Toffee vs. Caramel: What's the Real Difference?

What it means

• Toffee is essentially butter and sugar boiled to the hard-crack stage, driving off nearly all the water so the cooled candy snaps.
• Caramel is cooked to a lower temperature and typically includes cream or milk, retaining more moisture so it stays pliable and chewy.
• Both get their amber color and flavor from the same sugar-browning and Maillard reactions; the texture diverges mainly because of how much water is boiled off.
• 'Caramel' can also mean plain caramelized sugar used as a sauce, whereas toffee is almost always a finished set candy.