spicy coffee toffee

spicy coffee toffee

Sweets, candies, lollies. Whatever you call them, these sugary treats are much loved by many all over the world. I think the first one I ever made might've been toffee, when I discovered a recipe in a children's encyclopedia as a kid. Last night I decided to revisit it and make a more adult version, with a bit of spice and a bit of coffee...

To be honest, I threw the ingredients together without really measuring, so the following are just estimates. But I find toffee recipes quite forgiving! Just remember to be alert and quick when assessing and handling the mixture!

Mmmmmm, toffee crumbs.

1 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup salted butter
1 tablespoon vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon instant coffee
3 tablespoons water
hot spice of your choice, to taste (e.g. chilli powder, hot paprika, cayenne)
pinch of salt

- Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan, and stir over low heat till dissolved.
- Increase to medium heat and let it boil without stirring.
- When the mixture starts to look thick and rich, test by dropping a little of the mixture into a glass of cold water. If it turns into brittle strings, then it's ready to go.
- Pour into a buttered pan. When it sets, cut into bite-sized pieces.
- If you like, sprinkle and dust with a little more spice!

I don't drink a lot of coffee, because, unfortunately, it doesn't always agree with me. But in little doses, like a few pieces of this crunchy toffee, it feeds me the flavour in a quantity that doesn't disturb my constitution, hooray. The spice I chose to use for this is hot smoked paprika, which I recently procured (and I can assure you I will be telling you more about it in future posts). It lent a nice touch of smoky heat to the toffee candy. Because I didn't use very fine sugar for this, not all of it dissolved entirely - but it still turned out to my satisfaction. A friend likened the taste to the crispy caramel topping of crème brûlée, while Simon sampled one and asked, "do you have any more?" I'm happy with that!

you can wrap these spicy coffee toffees up to give as gifts... or eat them all yourself!