Field Guide to Candy: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable (42 page)

General Description:

The South American version of
caramels
, dulce de leche is a versatile sweet enjoyed as a syrup, spread, and candy
. Dulce de leche is made by cooking milk and sugar together until the mixture caramelizes into a thick pudding. Further cooking reduces it to a firm, chewy candy with a rich, butterscotch-like flavor.

History:

Dulce de leche
means “milk sweet” in Spanish. It is believed to have been invented in South America. The Mexican version is called
cajeta
and often made with a mixture of cow’s milk and goat’s milk. In Peru and Chile, it is called
manjor blanco
and made with similar ingredients, but the milk and sugar are cooked slowly so that it does not turn brown.

Serving Suggestions:

The consistency of dulce de leche depends on how long you cook the condensed milk. As a liquid sauce, it can be spooned over ice cream or drizzled over tarts. As a thicker jam, it can be spread over toast. Packed into jars, dulce de leche makes a thoughtful gift. And at its firmest, it can be cut into squares and enjoyed as a candy.

Candy-Making Notes:

Although dulce de leche can be made from scratch, one of the easiest ways to make it is with a can of sweetened condensed milk.

Recipe:

Easy Dulce de Leche

1.
Spray an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

2.
Pour the condensed milk into a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water.

3.
Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom from burning.

4.
Let the milk cook for 3½ hours until it is very thick and dark golden.

5.
Remove from heat and pour into the baking pan.
Let cool overnight before cutting into 2-inch pieces or rolling into balls.

Yield:

About 16 pieces

Storage:

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

General Description:

English toffee is an old-fashioned hard toffee that comes in lozenge-shaped drops or large slabs
. Traditionally, the toffee slabs were so hard that a hammer was necessary to break them into pieces; today, some English toffee is still sold with a little hammer as a novelty. Toffees in drop form are most popular in Britain; they are flavored with treacle, licorice, or nuts and sold wrapped in colorful foils.
See also
almond buttercrunch
and
butterscotch drops
.

History:

The history of hard toffee is intertwined with that of chewy taffy in the United Kingdom: Both candies were originally made with molasses and evolved from similar recipes. The word
toffee
may have come from
tafia
, a West Indian rum made from molasses. Walkers’ Nonsuch, one of the oldest makers of toffees in England, still sells a variety of toffees, from drops to sticks to slabs.

Serving Suggestions:

Unlike
caramels
, toffees are often flavored with other ingredients, so you can try adding different extracts or chopped nuts. Brazil nuts are a very popular addition. Wrap toffees in brightly colored foil.

Candy-Making Notes:

If you want to make drops, you can pour the mixture into molds in step 5.

Recipe:

1.
Line an 11-by-17-inch baking pan with foil and grease well, or line with a silicone baking mat.