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This candy tastes like butter toffee, and it’s so simple, you probably have the ingredients right now. It’s very inexpensive–and delicious! It’s also fun to make (and a good one to make with kids).
I found the recipe here. It was posted on the Chickens in the Road forum as a suggestion right after Morgan got her braces off. I meant to try it, then forgot about it. Then remembered it! So here it is. The original recipe called for regular sugar. I was living dangerously, so I decided to try this with brown sugar. I chose vanilla for the flavoring. You could use any flavoring you have on-hand–lemon, orange, rum, etc. You can make this in whatever quantity you want, just keep the butter and sugar in equal parts.
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How to make Cast Iron Pan Candy:
1 cup of butter
1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
Melt butter in a cast iron pan over medium-low heat.
Add brown sugar.
Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes as sugar gradually blends with the butter. At this point, I turned it up a little, to medium. At first it looks as if the butter is separating from the brown sugar. Keep cooking and stirring non-stop–the butter and brown sugar will meld together as the mixture thickens.
Update to add: My stovetop is gas and it goes from Low then 1 through 9 then High. I cooked this on 4 the first time and was having trouble getting the butter and sugar to meld and I turned it to 5 and it worked great. The next couple of times, I did it on 5. That temperature works best for me with my stove for this candy. That’s really more medium than medium low.
Be careful not to overcook and burn it–you should finish with a nice, rich caramelized color. In the last few minutes, stir in the vanilla. The directions suggested spooning or pouring small amounts onto waxed paper for individual candies. I decided to pour the whole pan out and cut the individual pieces apart later. This was much simpler. Butter the waxed paper very lightly to prevent sticking before pouring the candy out. (Ask me how I know that.) I also think it would do just fine to let it set up right in the cast iron pan. It would take longer to cool and set up (and the pieces would be thicker), but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. I’m going to try that next time.
Let the candy cool and set up. After it’s firm but before it’s competely set, cut it into pieces. Then you can shape it, roll it, twist it, whatever you want to do to pretty it up. Store in an airtight container. Give it as gifts or eat it all by yourself! (You know you want to.) Suggestions on the forum included dipping spoons into the melted mixture, then cooling, to give as coffee stirrers. (Wouldn’t that be good? An alternate idea to the chocolate-dipped spoon gift–a butter toffee-dipped spoon!) You could also cut it into narrow “straws” to go right into coffee, without a spoon.
This is a plain and simple candy, nothing fancy about it, just good. I’m sure you have butter and sugar! Are you on your way to your kitchen right now?
See this recipe at Farm Bell Recipes and save it to your recipe box.
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