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Everton Toffy
* 1158. Mix one pound of sugar, a quarter of a pound of treacle, half a pound of butter, with the rind of half a lemon; boil all over a slow fire an hour, and pour it upon tins well buttered.
A four-ingredient boiled sugar confection whose success rests entirely on how far the syrup is cooked. The original trusts an hour over a slow fire; a thermometer does the same job with far more certainty.
- Cook to temperature, not to the clockEverton toffee needs the hard-crack stage, 300-310F (149-154C), for a brittle snap. An hour over a slow fire is a rough guide to reaching it on a coal range; on a gas or induction burner the syrup can pass 310F in twenty to thirty minutes, and past about 320F it will taste scorched.
- TreacleBritish treacle here means the dark, slightly bitter cane syrup sold as black treacle. Unsulphured molasses is the closest substitute. Golden syrup will work but gives a paler, sweeter, blander toffee.
- Quantities in cupsOne pound of granulated sugar is about 2 1/4 cups; a quarter pound of treacle about 1/3 cup; half a pound of butter is 2 sticks. The proportions are unusually buttery, which is what gives Everton toffee its short, crumbly break rather than a glassy one.
- The lemon rindPare the rind of half a lemon in strips with no white pith, and fish the strips out before pouring. Left in, they scorch at hard-crack temperatures and go bitter. Grated zest is not a good swap for the same reason.
- Stirring and the panUse a heavy pan at least three times the volume of the mixture, since butter-and-sugar boils climb suddenly. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then stir only gently and occasionally; the butter needs keeping in suspension but heavy agitation encourages graining.
- The tinsA well-buttered rimmed tray of roughly 8 by 12 inches gives a slab about a third of an inch thick. Score it into squares with an oiled knife when it has set enough to hold a mark but is still warm, then break along the lines once cold.
- Yield and keepingSomething over 1 1/2 lb of toffee once the water has boiled off, or perhaps fifty to sixty small pieces. Wrap in waxed paper and keep airtight; damp air will make the surface tacky.
Everton is a district of Liverpool. The trade is traditionally traced to Molly Bushell, who is said to have sold toffee from an Everton cottage in the mid-eighteenth century, though the story rests on local tradition rather than documentation; by the time this book was compiled "Everton toffy" appears to have been a generic term for a buttery, treacle-darkened hard toffee rather than the product of any one shop. The lemon rind is a period signature: before commercial flavouring essences were cheap, citrus peel and sometimes a little ginger were among the ways of lifting what would otherwise be plain boiled sugar and butter. Everton's football club has long been nicknamed the Toffees, a name generally linked to the local toffee shops.