'caramel' went wrong

[Rosendula]

On the rare occasion I go to A1d! I get some chocolate biscuit bars called "Disco". They have a biscuit base, then a thin layer of caramel (or is it soft toffee?), then chocolate with little Smartie-like sweets on top. We all love them, so I decided to make some.

Biscuit base was fine, as was the chocolate topping and the M&Ms on top. The caramel stuff wasn't so good though. I've never made it before, so I looked up a recipe for a cake that had caramel coating and thought I'd try that (just the coating bit, obviously ).

It said to put 3 oz sugar and 2tbsp water in a pan and dissolve it without stirring, then allow it to boil until it goes golden. Well as it went golden it also crystallized

I tried using it, but it's tooth-breaking stuff, so after coating about half of the biscuits, I used golden syrup instead, which was a bit runny to work with. Can someone please tell me why my caramel didn't work, or perhaps suggest a better recipe?

[Loobyloo]

Hmmm, I would have thought you would need to put some butter or condensed milk or something in there to keep it chewy, I don't have a tried and tested recipe though I'm afraid.

Good Luck!

[Graye]

I think what you have made is basically toffee or the lovely crunchy stuff which goes on toffee apples.

I've got a recipe somewhere for the sort you need for the biscuits, I'll see if I can find it. Stirring in cream before it sets springs to mind but I'll check.

[Graye]

Here it is, sorry it's in cups. Just use an average teacup as a measure if you don't have any formal cup measures.

3 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Cream
1/4 Cup Butter
2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup
1/8 Teaspoon Salt

In a heavy pan lightly brown 1 cup sugar. Slowly add cream, remaining sugar, butter, syrup and salt. Cook to soft ball stage (until a spoonful dropped into a cup of cold water forms a soft ball) . Remove from heat and beat with a wooden spoon until thick. Pour into a buttered dish if you want it set like fudge or spread it on your biscuits when it has cooled a little.

[Rosendula]

Woo-hoo!

Thank you so much. I can't wait to give it a try.

[eccentric_emma]

Just reading that recipe has made my teeth crumble slightly! Looks lovely though. *dreams of toffee*