Near toffee disaster saved!

[sylvia]

Decided to make Chocolate Almond Toffee this morning. Got the sugar and butter going until the butter and sugar decided they would not mix. What's a gal to do? Check the internet, of course! Found an FAQ on saving toffee............suggested I add some salt and stir gently.........that worked to a certain degree. Back to the computer: it suggested to add a little water to the mixture and again stir gently and, voila, almost instantly the butter and sugar blended beautifully.

After finishing the toffee I checked good old Joy of Cooking (1967) which adds 3 T of water to the 1 cup each of sugar and butter from the get go.

 

[richard-in-cincy]

Good sleuthing job! I always check Joy first when ever I have a question.

 

[patbastrop]

Me too! Joy is a great resource. Yesterday, though I burned 2 pans of toffee

AAARRRGGGHHH electric range -- hate, hate, hate it! Turn your back for a second and you have burned sugar. Gave up the candy making (I usually double the recipe, but after all the talk of not doing that I tried doing them one at a time). I guess I'm too old a dog to change. Today I have to finish the pecan toffee....

 

[melissa-dallas]

I hate my electric stove too. I think what happened when I doubled my batch that

failed was that I used a bigger & wider pan. Since the pan was bigger than the electric burner it looked like the sides of the pan were not hot enough so the bottom & center kept cooking and the sides started crystalizing/seizing liked I'd already poured it out to cool.

 

[marilynfl]

I'll bet there was a super-saturated situation going on...adding the extra stuff allowed the

molecules to recombine with more molecules. Good save, Sylvia.

 

[sylvia]

Pat, good luck with the pecan toffee.