Tag Archives: toffee

pretzel treats

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Soundtrack: Baby It’s Cold Outside

finished pretzel treats

so i have fond memories of making chocolate/sprinkle covered pretzel rods in the past, and as such decided to use some of my leftover bark toppings to try on the super crispy flat pretzel variety (inspired by the Trader Joes holiday offerings a friend evilly introduced me to…)

inspiration

on some of the flat pretzels i poured the excess toffee topping – then threw in the oven to bake for 6min – and topped with dark and white chocolate drizzles. some i just drizzled with chocolate, no toffee. and then a few i coated completely in chocolate. all varieties were topped with crushed candy canes because, well…tis the season.

they were all delicious but my favorite would be non toffee, all dark chocolate drizzled completely coated ones. salty, crispy, chocolatey pepperminty deliciousness.

noms

Saltine Toffee Bark

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Soundtrack: …And Out Come The Wolves, Rancid

finished saltine toffee bark

 
Supplies:
aluminum foil lined cookie sheet
3qt saucepan
measuring cups/spoons
offset spatula

Ingredients:
1c (2sticks) unsalted butter
1c brown sugar (i used light)
1 to 2c semi-sweet chocolate chips
35 saltine crackers
crushed candy canes

prep

preheat oven to 350degrees. line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. arrange saltine crackers.

boiling

combine butter and brown sugar in saucepan. once mixture is melted and at a boil reduce heat to simmer. simmer 5-6min until mixture is thickened.

cooking

pour onto prepared saltines – slowly and spread with offset spatula so that saltines are entirely covered by toffee mixture.

cooking

place in pre-heated oven, cook for 5-8min until toffee is bubbling.

cooking

bubbling toffee – ready to come out.

topping

sprinkle with chocolate chips. let sit for a few minutes until chips are spreadable. i actually put the cookie sheet back into the oven to make sure that they were good and melty.

topping

spread chocolate evenly. sprinkle crushed candy canes on top – i did half with, half without just for experimenting’s sake.

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • the saltines will move around when you’re pouring on the toffee and again when you are spreading the chocolate – i just smooshed them back together with the offset spatula which seemed to work fine
  • next time i might use a double boiler to melt the chocolate chips and pour that onto the saltines/toffee rather than sprinkle with chips – but just using chips was pretty easy and eliminated that step, so maybe not.

Review: kind of chewy – i’d prefer if the saltines stayed more crunchy, like chocolate covered pretzels (which i actually made with excess toffee mixture and melted chocolate i had on hand…). the peppermint topping cut the sweetness and richness that was so pronounced with the non-peppermint topped confection.

*update: so word is that these should be a bit crunchier – next time i’d cook the butter and brown sugar mixture longer which i think would result in a harder toffee. no temperature guidelines were given in the recipe i used so therein lies the problem, next time i’d attach the thermometer and keep track and adjust accordingly.

**after a few hours in the freezer these turn magical.

Toffee

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Soundtrack: Candy Iggy Pop and Kate Pierson

finished toffee

Supplies:
baking sheet covered in parchment paper
candy thermometer
small bowl
measuring cups/spoons
knife
3qt saucepan
heatproof silicone spatuala
offset spatula
Ingredients:
1 Tbs water
2 sticks butter cut into cubes
1/4 c cream
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
5 oz dark chocolate chopped (Scharffen Berger, bittersweet 70%)
1 c chopped nuts (roasted peanuts)
flakey sea salt (Maldon)

ingredients

cut up butter (i put it in a bowl but could have kept it on the cutting board which would have saved me from having to wash the bowl later)

measure out sugar, cream, water and salt

cooking

place in saucepot fitted with candy thermometer (i had to keep fussing with the thermometer because it didn’t seem secure and i’m pretty sure that i read somewhere that the bottom part of the thermometer isn’t supposed to touch the bottom of the pan since that messes with the temp accuracy…but i’m not sure if this is true. also it wasn’t a ton of ingredients so it was hard to avoid this in the shallow liquid)

stir slowly and constantly until syrup reaches 300degreesF (it seemed to hover around 220 forever – i should have timed it – but then it darkened all of the sudden and changed from smelling like delicious sugary butter to more of a rich caramel scent)

topping

as the toffee was in the 220 holding temperature i prepared the topping ingredients. (i used roasted peanuts because i had them on hand since peanut brittle is my next candy making attempt – i think – so i just bought in bulk)

cooking

at this point stir in the vanilla (i forgot this step even though i had my measuring spoon and vanilla sitting right next to the pot. a vat of temperature sensitive, bubbling volcanic sugar mixture was enough to fluster me to the point where i couldn’t think about anything except getting it off the stove and as far away from me – ie onto the baking sheet – as possible).

finishing

spread the toffee out (with spatula and some baking sheet shaking) and cool for 1 minute

topping

sprinkle chopped chocolate on the toffee and let it start to melt then spread with offset spatula and top with nuts and sea salt flakes

topping

place in fridge for about an hour to cool then use parchment paper to help break up toffee

cleanup

totally manageable – all could fit in the dishwasher except giant cutting board that i had to hand wash.

noms

Lessons Learned:

  • i need to remember to time things if i’m going to post about them
  • figure out a consistent means of photographing – camera or iPhone…?
  • buy something to rest sugar/toffee coated spatula on while cooking
  • make sure there’s room in fridge for baking sheet
  • remember to put all ingredients in said confection
  • chew gum. drinking tea does not prevent one from sampling chopped toppings
Review: extremely rich and buttery tasting. melts in your mouth. next time maybe a thicker layer of chocolate and more nuts – since it is so rich smaller pieces are prolly best so they should be heavily coated in deliciousness as far as i’m concerned.