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Shopping at Target today I noticed the word “toffee” jumping out at me from labels, on everything from cookies to coffee to boots.  Yes, boots.  I guess toffee is officially a color now, and will bury in our consciousness, just as we’ve managed to accept camel and spruce as colors, divorced from their origins.  Why is that the word “toffee” is everywhere, but real toffee itself isn’t?  Sure you can find it if you look, but it’s much easier to find toffee-flavored things than toffee proper.

The real toffee, the crunchy squares of butter-sugar candy, is rarely to be found these days.  Well-made toffee is a marvel, hard yet smooth and light.  It can be bitten in two without much effort (as long as enough air has been incorporated) and chewed up swiftly.  Or if you desire, it can be savored slowly and dissolved in the mouth like a hard cardy.  You’ve probably eaten a Heath candy bar at some point in your life, and while they’re pretty good, they’re liking eating a slate tile compared to handmade toffee.

This holiday season I’ve decided to try my hand at homemade toffee.  I think I’ll try to flavor it with maple and pecans chopped to dust.   I’ll be researching methods and recipes, and hopefully I won’t inflict any candy-making burns on myself.  Have you ever had a candy burn?  It’s the worst.  Boiling sugar is hotter than boiling oil.