Plot toffee – otherwise known as bonfire toffee – is a traditional Yorkshire sweet eaten in the autumn around Halloween and – you guessed it – Bonfire Night!
It’s called Plot toffee after the Gunpowder Plot. It’s referred to by different names in different parts of the country; loshin du or taffi triog (Wales), Tom Trot (Yorkshire), claggum, clag or clack (Scotland).
Some recipes include a little milk and malt vinegar like this one that I’m using from A Yorkshire Cookbook by Mary Hanson Moore. Others I’ve come across include ginger, cayenne pepper and even chilli powder.
Plot toffee
Ingredients
- 225 g Demerara sugar
- 55 g black treacle
- 55 g butter
- 2 tsp water
- 2 tsp milk
- 2 tsp malt vinegar
Instructions
- Bring all the ingredients except the vinegar to the boil stirring constantly
- Boil gently for 15-20 minutes, still stirring, until the mixture becomes brittle when a small piece is dropped into cold water. Even better, if you have a jam thermometer the temperature needs to reach the hard crack stage of 149-154°C / 300-310°F
- Stir in the vinegar and then pour into a well-greased tin
- When nearly set, you can score it deeply into squares. Alternatively, allow to cool and give it a bash with a toffee hammer
- Store in an airtight jar or container
