It’ll soon be November 5th: traditional time of bonfires, fireworks, parkin cake, treacle toffee and, knowing the British weather, hot drinks. Keep yourself and your customers warm on a chilly night with our special gingerbread coffee and treacle toffee recipes.
Gingerbread coffee (makes six servings)
In a small, heatproof bowl, mix six tablespoons of treacle, one heaped teaspoon of ginger and four tablespoons of brown sugar. Put in the microwave and melt together for 30 – 40 seconds, until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly between six sturdy mugs, suitable for outside use. Pour on a little black coffee made from freshly roasted and ground coffee beans, and stir vigorously to dissolve the spice mixture. Fill the cups with coffee until about 2/3 full. Add milk or cream, then top with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of extra ginger.
Treacle toffee
Grease a shallow18cm square baking, and line it with greaseproof paper, silicone paper or aluminium foil. If you use foil, press it down carefully into all the corners of the tin.
Using your largest pan (a preserving or maslin pan is ideal), heat the sugar and water together until the sugar has dissolved. Stir the mixture a couple of times to make sure there are no remaining sugar crystals. Add all the remaining ingredients and allow to heat for a few minutes to soften, then stir a couple of times. Let the mixture come to the boil, and watch it carefully – it will foam up inside the pan, and if your pan is too small you risk a treacle-flavoured sugar flood!
Using a sugar thermometer, test for the ‘soft crack’ stage (132 to 143 degrees centigrade) – this will be marked on the thermometer. Once it’s reached this point, pour the mixture carefully into the prepared tin, making sure it’s evenly spread. Mark it into squares with a knife (greasing the knife blade first will make this easier).
Leave the tin at room temperature until the toffee is completely set, then break it into pieces and store in an airtight tin until required.
Serve with gingerbread coffee. For the best coffee beans for use in all your recipes, browse our range at www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk