Butter Scotch

Two ingredients and one decision: how far you boil the syrup. The original stops at the soft-ball stage, which gives a chewy, taffy-like sweet rather than the hard, snappable butterscotch most people expect today.

• Soft ball means 235-240FA thermometer removes all guesswork here; the cold-water test is reliable only with practice. If you want candy that shatters rather than chews, take it to the hard-crack stage of 300-310F, but understand that this is a change from what the book asks for.
• That much butter is not a misprintThat much butter -- Equal volumes of butter and molasses give a very rich, soft candy that stays tacky and will not hold a clean edge. Whether the proportion is what was intended cannot be settled from the two lines given. Cutting the butter to a third or a quarter of the molasses will give a firmer result.
• Which molassesUse a mild or full-flavour cane molasses. Blackstrap is far more bitter and mineral than the ordinary table molasses such recipes assume, and it will dominate the butter entirely.
• A pinch of saltIf you use unsalted butter, add a scant quarter teaspoon of salt; molasses candy tastes flat without it. Whether the butter the recipe assumed was salted or not cannot be told from the text.
• Pan and stirringUse a heavy saucepan at least three times the volume of the ingredients, since butter and molasses foam up hard. Stir until the butter is melted and the mixture is homogeneous, then stir only occasionally so the butter does not separate out.
• Pouring and scoringPour onto a buttered shallow tin or a marble slab. Mark the surface into squares with a buttered knife while it is still warm and pliable; once cool it will tear rather than break along lines.
• YieldOne cup of molasses with one of butter fills roughly an 8-inch square tin thinly, giving about a pound of candy. Wrap the pieces individually in waxed paper, as they will stick to each other within hours in humid weather.