Why the tote collection is named after my love of sugar. Part 2 Toffee
Caramel & Toffee, my weaknesses. One soft and chewy the other brittle and teeth breakingly, mouth salivatingly delicious. Burnt Caramel was the original colour KARMME tote. It was rich tan, the exact same as the colour you need to take the sugar to to get the caramel flavour and perfect texture, to smoking point, just...and then came Toffee, just a notch lower in it's richness, could also be called strong latte the colour and tones are delicious.
My love of sugar and working with it and the fascination of how the structure changes to produce a certain taste and colour and texture has seen me try many recipes over the years and friends and family to know that I will often arrive bearing sweet treats of some kind after another experiment with sugar.
The Toffee Tote has been a constant in the KARMME lineup for around 7 years now. It's a perfect tan that is relaxed and works with many outfits across multiple occasions. The introduction of the zip a few years ago has seen it become the go to travel bag for many KARMME customers. In fact a friend just arrived back from a year in Europe and she said it was her constant companion :)
So, the Toffee recipe... this is probably the easiest way to get a sugar high and be addicted to a batch of toffee! It's quick, only requires a few ingredients and a sugar thermometer. You can keep it plain or spread chocolate on top and sprinkle with toasted almonds and sea salt for a next level mouth explosion. Broken into shards and wrapped up to gift or blitz and sprinkle over ice cream.
Before you start have a tray ready with greaseproof paper on a bench that can take high heat or put tray on a board. You will pour the hot toffee straight onto it.
Toffee Bark with toasted almonds, dark chocolate & sea salt.
Ingredients:
225gms unsalted butter - get the best you can find, the flavour matters. I use Lurpak for mine
1/4 cup cream
1 cup sugar, caster best, it dissolves quicker
1 tablespoon water - put this in the saucepan first, saves the sugar burning on the bottom
1/2 teaspoon salt - I use pink flakes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125 gms dark chocolate - higher that 55% cocoa is good, finely chopped or blitzed on processor.
1 cup toasted almonds, use flaked, slivered, whole and chop
extra flakey salt to sprinkle
Method:
Have tray prepped. Decent size so it doesn't spill over, you can use a cake tin or biscuit tray, depends if you want to keep shape contained or fluid.
Put water, butter, cream, vanilla, sugar, salt in heavy bottom saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring slowly so sugar crystals dissolve.
Once it comes to the boil put the sugar thermometer in and keep an eye on it.
It will start to colour, this colour means caramel flavour and you can stir with heatproof spatula. Keep it on the heat, it needs to get to 150 - 155 degrees C (300 - 310 F). This will take a while, keep stirring to ensure even caramelisation and avoid burning in some spots. The mixture will change structure, you'll see the bubbles slow down, it will get thick and you will smell it, amazing smell.
Once it hits 150 degrees C and you are happy with the colour, take off the heat and pour onto prepared tray. If you are adding chocolate, sprinkle it on top now and then use an offset spatula knife or back of spoon to evenly spread, the heat of the toffee will melt the chocolate. Leave as is or sprinkle over the almonds and salt.
Leave to set, won't take long, crack it up and eat! Keep in airtight container. Humidity will cause it to go sticky.
If your toffee bends rather than snaps you didn't take sugar to high enough temperature. There's a whole lot of science involved in different stages of sugar.
Do you want to see a full video of how I make it? Let me know. Any questions, please feel free to email me.