A Nell Heaton recipe from my grandmother’s old cookbook. It uses “swiss milk” which we’d never heard of before, but it turns out to be the old name for condensed milk.
Swiss Toffee has much in common with Scottish Tablet and Russian Toffee, as they all seem to be a variation on a theme using similar ingredients and method.
The end result is a slightly soft and grainy consistency, not a smooth, brittle toffee.
Just be careful with the boiling stage. Take it slow and steady, but if the temperature is too low it will still be delicious but very soft and chewy. If it’s too high, and you get black streaks, you’ve burnt it, and you’ll have a helluva job getting the pan clean!

This is Nell’s version from 1949, so the measurements are good old-fashioned imperial.

Swiss Toffee
Ingredients
- 1 lb caster sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoonfuls golden syrup
- small tin condensed milk
- 2 oz butter
- 2 teaspoonfuls vanilla essence
Instructions
- Melt butter.
- Add syrup and sugar.
- When melted add the milk.
- Boil for 20 minutes
- Remove from heat, add the vanilla, stir well.
- Pour on greased trays to set.
Other recipes you may like:
• Langues de Chat biscuits
• Cinnamon Cappuccino Fudge
• Sorbet of raspberries

Hi Small tin condensed milk there is now only one size is that it
Hi Sarah, good question. Ours was made with the old style 425g can which is now ‘condensed’ to 397g – it’s such a pain when manufacturers alter the size of products! It is possible you may need to adjust the recipe slightly to get the consistency just right. Would love to know how you get on. Pork Belly’s keen to give it another go too, in the interests of accuracy.