Welsh Toffee Cyflaith

Noson gyflaith (The Toffee Evening) was a traditional part of Christmas or New Year festivities in some areas of north Wales earlier this century. Families would invite friends to their homes for supper and the meal would be followed by merriment, playing games, making toffee, and storytelling. When the required ingredients for the toffee had boiled to a certain degree, the toffee was poured onto a well greased slate or stone slab. The hearthstone itself was used for this purpose in some houses. Members of the happy gathering would then cover their hands with butter and attempt to pull the warm toffee until it became golden yellow in color.

• Ready In: 10 mins
• Yields: 3 pounds

Ingredients

• 8  cups dark brown sugar
• 2⁄3 cup boiling water
• 3  tablespoons fresh lemon juice, pulp strained out
• 16  tablespoons salted butter, softened 1/2 lb

Directions

1. Using an enameled or stainless steel saucepan over low heat, gradually dissolve the sugar in the boiling water. Stir it continuously with a wooden spoon until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved. This usually takes from 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the lemon juice and the softened butter, and stir them into the sugar. Boil this mixture fairly briskly, WITHOUT STIRRING it, for 15 minutes.
3. Gently drop a teaspoonful of the mixture into a cupful of cold water; if it hardens at once, it has reached the required consistency (soft-crack stage).
4. Pour the mixture slowly onto a buttered marble slab or large flat dish. Do not scrape the saucepan clean as the scraping might turn the toffee back into sugar.
5. Use extra butter to butter your hands. Pull the taffy into long golden strands while it is still hot. Cut the taffy in smaller pieces. To make about 3 pounds.
6. Welsh Fare S. Minwel Tibbott.