toffee is so goddamn cheap and easy to make i have no IDEA why more people don't. so anyway here's how i do it and it always turns out great.
the only inconvenient thing about toffee is how hot it is, so YOU MUST NOT USE PLASTIC AT ANY POINT. IT WILL MELT. the first time i made toffee it tasted great BUT i melted my favorite spatula into a sad little curl.
quick requirements & ingredience and then detailed instructions below the cut.
paper, metal, or ceramic plate covered in tinfoil or waxed paper
butter
granulated (white) sugar
skillet
SILICONE spatula
any toppings you want; chocolate chips, nuts, etc
salt and vanilla if you want to get fancy, but it's not needed
prep your endgame plate. if you're using toppings, scatter them on the plate now. in the skillet, melt the butter. add the sugar (and the salt and vanilla if you're getting fancy). gradually increase heat & keep stirring until it's toffee. pour it into the plate. wait for it to cool. there you go you did it.
DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS
last things first: you need somewhere to PUT the hot toffee once you've made it. so you need something that can withstand very high temperatures, and which the toffee isn't going to stick to. my absolute favorite thing to use are those paper plates with the shiny plastic-y coating. they're the perfect size, they don't melt, and the toffee just pops right off. if you don't have any of those, you can put waxed paper or tinfoil on a metal, paper, or ceramic plate. plastic will melt! don't use a plastic plate! for the love of all the gods do not use freaking cling wrap!!
if you want toppings, you need to pour the hot toffee OVER them. if you pour them on top of the toffee they won't stick. so! once you have your endgame plate, coat the bottom evenly with whatever toppings you want. i usually go for chocolate chips and chopped nuts. but do whatever you want. go wild. but make sure that you don't pile them up! it needs to be a SINGLE LAYER at the bottom of the plate, or else the toffee won't reach all of it. and again, no toppings are required.
also! this is more relevant at the end but i'm going to say it here too: you do NOT want to pour your toffee too thick. toffee is hard as fuck. if it's like half an inch thick that's great; more than that and you have to break it with a hammer. it is better to have too many plates prepped than not enough.
thus your endgame plate is entirely prepared.
get out the butter. i realize i didn't put any measurements in the ingredients list; that's because the few times i've USED measurements i've gotten online they didn't work. for the most part, 1 dinner-sized plate = 1/2 stick of butter, or four tablespoons of butter.
put the skillet on the burner and turn the burner on low. melt the butter in the skillet, but don't let it boil or brown. once it's melted, if you're getting fancy add a single drop of vanilla and a pinch of salt for every four tablespoons of butter. whether you're getting fancy or not add sugar and use the silicone spatula to mix it with the butter. note here that you want to be careful to not get any sugar on the stove, because it WILL melt and/or burn and it will smell awful and probably smoke. so when you're scooping the sugar, either hold the container over the skillet, or use something with high sides (like a small cup instead of a spoon or something) and don't fill it all the way.
the goal is to have all the butter absorbed in the sugar, but to not have any sugar that isn't coated in butter. generally this means you start by adding a little bit more sugar than you have butter (so for four tablespoons butter you can start with like five tablespoons of sugar).
gradually increase the heat. by this i mean turn it up a half-number every minute or so. (once you're used to making toffee you can go a bit faster, but when you're learning it's better to go slow.) as the heat increases the butter will melt more and go more liquid, so you're going to keep adding sugar a little bit at a time.
stir consistently. it is very easy to let it burn.
what you're looking for is liquid light brown. once you get any liquid light brown, stop adding sugar. keep stirring with the silicone spatula. turn it up an EENSY bit more or not at all, and then stop turning up the heat.
now this is the part that is not tricky, but which WILL test the strength of your heart and the firmness of your convictions. because you have to keep stirring and letting it melt, and if you take it off the heat too soon you are going to have a gravelly sandy mix of some toffee and some sugar and some butter. it won't taste awful, obviously, but it won't be TOFFEE, either. if you've never seen liquid toffee being made you're going to keep thinking that it's done when it's not. hold firm! and i will tell you how to know when it's done.
keep stirring. spread the liquid parts among the non-liquid parts and keep everything as even as possible. there will come a point when it looks like it's all liquid, just chunky liquid. keep going. there will come a point where it looks like it's all liquid, just kinda grainy or sandy. keep going. there will come a point when you're like "I AM GOING TO BURN THIS IF I DON'T TAKE IT OFF THE HEAT RIGHT NOW." my friend, hold fast and keep going.
all at once it will turn into a smooth liquid that mostly stops sticking to the spatula and there will also suddenly be a puddle of clear liquid oil. THIS is what you are waiting for. it will remind you far less of toffee and far more of liquid caramel. leave it on the heat only until it's the color brown you want; i usually stir the whole thing one or two more times to make sure it's ALL toffee and then remove it from the heat.
now this part. this part. is also not complicated! but you must do this part FAST.
if you leave it on the heat TOO long it will burn. but the moment it's off the heat it starts to harden. you have to get it OUT of the skillet FAST so it doesn't just harden in there.
so you're going to turn off the burner, pick up the skillet, and pour the toffee into your endgame plate. but you are not going to rush! you are going to go fast but not go insane. because you see you need to get it even, you need to get it not too thick, and you need to get it into more than one plate if there's too much for one plate. so you're going to basically drizzle it onto the plate. pour it so the stream is idk maybe two inches wide, and coat the whole plate evenly. if there's too much for one plate, move on to the next. use the spatula to make sure all of it comes out of the pan.
once it's all poured into the plates - great! you're basically done. double-check the burner is turned off. put down the pan somewhere it won't burn anything. remember that the pan is very, very hot still. all the drops and drabs on the spatula (an any you got on the counter) will be hard and likely cool enough to eat by now (yes, thirty seconds after you poured it). however! the thicker stuff on the plates will NOT be cool enough to eat for a while. if you poured the toffee over chocolate, then the chocolate is going to take about ten times longer to harden and cool than the toffee will. pop those plates in the fridge or the freezer if you used chocolate; if not, you can cool them in the fridge, the freezer, or on the counter; it just depends on how fast you want to be able to eat it.
clean-up is a breeze. at least compared to other things. despite everything there will still be some toffee in the skillet. you can eat it once the skillet cools. if you don't want to eat it, then cool, it's hard as a rock and stuck like glue to the pan, BUT! it is glue made out of sugar and butter! any kind of soap gets rid of the butter and water dissolves the sugar. even if you have to hand-wash like i do, washing toffee out of things is really easy.
et voila! done! congratulations: you have made toffee! please tell me how it went!
This katsu was SO good and simple I gotta give you the recipe:
Ingredients:
Golden curry
Vegetable stock cube
Potatoes
Carrots
One onion
Method:
Dice one onion and chop potatoes and carrots (You figure out how many) I like chopping the veg all asymmetrical and chunky so it looks all ghibli
Heat olive oil in saucepan and put the onions, potatoes and carrots for five minutes
Fill about 2/3 of the pan with water a with a vegetable stock cube and boil for 15 minutes
Throw in about 3 golden curry cubes until they've dissolved and it's the thickness that you like.
That's it!
Eating this SO MUCH lately I heckin’ love katsu but usually make it differently, this is way simpler and there’s always too much so I’ve been putting it in the fridge and heating it up with a bit of water again the next day.
✨And of course you gotta have the sushi rice with it✨
Do you want a quick, easy, cheap dinner for your family? Look no further. I used this recipe I found on Twitter with a few tweaks and it has been so yummy. Also incredibly easy as I'm not the most confident in the kitchen yet.
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INGREDIENTS
MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1.5 Tbsp stone ground or whole grain mustard
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
Freshly Cracked Pepper
KIELBASA AND CABBAGE
1 Tbsp olive oil
14 oz. kielbasa
1 yellow onion
6 cups chopped cabbage (1 small head, 2.25 lbs)
pinch salt and pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the vinaigrette by adding the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic powder, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper to a bowl or jar. Whisk or shake the jar until the ingredients are combined, then set the vinaigrette aside.
Slice the kielbasa into medallions or half-rounds and add them to a large skillet (12" or larger) or a large, wide-bottomed pot, along with the olive oil. Sauté the sausage over medium heat until the pieces are well browned.
While the sausage is browning, finely dice the onion. Once the sausage has fully browned, add the onions and continue to sauté until the onions are soft and transparent.
While the onions are sautéing, chop the head of cabbage into 2-inch by 1/2-inch wide strips. Add the cabbage to the skillet or pot along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Continue to sauté until the cabbage is tender (check the thickest white pieces for tenderness). To help the cabbage soften, add a few tablespoons of water to create steam within the pot or skillet. Let the water evaporate as you sauté the cabbage.
Once tender, drizzle the mustard vinaigrette over the skillet, starting with just half of the prepared amount. Stir to coat the kielbasa and cabbage in the vinaigrette, taste, and add more if needed. Serve warm.
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We added 2 bags of egg noodles to make it stretch, definitely would either add 1 bag or double the sauce. We also used vegetarian sausage instead of the kind mentioned here. Overall it has been super yummy and cheap, as I already had more than half of the ingredients already in my pantry.
Having one of my favorite, cheap meals for dinner.
Bisquick biscuits (can use generic), best with milk but can use water if needed, & sausage "gravy" (12 oz sausage roll + can of cream of mushroom soup + 1/2 can of milk, or water).
Chock full of calories & nums. Serves a family of 4, easily.
edit to add: crumble & brown the sausage & drain the fat before adding soup & milk/water. Mix & simmer until hot & the consistency you prefer. (usually around 10 minutes)
So the wonderful, wonderful woman behind ‘1repas1euro’ (1 meal 1 euro) created an American version of her work, featuring 10 meals under 1 dollar, using food you can find at Walmart.
This woman is a fucking national treasure and has been doing all this solo, so feel free to check it out and download (for free of course) her ebook, and eat actually GOOD cheap meals.
https://1repas1euro.com/menus/10-meals-under-1/
She’s super young (22 or 23), knows how hard it can be at the end of the month, has had health issues because she wasn’t feeding herself right. She’s pretty damn awesome.
