The Great Toffee Trials

  So, occasionally I like to challenge myself by learning to make new things. A couple of years ago I decided to learn how to make toffee. No big deal, right? I found a recipe, broke out the butter and the candy thermometer and got to work. Everything was going great-it smelled good, it was bubbling nicely and I was feeling smug. Another recipe conquered. Or so I thought. 
   I watched the candy thermometer closely, waiting for it to reach the magic temperature and for the candy to turn that beautiful shade of caramel. It never happened. Before I knew it, all of the moisture had boiled out of it and I was looking at a pan of what resembled wet sand. NOT toffee. I figured something must have gone wrong, so I tried again. And again, and again. Same result. Hmmm....
   I found a troubleshooting guide and tried their suggestion to "save" a batch of toffee gone awry.  Wet sand-again. This went on for several months. My pride would not let me quit. I told myself "I can make cheesecake. I can make a good pie. Not everyone can do that, so I should be able to make toffee. I've never failed like this at anything before." And still I failed.  A friend who is known for her perfect toffee came over one day to help. She watched me make the toffee-all by myself, and it turned out perfectly. I didn't do anything different than I did when I was alone. I have NO IDEA why it worked that time. She left and I decided to hurry up and make another batch while the success was still hanging in the air. Guess what happened? That's right-wet sand.
   I gave up. It stung my ego like nothing else had. I felt like a failure, and a loser. It was my secret shame.  The one thing I couldn't make. I resigned myself to it and tried to forget. I tried to make a joke of it and my husband was only too happy to help me make fun of myself. Every now and again he would say "Boy, I wish someone would make me some toffee". Ha ha.
I moved on-for more than a year.
   Then, one day I was visiting a doctor's office for work. I don't remember how it happened, but I found myself in a conversation with an elderly lady in the waiting area. We talked about cooking and I mentioned that I love to cook. She said she did too, and I asked what she liked to make. She said, "Oh, I like to make candy-you know, divinity, fudge, toffee..." So I told her my dirty little secret. I confessed how I had tried and tried to make toffee without success. She told me that she had a recipe that worked like a charm every time. It was an old English recipe that she had had for years and years, and she shared it with me. She also gave me her name and phone number so I could call her with questions and let her know if it worked for me. She promised it would.  
   I went home, and it was a week or so before I worked up the nerve to give it a try. Funny thing, her recipe was exactly like the one I had been using with one small exception-3 tablespoons of Karo syrup.  I knew in my heart that it wasn't going to work-how could it? She told me I didn't even need a candy thermometer. She said it would turn the "color of a brown paper bag" and that's how I would know it was done. Well, I tried that recipe and no one was more shocked-and proud-than I was when it actually WORKED! One perfect batch of toffee later, and I was optimistic enough to try it again. And it worked again. Wow.
   Needless to say, I no longer make toxic toffee. I have made it more than two dozen times and I don't need a recipe or a candy thermometer. It turns out perfectly every time. I'm so proud. And grateful. Isn't it funny? You just never know what kind of knowledge someone else has to share with you, or how a complete stranger might touch your life. Such a silly thing, really, but that cute little lady gave me back some of my self-confidence and I will be forever grateful. For that matter, so will my husband, because he gets all the toffee he wants these days.


**I found out the next time I went to that doctor's office that my toffee making friend (whose name is Geri, by the way) had worked at Startup's in Provo for years and years. For those of you who aren't from around here, that is a very well known, even semi-famous candy company in downtown Provo that was started by the Startup family in the 1870's and carried on by their children to the present day. Pretty amazing history, I think. http://www.startupcandy.com/CompleteHistory.html