Online Tucson-based candy company Defiant Candy Co. officially launched on Monday, October 29. While additional candies are in the works, the website currently features one item: Pecan Pandora soft toffee.
Defiant CEO and co-founder Nicholas Cole first tasted the soft toffee late 2016 while visiting a family friend named Leslie.
“She was always a phenomenal cook,” Cole said. “I remember these pancakes she used to make every morning, absolutely to die for.”
On this particular trip, Leslie served a platter of desserts and Cole reached for the “chocolate and toffee-looking thing.” He proceeded to hog the rest of them and founded Defiant Candy Co. a few weeks later.
The ingredient list for the Pecan Pandora soft toffee is short: butter, sugar, pecans, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. The “soft toffee” isn’t caramelized like conventional toffee, so it isn’t solid or crackly — it melts on your tongue instead. The sweetness is also more upfront as a result, tempered by the pecan and chocolate.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bou-jM0AoDk/?taken-by=defiant_candy
Defiant is currently shipping to Arizona addresses alone. Two additional soft toffee flavors are on the way.
For more information and to place an order, visit defiantcandy.co.
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Article written by:
Jackie Tran
More about JackieJackie Tran is a Tucson-based food writer, photographer, culinary educator, and owner-chef of the now-closed food truck Tran’s Fats. Although he is best known locally for his work for Tucson Foodie, his work has also appeared in publications such as Bon Appétit, National Geographic, and the New York Times.
An adventurous foodie, he enjoys culinary experiences ranging from seasonal omakase to sloppily devouring green chili patty melts in his car afterhours. His favorite foods include aguachile, garlic noodles, and leftover fried chicken illuminated by the fridge light. His favorite drinks include morning micheladas, fireside imperial stouts, candle-lit negroni, and grassy mezcales.
Outside of food, he also loves playing musical instruments, karaoke, Tetris, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and petting Addie’s dog Spaghetti.
If you’d like to stalk him, visit his Instagram @jackie_tran_ or jackietran.com.
