So a little while ago, I made a ton of food for the school fete and shared it on Instagram, which made everyone excited because it featured one red-hot item: the bloody old-school toffee!
The stuff you’d buy for like, 10 cents at your own school fete back in the 70s and 80s, just like your mum would make.
You could really do a number on your loose teeth (excellent if you were short of cash and you needed a visit from the tooth fairy), and they were always better with Dollar Five sprinkles than the damn chopped nuts some weirdos put on.
They’re easy to make, cheap, and super-popular. You can’t go wrong!
(Unless you put chopped nuts on them. Don’t put chopped nuts on them).
They are also easier to make if you have a candy thermometer (they’re cheap as chips, you should just grab one), but not impossible if you don’t – my mum always used to just drop a little of the mixture in a glass of water and if it went hard straight away, it was at the hard crack stage and ready to go.
You could also make them in little silicone moulds and turn them out after. They should make about 12.
PrintFete Food: Toffees
- Prep Time: 1 minute
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: sweet
- Method: boiling
Description
The old 80s fete favourite! You can’t go wrong with toffee.
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- 15g butter
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- hundreds and thousands
Instructions
- Place sugar, butter, water, vinegar and honey in a medium saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves
- Increase heat and boil without stirring for about 12 minutes until mixture is golden brown and reaches the hard crack stage (154C on a candy thermometer).
- Remove from the heat and allow bubbles to subside
- Pour toffee into cases and sprinkle with hundreds and thousands
Notes
- Not waiting until the bubbles fully subside will mean your toffee will be bubbly on the surface (as in my photo). A smoother finish will be had if you do wait.
- You can keep these in an airtight container, they keep about a week
Keywords: old fashioned toffee, butter toffee, old school toffee, fete toffee
Eva says
Thank you for the recipe.
Erin says
I remember as a kid we would often get Toffee that was softer than the really hard ones which I preferred, do I just cook the mix a little less.