|
|
The word "butterscotch" has nothing to do with Scotland, by
the way. "To scotch" means to cut or score something; when butterscotch
candy was poured out to cool, it was "scotched" to make it easier to break
into pieces later. |
Butterscotch is a firm favorite with those with a
decidedly sweet tooth and a penchant for a creamy texture. Butterscotch is both
a flavor, a candy and a color and even the stuff an apple is dipped into to make
candy apples.
Butterscotch's fame comes from it's flavor; it is a blend of
butter and brown sugar. It is popular for cookies, ice-cream toppings, frostings
and candies. You can buy
butterscotch-flavored items in the grocery store, such as butterscotch chips,
sauce or even wrapped butterscotch candies, plus you can make your own at home.
The butterscotch flavor develops naturally when you boil sugar
to a high enough temperature to make candy, a combination of ingredients,
generally being light corn syrup, sugar, butter and cream. The mixture is boiled
to 270 -
290 degrees F (Soft Crack Stage) or when the
syrup dropped into
ice water separates into hard but pliable threads. The flavor that
results is from what chemists call the Maillard
reaction, in which sugars and proteins react under heat to create
roasted and browned flavors. Other ingredients include salt and vanilla extract,
added after boiling. Then the mixture is poured into a shallow oiled pan, and
cut in squares while still warm.
|
Store butterscotch sauce an air-tight container (like a canning jar or
Tupperware) in the refrigerator. |
Butterscotch candy is made ways
similar to making
caramel
and toffee, as is
fudge.
The difference is in the degree of boiling temperature and the ways in which
they are cooled. This whole process uses high-heat to convert sugar.
Crystallization, graininess, and whether it is brittle or smooth are simply
variations of this process. With
fudge or Fondant, the
proportions always have to be about the same, but the ratio of sugar to butter
in butterscotch recipes can range from 4:3 to 16:1, and the ratio of sugar to
cream from 8:9 to 4:1.
Many recipes for butterscotch sauce, and
particularly for butterscotch pudding, begin by cooking the brown sugar with
butter before adding cream or milk--especially milk. Because of the acids,
molasses or even brown sugar will make milk curdle if you boil it with either of
them. When making the sauce you'll think, "it's too runny!" But as the hot
mixture cools it starts to resemble a thick caramel sauce in consistency.
| Conveniently for butterscotch makers,
molasses contains caramel and even some roasted Maillard-reaction flavors
of its own, because it's the byproduct of the repeated boiling by which
sugar is refined; in effect, it's a very dark caramel with a distinct
burnt edge and a bit of sharpness. Because molasses is so strongly
flavored, butterscotch recipes rarely use it straight, only in the diluted
form of brown sugar, which is basically refined sugar crystals thinly
coated with molasses. |
|
| |
