When a Failure Becomes a Success! Old-Fashioned Toffee

Sometimes, things go horribly wrong in the kitchen. It happens to all of us. But other times, things look like they're about to go horribly wrong before you put your Lateral Thinking cap on. I bring to you the results of such an occasion: Old-Fashioned Toffee!

I was making some gingerbread men and popped my usual equal weights of butter, sugar, and golden syrup into a pan. I then completely forgot about it as I got distracted by checking addresses for wedding invitations. Once I got back, it was cooked to firm ball stage; far too cooked to use in gingerbread men. I got quite upset about it, until I embraced the failure and decided to cook it even further to make a hard-crack snappy toffee out of it.

I mixed a little bicarbonate of soda into it to make it more brittle and light, and then sprinkled some chopped walnuts over the top. I had some left over from making the Esterhazy torta.

So, I present to you my accidental recipe for old-fashioned toffee! This, of course, is written as if you're actually making toffee and not salvaging the remains of some syrup for gingerbread!

INGREDIMENTS

4 ounces (115 grammes) salted butter

4 ounces (115 grammes) golden syrup

4 ounces (115 grammes) soft brown sugar

1 level teaspoon (5 millilitres) bicarbonate of soda

Optional: chopped nuts, to decorate

METHOD

• Lightly oil a large flat baking sheet, and sieve the bicarbonate of soda into a small cup. Set aside.
• In a saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the butter, syrup, and sugar until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolves.
• Increase the heat to medium high and boil for about 10 minutes until it reaches the hard-crack stage, or 146 to 154°C (295 to 309°F) on a sugar thermometer.
• As soon as it reaches temperature, remove from the heat and quickly stir in the bicarbonate of soda: it should puff up slightly, but not too much. Pour out onto the flat baking sheet and sprinkle with nuts, if using. If you want even pieces, score the toffee while it's still warm.
• Leave to cool completely, about 1 hour, before breaking along the score lines, or hitting firmly with the end of a rolling pin to break into shards.