Old-fashioned candies, sweet and strong, are our favorites. Toffee, caramels, divinity - they all show up in our Christmas packages. Here's a new favorite with an old flavor: molasses. These are strong little candies with a heady molasses kick that tastes of burnt-sweet and sour dark sugar syrup. We added a pinch of salt and a dash of cocoa to round out the flavor.
We love how these appear hard at first - teeth crackers! - but soften into taffy as they warm in the mouth. And the best thing? If you have a candy thermometer these are so easy.
Cocoa Molasses Toffee
about 150 pieces, depending on the size you cut them
1 cup molasses
3 cups sugar
2 cups whipping cream
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
Line a 9x13" jelly-roll sheet pan (with sides) with heavy duty foil and butter generously.
Heat the molasses and sugar over high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Let it boil without stirring for about 8 minutes, or until the sugar caramelizes. This is tricky, because you can't see the color turning - the molasses is already so dark. Use a candy or deep-fry thermometer and pull it off the heat when the sugar starts to smoke or hits 350 degrees F.
Meanwhile, warm the cream over medium heat until hot but not boiling. When the sugar caramelizes, whisk in the cream and butter. Return to low heat and bring to a simmer. Clip your candy thermometer on the side of the pan and watch the temperature. You will need to boil this, relatively unsupervised, for about 45 minutes to an hour. When it hits 250 degrees F (the lower end of the hardball stage) remove from heat and immediately whisk in the cocoa and salt. Pour into the buttered pan.
When it has cooled for a couple hours, score into 1-inch pieces with a knife. Then cover lightly and put in the fridge.
After it has cooled all night, break into the scored pieces with a knife - this may take some work! Wrap in parchment paper. These can be stored almost indefinitely at room temperature.
These look so good! Thanks for the recipe.
view kibitzknitz's profile
Just wanted to say that I tried these out this weekend. They are great! I was afraid that they'd be too sticky, but they're perfect...now I just have to start wrapping....
view AmyE's profile
I'm making these right now. Can't wait to see how they turn out!
view Lynn's profile
These are great. Totally delicious.
view Lynn's profile
Faith, they really are awesome! :)
view vtsharpie's profile
I made these last night and had some trouble with them. I couldn't tell when the sugar had caramelized. First I saw a lighter streak (kind of caramel-colored) while stirring. Then I let it cook longer because it wasn't close to 350 and eventually I saw darker streaks form. The sugar wasn't smoking, but it was bubbling and poufs of steam came out of the bubbles. It was only up around 250 at that point but it had been cooking for more than 8 minutes (prob around 10 or 12) so I took it off the heat.
Then as it was cooking the second time, the mixture kept bubbling up to the top of the saucepan. The recipe said to leave unattended, but I kept having to pull it off the heat and stir it down so it wouldn't bubble over. I got that one up close to 250 at the end, off by maybe a few degrees.
The result is that my toffee is too soft. I pulled it out to cut it up this morning and it was melting and sticking to my hands. Does anyone know at what point this problem might have been caused? Thanks so much for any help...
view abbyroad's profile
I tried these today, and I think that mine are too heavy on the "burnt" and not heavy enough on the "sweet". The sugar had definitely started to smoke when I pulled it off. Did I wait too long? Or are they really supposed to be that heavy on the "burnt" taste?
view maritimah's profile
I made this toffee along with the Ginger Cinnamon Caramels and they both turned out nicely. The Cocoa Molasses Toffee smelled alarmingly burnt while it was cooking and the next day it was not thick at all, but pasty and too gooey to do anything with. I scraped it back into a pot and boiled it to the hard ball stage and it seems fine, now. It is rather hard, but once it's in your mouth it goes soft. For anyone making it, I recommend scoring it VERY WELL before it goes solid. I had a time breaking it into pieces, many of them look more like shards than respectable chunks of toffee. I wonder if anyone has a hint or two for getting this stuff into pieces easily.
view deftgurl's profile