Toffee
Encyclopedia
Caramelization
Caramelization is the browning of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor....
sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
or molasses
Molasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...
(creating inverted sugar
Inverted sugar syrup
Inverted or invert sugar syrup is a mixture of glucose and fructose; it is obtained by splitting sucrose into these two components. Compared with its precursor, sucrose, inverted sugar is sweeter and its products tend to remain more moist and are less prone to crystallisation...
) along with butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
, and occasionally flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 300 to 310 °F (149 to 154 °C). While being prepared, toffee is sometimes mixed with nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
or raisins.
The process of making toffee involves boiling the ingredients until the mix is stiff enough to be pulled into a shape which holds and has a glossy surface. The resulting mixture will typically be poured into a shallow tray and allowed to cool to form a sheet. Different mixes, processes, and (most importantly) temperatures of toffee making will result in different textures and hardnesses, from soft and often sticky to a hard brittle material.
A popular variant in the US is English toffee, which is a very buttery toffee often made with almonds. It is available in both chewy and hard versions. Heath bar
Heath bar
The Heath bar is an American candy bar made of toffee, marketed by L.S. Heath beginning in 1928, subsequently by Leaf, Inc., and since 1996 by Hershey....
s are a type of candy made with an English toffee core. Although named English toffee it bears little resemblance to the wide range of confectionery known as toffee currently available in the UK.
Another variant is Cinder toffee, also called honeycomb or sponge toffee
Sponge toffee
Sponge toffee is a sugary confection with a light, rigid, sponge-like texture.The main ingredients are typically brown sugar, corn syrup and baking soda, sometimes with an acid such as vinegar. The baking soda and acid react to form carbon dioxide which is trapped in the highly viscous mixture...
, which is an aerated
Aeration
Aeration is the process by which air is circulated through, mixed with or dissolved in a liquid or substance.-Aeration of liquids:-Methods:Aeration of liquids is achieved by:...
version with bubbles introduced by adding baking soda
Sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula Na HCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda . The natural mineral form is...
and vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
while mixing. These react to form carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
, which is trapped in the highly viscous mixture. In the UK, the most well known honeycomb candy is the Crunchie
Crunchie
Crunchie is a brand of chocolate bar with a "honeycombed" sugar centre. It is made by Cadbury UK and was originally launched by J. S. Fry & Sons in 1929...
bar. In New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, this is called hokey pokey
Hokey pokey (ice cream)
Hokey pokey is a flavour of ice cream in Australia and New Zealand, consisting of plain vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of sponge toffee - known as "hokey pokey" in New Zealand...
.
A particular application of toffee is in toffee apples, which are apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s on sticks which are coated with toffee. Toffee apples are similar to taffy apples and caramel apple
Caramel apple
Caramel apples or taffy apples are created by dipping or rolling apples-on-a-stick in hot caramel, sometimes then rolling them in nuts or other small savories or confections, and allowing them to cool...
s (both names for apples which are covered in caramel
Caramel
Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee....
).
In the UK, toffee apples, sometimes called candy apples, are coated with brittle candy similar to boiled sweets.
Toffee used in confectionery has many different forms and is mixed with many different ingredients: Rum & Butter Toffee, Chocolate Covered, Vanilla & Chocolate, Rum & Raisin, Honeycomb.
Etymology
The origins of the word are unknown. Food writer Harold McGeeHarold McGee
Harold McGee is an American author who writes about the chemistry, technique and history of food and cooking and has written two seminal books on kitchen science. His first book, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen was initially published in 1984. A greatly revised second...
claims it to be "from the Creole for a mixture of sugar and molasses", but which creole language
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
isn't specified. The Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
dates the first publication of the word to 1825 and identifies it as a variation of taffy
Taffy (candy)
Taffy is a type of chewy candy, similar to toffee. Taffy is often sold alongside bubblegum and candy. Taffy is made by stretching or pulling a sticky mass of boiled sugar, butter or vegetable oil, flavorings, and coloring until fluffy. When this process is complete, the taffy is rolled, cut into...
(1817), both of which are first recorded as English dialectical words.
See also
- Almond RocaAlmond RocaAlmond Roca is a brand of chocolate toffee butter crunch candy containing a ground almond coating and also almond chunks inside the candy itself. It is similar, if not identical, to English Toffee. It is made by the Brown & Haley Co. of Tacoma, Washington....
- Bonfire toffeeBonfire toffeeBonfire toffee is a hard, brittle toffee associated with Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night in the United Kingdom."Toffee is also the name given to a confection of sugar and butter boiled to hard crack, associated with both Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night." Mason,...
- ButterscotchButterscotchButterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter, although other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are part of some recipes...
- CaramelCaramelCaramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee....
- Caramel candy
- FudgeFudgeFudge is a type of Western confectionery which is usually very sweet, and extremely rich. It is made by mixing sugar, butter, and milk and heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency...
- KnäckKnäckKnäck is a traditional Swedish toffee prepared at Christmas. The name translates into "break" and refers to its hard consistency...
- KrówkiKrówkiKrówki , literally "little cows," are Polish fudge, semi-soft milk toffee candies.It is one of the most common Polish confectioneries, sold worldwide, and might be considered "dulce de Leche candy". Commercially, many brands are available; most of them have each individual candy wrapped in...
- Moffat toffeeMoffat ToffeeMoffat toffee is not a traditional toffee but a boiled sweet made in the Scottish town of Moffat.The confection is notable for its tangy but sweet centre which gives the sweet its unusual flavour....
- Peanut brittle
- Sucre à la crème (fr.)
- Tablet
- TaffyTaffy (candy)Taffy is a type of chewy candy, similar to toffee. Taffy is often sold alongside bubblegum and candy. Taffy is made by stretching or pulling a sticky mass of boiled sugar, butter or vegetable oil, flavorings, and coloring until fluffy. When this process is complete, the taffy is rolled, cut into...
- Toffee hammerToffee hammerA toffee hammer is a very small hammer designed for breaking up sheets or slabs of hard toffee, such as bonfire toffee, into small pieces suitable for consumption...