Sponge Toffee for Halloween, I have not made this since I was a child and I have to say it is one of my favorite candies. It reminds me of my childhood when I used to make divinity, fudge, and candies like this. It is so crunchy and yummy and melts in your mouth!!
Making candy has an art to it. You can’t just walk away from it. This is something that you must be paying close attention too. You also have to keep in mind that making anything with hot sugar that even after the heat is off the mixture continues to cook and can burn so very easily. Ask Ken, the candyman and he will tell you that for sure.
You can do it the old fashioned way with a bowl of cold water and test for the different stages. I like this method better than a thermometer. Making candy takes patience and practice. The first time I overdid the sponge toffee, not that it was inedible but it was probably 30 seconds to a minute overdone and it didn’t rise nearly as well as it should have.
Try, Try Again!
So the second time I used a smaller pan. I did get a thicker sponge toffee, pretty much perfect but I had molten lava sponge toffee overflow onto my counter. Didn’t matter as it just hardened there on the granite and came right off. So in the recipe, I will say to go back to the 9×13″ pan.
Making candy can be a two-man job. When you have something that is so incredibly hot and the timing of getting it into a pan quickly is essential you could use an extra set of hands. At least I found this out the hard way. Trying to balance a 3-liter pot in the air while trying to scrape out molten lava is not easy.
Sorry, I am not trying to make this seem like an impossible recipe on the contrary it is quite easy but you need to know some things ahead of time.
I hope you try this for Halloween and that it brings back childhood memories for you or you create some with your children.
Happy Hauntings!!
Sponge Toffee for Halloween
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup white corn syrup
- 1/3 cup water
- 4 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Spray a 9x13" pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Place sugar, water, and white corn syrup in a 12 cup or 3 L saucepan over medium heat and cook stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Bring to a boil, and cook without stirring. Brush down the crystals on the sides with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Cook until the hard crack stage of 300F or when 1 tsp. is dropped into water it forms hard brittle threads about 10 min.
- Remove from the heat and being very careful to add baking soda. Add it all at once and quickly stir with a whisk. It will increase dramatically but just keep whisking, add the vanilla in now.
- Working quickly pour toffee into the prepared pan. Let cool without disturbing until completely cool about 2 hours. Break into pieces.
- Make ahead, store in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper for 1 month.
Comments & Reviews
Lindsay says
Made this tonight and it worked out perfectly!! Now only if I didn’t have to wait till tomorrow to try it ; ) Question for the next time though, about how long are you suppose to whisk it once you’ve added the baking soda and vanilla? I whisked until fully mixed in and rising at a quick pace, probably about 20 seconds total and then added it to my pan. Does that seem sufficient? Thank you !!
Tara Noland says
Yes, that sounds just right, you have to work quickly. Enjoy!
Sue says
Everything went perfect. But now I have to take a hammer to it to get it out of the dish. It also doesn’t have the bubbles in between. It’s more like toffee then taffy. What went wrong?
Tara Noland says
Candy can be tricky and may need a few attempts. I added in preparing the pan which I seem to have omitted. I think one problem could be that your baking soda is old and did not activate. You also have to carefully get to that hard crack stage and not below or above. Try again and I hope your results are better.
HannahBear 48 says
so is it a must that you make it a month before?
Tara Noland says
Not at all, you can store it for that long but you can make and eat it right away.
Dave T says
Have tried using a recipe of 1 cup sugar, 1 cup normal yellow corn syrup, 1 tablespoon vanilla and one tablespoon baking soda. cooked to 305f, The vanilla mixed into the sugars before turning on stove. Whisk in the Baking soda, stir with a wooden spoon (using a metal whisk will cause the mix to cool fast and REALLY stick to the whisk). I pour it into a silicon brownie pan and let cool. Comes out very nice.
Looking forward to trying this recipe…but the white corn syrup is hard to come by…..
Dave T says
Have tried using a recipe of 1 cup sugar, 1 cup normal yellow corn syrup, 1 tablespoon vanilla and one tablespoon baking soda. cooked to 305f, The vanilla mixed into the sugars before turning on stove. Whisk in the Baking soda, stir with a wooden spoon (using a metal whisk will cause the mix to cool fast and REALLY stick to the whisk). I pour it into a silicon brownie pan and let cool. Comes out very nice.
Looking forward to trying this recipe…but the white corn syrup is hard to come by…..
sabrina says
Made this and it didnt rise at all. Its very dense and hard but only wisked about ten seconds. Seemed to sink once I placed it in pan. Please help
Noshing with the Nolands says
Hmm, did it bubble and froth at all? Did you add enough baking soda? Was your baking soda old?
sabrina says
It did froth but seemed to settle very quickly when placed in the pan. Some sites say to not stir too much. Should I add the vanilla before the baking soda?
Noshing with the Nolands says
No don’t stir it too much and you have to work very quickly from the time you add the baking soda. Then quickly the vanilla and put it into the pan. You may have waited too long.
Kari@Loaves and Dishes says
Sponge Toffee was one of my faves as a kid. This brings back memories, Who knew that it was so simple to make?
Cindys Recipes says
Tara, in the ingredients you say baking soda, in the instructions you say baking powder. Just wanted you to know, 🙂
Noshing with the Nolands says
Thank you so much, it is baking soda and I fixed it. So appreciated!!