Toffee is a sweet treat that’s been beloved around the world for a long, long time – it’s tasty, rich, and delightfully moreish. To keep yours fresh, you may want to freeze it. But is this possible?
Can You Freeze Toffee?
Yes, you can freeze toffee for up to 3 months. The best way to do this is to keep the toffee in an airtight, freezer-safe container. We would recommend sealing the container in one or two layers of foil to prevent freezer burn.
Do Does Toffee freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Toffee? Yes
How to Freeze Toffee
Toffee made (or bought)? But now need to store it for the long term? Well, here’s our simple method for freezing it at home:
- Place Into a Container: The first step to freezing toffee is to place it into an airtight container without too much room around it. Too much room will lead to condensation and, in turn, freezer burn. This is certainly something to be avoided.
- Seal: Once the toffee is in the freezer, press any excess air out of the airtight container while you seal it (if using a bag or soft container), and then press the lid onto the container, allowing it to be entirely sealed.
- Wrap: Then, wrap the container in at least one layer of foil, preventing frost from coming into direct contact with the outside of the container. In turn, this will prevent freezer burn.
- Freeze: Place the wrapped container into the freezer, and label it as you freeze it. It will freeze well and keep for up to 3 months.
3 Tips for Freezing Toffee
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing toffee to have the best results:
Consider Additional Ingredients
If your toffee contains nuts, dried fruit, or other additional mix-ins, consider how well they’ll freeze. You want to avoid freezing anything that will swell and break the toffee. We’ve written about freezing nuts, dried fruit and chocolate chips.
Avoid Using an Oversized Container
An oversized container will trap a lot of air in with the toffee, making the toffee itself both stale and more prone to freezer burn.
Ensure You Use a Freezer-Safe Container
Some containers can become damaged in the freezer if they’re not made of appropriate materials. Considering how sticky and difficult to clean toffee can be, ensure you’re using a container that won’t break or get damaged.
How Long Can You Freeze Toffee?
You can freeze toffee in your home freeze for up to 3 months.
This might not seem like too long, but the main reason that you’ll encounter issues is that after a long time being stored at such low temperatures, the fat and sugar of the recipe will start to become separate from the toffee itself.
The fat may bloom on the surface of the toffee, and the sugar may dissolve in condensation and freezer burn/frost. This would degrade the toffee quite intensely, leading to a poor final eating experience.
How Do You Defrost Toffee?
The best way to defrost toffee is to allow it to come to room temperature on the counter in the kitchen. Ensuring it isn’t too wet is important, as condensation and other types of moisture will dissolve sugar from the toffee, leading to it losing structure over time.
Therefore, we recommend defrosting toffee in the container that you froze it in, but with the lid ajar or off completely – this will lend itself to having ice and frost melt and then evaporate, leaving you will well-thawed toffee that’s still perfectly edible.
Can You Refreeze Toffee?
Yes, you can refreeze toffee. As we’ve said in this article, water is the main enemy of any foodstuff quite as sugar-heavy as toffee.
If too much water, frost, or anything similar comes into contact with the toffee itself, then the sugar will dissolve, leading to the structure of the toffee being compromised.
Provided that the toffee doesn’t get too wet or have too much condensation on it during the freezing process, the toffee should be perfectly fine to thaw and refreeze as many times as you want.
There is little to no actual water within the toffee itself, so you don’t need to worry about water molecules swelling and damaging the molecular structure of the toffee while it’s in the freezer. Instead, keep a keen eye out for condensation.
Does Toffee Freeze Well?
Yes, toffee does freeze well. What could prevent toffee from freezing well is if the container it’s in is a little ajar in the freezer, and frost or other moisture gets into the container.
In that situation, the ice will dissolve some of the sugars, which would allow for the breakdown of the structure of the toffee itself.
To avoid this, we would suggest avoiding any toffee that has been frozen if the toffee has goopy, thick ice on or around it in the container.
This is ice that has sugar dissolved in it, and it is a sure sign that the toffee isn’t good anymore. Upon thawing, it would become too sticky and melted to be edible.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing toffee or toffee in general, then these may help:
Although you can cool toffee in the freezer, you may find that this raises the temperature of your freezer which can negatively impact other items in the freezer. This is, therefore, something we would avoid.
Fortunately, toffee has a long shelf life and can be stored easily. Pop it into an airtight container and then into a kitchen cupboard where it will keep for around 6 to 8 weeks.
