Toffee

I've never made any sort of candy before, other than caramel as a topping for cinnamon buns. Which, let's face it, isn't exactly complex.

The creation of this toffee was part of the mother's day extravaganza that I planned, based off of my mom's favorite candy - the heath bar. Obviously, this toffee was a central part of the cake, and I was terrified that it wouldn't turn out properly. I had planned on having some emergency backup store bought toffee, but couldn't find any in Perth on a Sunday. I almost couldn't find a candy thermometer, either. By the time I tried the fifth and final cooking supply store I was close to just deciding to eyeball the toffee. I'm glad I didn't have to, though, because having a candy thermometer made this recipe surprisingly easy to make.

One important note is to use a really large pan. When boiling, the toffee mixture quadruples in volume. I wasn't prepared for this, and had to do some quick moving and pour the burning hot melted sugar from a small saucepan to a larger one halfway through.

As to serving - I chose to allow the toffee to cool in a large slab so I could simply shatter it into shards to sprinkle on my cake. If you would like bars of toffee, then it's best to use a sharp knife on the toffee while it is still warm and cut the toffee into slabs. Then, when the toffee has completely cooled it should just snap apart.

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Toffee Recipe

2 cups (455 gr) butter

2 2/3 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup light corn syrup

Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Cut the butter into small, even squares.

Place the butter, sugar, water and corn syrup in a large heavy saucepan and heat over medium heat.

Stir mixture constantly until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.

Insert a candy thermometer into the pan and bring the candy to boil.

Occasionally brush down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystallization of the sugar that sticks to the sides.

Continue to boil the candy, stirring frequently, until it reaches 300 degrees on the candy thermometer. If the mixture separates, simply stir vigorously until it reincorporates. It will turn a dark, golden brown color.

As soon as the mixture hits 300 degrees, pour the toffee onto the baking sheet. Do not scrape out the pan, and be careful of the hot sugar as it will really burn if it gets on you!

Spread the toffee evenly across the pan with a spatula.

Allow the toffee to cool completely, and either break into slabs or use the back of a spoon to shatter into shards.

To the kitchen!

Homemade Oatmeal

For once, my lack of updates isn't due to a lack of cooking. Rather, it comes down to the fact that I've misplaced my camera. This means that I'm reduced to taking photos with my phone, which makes even the most delicious looking cake look unappetizing. Luckily, oatmeal is a rather boring looking food all the time, so I don't feel bad not including a picture with this recipe.

Oatmeal really is the simplest thing to make. I woke up this morning at 4am, and couldn't fall back to sleep for the life of me. So I decided to get up and make a nice warm bowl of oatmeal to fill my tummy and hopefully send my back to sleep.

The beauty of oatmeal is that you can flavor it with anything you have on hand. As long as you have something to sweeten the dish, and some sort of fruit to vary the taste, you're home free. Plus, it only takes about 5 minutes to make.

I personally prefer very thick oatmeal, which I then water down with cold milk. I love the juxtaposition of hot oatmeal and cold milk!

Homemade Oatmeal

Makes one large portion, or two small ones

1 cup quick cooking oats

1.5 cups milk + extra if desired

Roughly 2 tblsps of a sweetener like brown sugar or honey

A handful of fruit - raisins, chopped apple or peaches

Roughly 2 tsps of cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Bring the quick cooking oats and milk to boil. Dump in the sweetener, fruit, cinnamon and vanilla.

Allow the oatmeal to boil, and thicken, stirring often to stop it from sticking to the sides or burning on the bottom.

Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the oatmeal reaches the desired thickness.

Pour oatmeal into a bowl, and add a little bit of cold milk to the dish if desired.

And that's it! The quickest hot breakfast you'll ever make!

To the kitchen!

Cinnamon Blondies

I am a huge fan of one bowl recipes - anything that minimizes the dreaded dishes is fine by me. While these blondies do need more than one bowl, they are extremely to make and require minimal dishes.

These blondies (which are like brownies but without the chocolate) don't rise much while baking, so they are quite dense. The cinnamon adds a nice twist to these caramely blondies, but I think that they're still a bit bland. I think next time I make these I'll use more cinnamon, and add a bit of cardamom to see if that adds a bit more depth of flavor.

Because these don't really brown, it can be hard to tell when they are done. It is important not to overcook them, as they continue to set after being pulled out of the oven. I tend to press gently on the top of the blondies, and if they are firmish to the touch then I pull them out.

Sorry about the photo quality - can't seem to find my camera so I had to take this on my phone! I'll put up another photo next time I make these.

Cinnamon Blondies

1 cup flour

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

7 tblsp butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanila

3/4 cup pecans, chopped and toasted

Topping

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F/ 175C. Either butter an 8x8 dish or line it with baking paper.

Whisk the flour, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium sized bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted butter with sugar. Add the egg and vanilla, stirring till smooth.

Add half of the dry ingredients, stir until smooth, and then add the rest of the dry ingredients.

Mix in the pecans.

Spread the batter into the baking dish - it will be a little bit gloopy so be careful to avoid getting any on the sides. Sprinkle the topping mixture evenly across the batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. The blondies may appear underdone, but they will set as they cool.

To the kitchen!

Wow it's been a while

Things have been a bit hectic in my world, with several life changes getting in the way of regular updates. I've moved back home with my family, in the hopes of being able to help out a little bit with the care of my father (who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer). As such, I don't have free reign of my own kitchen like I'm used to, and often have no idea what's even in the pantry or fridge!

I've also recently lost the drive to cook much, which results in some pretty boring meals when it's my designated cooking night. I've decided not to stand for this any more though - So here is my very late New Year's resolution to go back to updating this blog regularly!

Hopefully I'll have something new and delicious up in the next few days. I'm browsing the internet as I type this, looking for some culinary inspiration. To the kitchen!