Toffee Vs Caramel: What's The Difference?

If you've ever just assumed that toffee and caramel are basically the same thing, then you clearly haven't killed an afternoon diving into the wildly specific world of candy making. You may not have realized it when popping a caramel, but just like being a chocolatier or saucier, candy-making is a whole specific science unto itself. Candy specifically refers to the cooking of sugar, which transforms it into many different forms. Adding flavor is part of it, too, of course, but the core of candy-making revolves around using the right cooking temperatures to achieve different textures based on how much water it leaves behind. That's why candy can produce soft, chewy gummies or shatteringly crisp shells. And there are actually six different stages, some of which are only achieved within a narrow temperature range of less than 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

There are more differences between caramel and toffee than just what stage they are cooked to, but that is the clearest distinction. Toffee tends to be more narrowly defined in this area, whereas caramel comes in a range of textures from liquid to hard. Both can be used in a variety of recipes, but caramel's wider range of styles also generally makes it more versatile. There is one big thing that they both have in common though. If you want to make either at home, you will quickly become acquainted with the maddeningly difficult precision that it takes to make candy, and hopefully come out with a newfound appreciation for the craft.

Caramel is the better place to start because it's maybe the simplest of all candy. At its base, it is just cooked sugar, and that's it. Some recipes will add cream or other ingredients, but to make caramel, all you need to do is heat sugar to 340 degrees Fahrenheit until it starts browning. Candy making is chemistry, and caramel is all about how heat can be used to change the flavor of an ingredient all by itself. When sugar is cooked to this point the sucrose molecules start breaking down, which creates entirely new flavors that have a greater level of complexity. This is the process known as caramelization. It's very similar to how the Maillard reaction creates new flavors through browning, but browning and caramelizing are not the exact same thing, as the later refers specifically to sugars.

Caramel is also generally made with white sugar, not other forms like brown sugar or molasses. There are many different forms of caramel, but it is usually cooked to a lower final temperature than toffee. This is typically done by adding liquids like water to lower the temperature after the browning has been achieved. Cooking caramel to 215 degrees Fahrenheit produces liquid caramel sauce, while hitting 240 degrees Fahrenheit — known as the "soft ball" stage — creates your classic chewy caramel candy. Adding dairy instead of water can give you a softer texture and more richness, and vanilla may also be added for flavor, but the core of everything is browned sugar.

Toffee adds one crucial ingredient to the caramel mix that changes how it's made: butter. This is what gives toffee its unique flavor compared to caramel, which usually uses cream or no dairy at all. Toffee is also often made with brown sugar, which adds a molasses-like complexity. Because the base is a mixture of butter and sugar, toffee is actually a type of butterscotch, but it is cooked to a firmer point than butterscotch is.

To make toffee, the sugar is cooked with the butter from the beginning instead of adding it at the end. Beyond the flavor, the fat in butter helps toffee brown before reaching the temperature normally needed for caramel. Caramel can also be cooked in liquid from the start like this, but it's not essential to the candy. What really makes toffee toffee beyond the butter is that the mixture is cooked to the hard-crack stage. This is hit at 300 degrees Fahrenheit and results in toffee's signature brittle, crunchy texture compared to the softer caramel.

There are versions like toffee sauce, which add cream to the toffee mixture and is used in things like sticky toffee pudding, but the hard-crack version is the norm. While it's not required, a chocolate coating and additions like nuts are also common when making hard toffee recipes. It's usually eaten as a snack by itself, but toffee can also be crumbled as a topping or addition to baked goods.