Category: Recipes, Desserts | Post by: Andrea Wong
Just before Halloween, I read a blog post on MattBites.com about some toffee apples that he made for halloween. I used to love having toffee apples as a kid and seeing these toffee-covered treats again took me back to a sunny summer's afternoon at some cake-stall fundraiser and me munching on a toffee apple. So when I was invited to a bring-a-plate fundraising afternoon tea, a variation of this idea was one of the recipes floating around in my head.
The fundraising afternoon tea is a High Tea party and we will be donating to Breast Cancer research here in New Zealand. So, like many similar other fundraisers for breast cancer research, there will be a pink theme. Thinking back to the toffee apples, I wanted to make something toffeed, yet small enough to suit a High Tea... and for it to be pink or red. Strawberries it was then.
My first batch of toffee was destined for the bin as I was distracted right at that crucial moment and it was taken way past the point of the full-flavoured, caramely toffee and turned into a sticky, burned mess. Mental note: making toffee requires 100% of your attention, especially when done in small quantities. Lesson learned.
The second batch was much better, I took it off the heat just as it started to turn golden brown. I added a few drops of red food colouring, to help intensify the red colour. Holding a plump, ripe strawberry by its leaves, I dunked and twirled it in the toffee. Success!
I left the toffee strawberries to rest on a sheet of baking paper and taste tested one (my favourite part in the whole process) - yum! I made a few more to make sure that I had the technique down pat and left them on the baking paper.
At this point I thought that this would go down well at a High Tea - they were the right size and looked quite good.
But then disappointment. Checking on the strawberries about half an hour later, I noticed that the toffee was starting to melt. Oh darn, they won't last sitting around on a plate for a couple of hours.
So although these are not suitable for a High Tea party, they would be great as an after-meal treat. Enjoy!
Toffee Strawberries
Ingredients
1 punnet of strawberries, left whole with its leaves, washed and dried thoroughly
1 1/2c caster sugar
3T white vinegar
2/3c water
12-15 drops red food colouring
Method
- In a small, deep saucepan, gently stir over a low heat until the sugar, vinegar and water are melted.
- Turn the heat up to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Do not stir. Keeping a close eye on the pot, let the mixture boil until it turns a light golden brown. Take the saucepan off the heat.
- Holding a strawberry by its leaves, dip it in the toffee, coating it thinly. Be careful when doing this as the toffee can burn your skin easily
- Transfer the toffee strawberry to a sheet of baking paper
- Repeat for the remainder of the strawberries.
Serve immediately.