Okay...I'm new here so please bear with me.....

Has anyone found/created a recipe for sugar-free toffee? I'm a toffee-loving maniac and would love to find a SF version for this holiday season. I see that almost all candy shops sell SF toffee, but I am not having any luck finding a recipe to make my own. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Mary Jane

Mary Jane,
First let me say, welcome here. Look around, ask questions, or just let us lnow how you are doing!
I looked around the internet for a sf toffe recipe for about 15 minutes, and came up with nothing.
Nothing, except for sf toffee for sale.
Good Luck,
Ed

Thank you Ed. I appreciate your response.......

MJ

Mary Jane, sugar free toffee can be made with maltitol, isomalt, polydextrose or inulin. It all boils down to what you can tolerate as they all have potential digestive issues ranging from gas (polyd) to laxation (maltitol/isomalt). Isomalt is ideal for toffee/candymaking because it forms a very stable glass. Maltitol is a close second. Polyd and inulin are a little tricky to work with and are texturally a tiny bit different, but, on the plus side, they will caramelize (brown). Neither isomalt nor maltitol caramelizes so if you use those, you'll need to incorporate a caramel flavoring.

YEAH! This is great! So.....my followup questions is: where does one purchase these ingredients? A health food store? Whole Foods perhaps? I assume the package will tell how to use the product (like 1 cup of sugar = 1 cup of splenda, etc).

Thank you so much!!
MJ

Polydextrose can only be found online. In theory, maltitol and isomalt might be able to found at a health food store (they carry other sugar alcohols like xylitol and sorbitol), but in all my dealings with sugar free/low carb bakers, I've never heard of anyone who's found them locally, so I'd place them in the online only category as well. Inulin can be found at Trader Joes and at some pharmacies under the brand name Fibersure (Proctor & Gamble). The huge downside to inulin, though, is that it's super expensive (~$16/lb.). Purchasing polydextrose online (~$2/lb + ~$5 shipping charges) will save you a ton of money and yield the same results.

As far as online purveyors go, all these ingredients can be found at Netrition.

Before you start shelling out money for these ingredients, though, it would be a good idea to ascertain your ability to tolerate them. You can find many commercial products that utilize these ingredients- Walmart carries quite a few. The Russel Stover toffees are isomalt based, I believe, so if you're okay eating those, you should be okay baking with isomalt. Maltitol is extremely common- all the Hershey's sf chocolates are maltitol based. To test your sensitivity for polydextrose, I'd buy some Breyer's Carbsmart ice cream. The ice cream contains other potentially laxating ingredients so it's not the best litmus test, but as far as I know there is no pure polyd based candy/confection.

A trip to Walmart and about a $6 expenditure should give you a good idea of how your body reacts to these ingredients. If you have no issues, then I'd proceed with an order from Netrition.

As I mentioned earlier, isomalt will give you the best texture but polyd will give you the best flavor. Assuming you can tolerate it, I would go with isomalt and utilize another ingredient for the caramel taste. Although I'm not a big fan of fructose and it's associated health risks (increased triglycerides/increased insulin resistance, etc.), it is low GI, it does brown well, and in small quantities doesn't pose that much of a threat. I would brown a little fructose (either in the form of pure fructose or agave nectar) and add that to the isomalt. Both are standard health food store fare.