for that extra chill on it but that really is just personal preference and me hiding it from my kids!!
I’ve made alot of toffee’s from alot of different recipes. this is a very good recipe and pretty much much how i would do it off the top of my head. i dont use vinegar in my toffee(sometimes a pinch of salt) i think the vinegar is only really needed if making honey comb tofee where you would add a small amount of bicarb to make it bubble(the bicarb and vinegar react and create carbon dioxide bubbles). The setting problems means you havent got the mixture hot enough. 150-160 degrees c should do it , if u have a candy thermometer. solid balls in a glass of water altho, the hotter you make it the harder and more chewy the toffeee is.
oh and just add a drop of bottled chilli hot sauce for the donkeys. there is a farm in devon that make chilli toffee and chocolate etc. cant rememeber its name something like south devon chilli farm.
Excellent Recipe! my mother has been trying to make toffee for years but it would never set! this was my first time making toffee and its perfect! i found that 20 mins on a low heat wasn’t enough to give the toffee the correct texture, i left it in the pan on a medium heat for about 35-40 mins with constant stirring until the mixture went darker, Thanks Very Much!
Hi!! I’m looking for a way to make toffee syrup for a specialty coffee I’m making for a competition. I was just wondering how I can use this recipe to make a runny syrup rather than a solid sweet? Any and all ideas are welcome
Ooh I also want to know how to make the toffee super hard so that I can crush some and make some nice chunky sprinkles to go on top. Thanks!
Hi, Tried your recipe works really well. I invested in a thermometer and found that heating the mixture to 245-250F gives a caramel / soft toffee. I also tried heating up to 265F which gave a hard brittle tablet type toffee. I also tried with the vinegar but it curdled the milk, so made the final batch without.
what do you mean ‘until a little dropped into cold water forms a ball?’
thanks
Mmm Yum! Mines setting right now with toasted almonds sprinkled on top. Wonder what it would be like, made with clotted cream!
oh, it set but it was really sticky sticky, & i wanted it to be hard. Break your teeth toffee, so put it in the oven. Now its rock solid!
The instructions/comments are abit contridictory on this recipe. ie. Boil it, but boil it low, low as possible when it needs to get really hot in 20 minutes. Try it in the oven!
Julia, For your syrup make the above recipe in a deep pan. Once made take off the heat and instead of pouring into a tin to set add 3 tablespoons of water alittle at a time. – allow to cool. You should have a syrup. If it is too thin ot thick repeat adding more or less water. For very brittle just make sure it is boiled to 160C or as said drip a bit into cold water and it should form a hard ball – like glass. THen pour thinly on a large sheet. Once set crush and keep in the freezer until you need it.
Hi all . Can i tell you an even easier method that i use . Quantities are (per kilo toffee) 500 g syrup/treacle or mixed. 250 g sugar and 250 g butter and 1 teaspoon vinegar to help it set . this makes hard toffee , add milk or cream for softer toffee to your own taste . And here’s the clever bit , just lump it all into a bowl and heat on high power in the microwave for a few mins . Keep stopping it and testing it using the glass of water trick until you get the consistency you want . Trust me soooo easy.
I keep trying to make peanut brittle but even though I follow various recipies my toffee is too darn sticky. it glues my teeth together. I heat my mixture to the ‘hard crack’ stage but how do I make a brittle toffee that doesn’t turn chewy and doesn’t stick my mouth shut.
I used a lot less golden syrup (1 tbsp for instance)and hated the mixture to a high heat so it was a little darker that toffee would be and the mixture set to a permanently brittle tablet. If you use no syrup and high heat, the tablet ends up like the centre of a dime bar. On trying other consistancies, i have found that tweaking the milk may affect the softness and chewyness of the toffee, which is what im after!
what is a dessert spoon vs. a tablespoon?
gygirl – dessert spoon is the normal spoon you eat desserts with (10ml) – ie. the one bigger than a teaspoon. Tablespoon is the much bigger (15ml) spoon that you usually use to serve desserts with.
I just made mine and it was very nice in small doses. Seems too rich. I think it is because it is difficult to get 3 spoons of golden syrup without it getting all round the bottom of the spoon so probably overdid it a bit. Anyone else find this? Might try 1 1/2 dessert spoons worth next time and see how it goes.
I’ve been looking everywhere for a good toffee recipe – this is so simple and worked really well. Thank you so much for posting it
Merry xmas!
Now i have let the toffee set longer in the fridge it doesn’t taste as rich now. Needs at least 2-3 hours in the fridge. I think i was too keen to eat it
Great recipe, thanx. I added some vanilla to mine and it was scrummy!
Hiya,
I’m off ill and remembred that my gran made toffee for me when i was little this sounds really good, but how long do i need to cool it for exactly???
Made mine with Maple syrup…..tastes good, just waiting for it to set!
Made ours just now cant wait for it 2 set . THANX.
I made this today and how easy was it???? I used syrup instead of treacle and condensed milk instead of milk as thats how my grandma used to make it, I had to boil it for slightly longer (think I used too much syrup) but I prepared for this buying a pan for £2.oo just incase it stuck, I also used vanilla sugar instead..the kids love it!!!
My first attempt ended up like candy brittle…guess I over cooked it…second batch very nice…really easy andhardly any ingredients! In Britain we call this Bonfire Toffee.
errmm can i use golden syrup instead?