Toffee Glaze Food

CHOCOLATE-DATE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE STICKY TOFFEE GLAZE

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-3-inch round cake pan. Line with parchment, and butter parchment.
• Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Meanwhile, combine dates, brandy, coffee, and 2 tablespoons cocoa in a heatproof bowl. Stir in boiling water. Let cool, stirring occasionally. Puree cooled date mixture in a food processor (you should have about 2 1/2 cups). Place 3/4 cup puree in a small bowl, and press plastic wrap directly on surface; reserve. Place remaining puree in a large bowl.
• Whisk flour, salt, cinnamon, and remaining 2 tablespoons cocoa in a bowl.
• Beat butter and dark-brown sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition (batter will look curdled).
• Stir baking soda into reserved uncovered date puree. On low speed, beat flour mixture into egg mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the date mixture. Beat in chocolate. Transfer batter to prepared pan, and smooth top.
• Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Run a knife around edge of pan to loosen, and invert cake onto rack. Remove parchment, turn cake right side up, and let cool completely.
• Make the glaze: Bring butter, light-brown sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt to a boil in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in cream. Add chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in brandy. Let cool until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Assemble the cake: Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of cake so it is flat. Place cake on stand. Spread remaining 3/4 cup date puree over top of cake. Pour glaze over top, letting some drip down sides. Garnish with halved dates.

TINA'S TOFFEE

Steps:

• Grease 2 sheet pans with butter.
• Heat the butter, sugar, kosher salt and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. When the mixture starts to boil, turn the heat up to medium. Cook until the mixture reaches 302 degrees F, 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the vanilla, stirring to incorporate. Be careful not to burn yourself or the mixture.
• Immediately pour the hot toffee into the 2 prepared baking sheets and smooth until evenly coated and 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Put the pans into the fridge to let the toffee cool (this will take several hours, or leave the toffee in overnight, uncovered).
• Once the toffee has cooled, carefully loosen the pieces (you can do this by hand or with a knife). If it cracks, it's not a big deal.
• Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, stirring to combine. Use a spatula to coat one side of the toffee with the chocolate, and then immediately top with a heavy sprinkle of the pecans and a sprinkling of flaked sea salt. This must be done immediately, because the cold toffee can cause the chocolate to harden before the pecans can stick. Put the toffee back in the fridge to cool the chocolate. Once it has hardened (it takes about an hour), flip and coat the other side with the chocolate, pecans and sea salt. You will probably have chocolate and pecans left over, which you can use for more toffee. Let the toffee cool in the fridge until hardened again.
• When the toffee is ready, crack it into irregular pieces with your hands. Bag them or stick them in a tin for your own enjoyment.

AUNT ROSE'S FANTASTIC BUTTER TOFFEE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a shallow baking pan, toast almonds until golden brown, 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool. Pulse chocolate in a food processor until finely ground (do not overprocess); transfer to a bowl. Pulse almonds in food processor until coarsely chopped. Sprinkle 1 cup almonds over bottom of a greased 15x10x1-in. pan. Sprinkle with 1 cup chocolate., In a heavy saucepan, combine butter, sugar and water. Cook over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 290° (soft-crack stage), stirring occasionally., Immediately pour mixture over almonds and chocolate in pan. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate and almonds. Refrigerate until set; break into pieces.

GLAZED TOFFEE BONBONS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. In large bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, the vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda and salt. Reserve 1/3 of the chopped candy for garnish. Stir remaining chopped candy into dough. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 1 inch apart.
• Bake 11 to 14 minutes or until edges start to brown and tops of cookies feel set when tapped. Place cooling racks on waxed paper. Immediately remove cookies from cookie sheets to cooling racks.
• Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, heat 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of the milk over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until mixture just comes to a boil and sugar is dissolved. Stir in powdered sugar; beat with wire whisk if necessary to remove lumps. Immediately dip tops of cookies into glaze, or spread glaze on tops of cookies. (Cookies don't need to be completely cooled, just firm and set.) Place on rack; let stand about 10 minutes until glaze is set. If glaze starts to set in saucepan, reheat over medium-low heat and beat with whisk until softened.
• Place chocolate chips and vanilla chips in separate small microwavable bowls. Microwave each on High 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Using tip of spoon, drizzle each flavor generously over cookies. Sprinkle with remaining candy. Refrigerate 20 minutes to set quickly.

TOFFEE GLAZE

Steps:

• Bring cream, brown sugar, and butter to a boil over medium-high heat in a saucepan, stirring occasionally. Cook 3 minutes. Stir in brandy and salt, and cook 1 minute more. Use immediately.

TOFFEE SAUCE

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, water and condensed milk. Cook and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.