Finally! Pecan toffee success! I had to buy a new thermometer, use a different pan and

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patbastrop

Well-known member
not pack the brown sugar, and also used a wooden spoon. I don't know which change was the kicker, so I'll have to do it this way forever. I burned 4 sticks of butterand four cups of brown sugar this season. AARRGGHHH!!!

I don't know -- forever, I have done two batches at once with no problems. But after reading all your warnings, and not heeding them -- well, maybe that was it! But I did pack the brown sugar pretty tightly, and maybe it was too much -- I'll never know. My new Taylor thermometer has a red mercury -- is that it? Already threw the old one away, so it is a mystery.

Now, to try the pralines...

 
Hi Pat! I used a different candy thermometer as well. It was just a $15 glass...

...mercury tube on a metal base. Basic stuff.

I did calibrate it by boiling water and checking the boiling point against the reading on the thermometer. It was a few degrees low. I took that into account.

I have a dedicated pan for candy making. It is a pressure cooker with no lid. It's a small one, maybe three quarts. It has a clad bottom and sides -aluminum inside of stainless steel.

I took the extra step this year of buying a pastry brush and using it only for brushing the sugar crystals (that sometimes form on the sides of the pan) with water to wash them down into the molten butter/sugar.

All this worked beautifully! I'm happy to say I haven't destroyed any batches of toffee yet this year!

Merry Christmas,

Michael

 
The pan I used (finally) is an all clad saucier with sloped sides. I sprayed the sides

with Pam to keep the sugar from sticking. Seemed t work. The pressure cooker would be an ideal weight, I agree! Merry Christmas, Michael!

 
It is a Taylor #5983N. Looks like the "paddle" one, but different.

It gets a lousy rating, mostly because the numbers wash off. I had one that did that, so I just soak that puppy and pat it dry with a dishtowel. My old one that failed me this year never had a paint problem. The directions tell you not to scrub the thing.

 
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