A little nutty
A little sweet
Just like me
Well, ok, I might be a little nuttier…
So, here we are again with another candy-making recipe. I apologize for not posting sooner as promised. If you have children, a spouse, a job, and 3 sets of families vying for your time and attention right before Christmas, you will understand. If you don’t, just make the toffee, eat it, and you will never again be upset in your entire life. Promise.
Toffee – Stand alone, it is probably my most favorite candy on all of the Earth. I love the buttery flavor, the texture; how it’s not super hard but not soft; just somewhere in between. Add a layer of chocolate and nuts, and you will think you have died and gone to Heaven.
So go put the kids to bed (I’m assuming here that you’re like me and don’t do any “me” related stuff until the clock strikes 9pm), turn on an old episode of The Office (one that you have seen so you don’t have to pay attention to plot lines, but can laugh a lot) and mentally prepare yourself, because you will end up eating most of it.
Ingredients
** note the BEAUTIFUL and professional photos (my husband was home when I decided to embark on this adventure, it pays to have a super talented and hot photographer husband)
Candy Thermometer
1 lb Butter (I used Salted but I have read some recipes that say not to. You decide)
1 lb Sugar (I tried this with brown sugar and the consistency was not quite right, still tasty though)
1 cup Semi-Sweet chips
1/2 -1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans because I had them but any will do. Get creative)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Directions
Generously grease an extra-large (or two medium) cookie sheet(s) with butter (please use butter and not something that you spray out of a can. That stuff scares the bejesus outta me). Oh and please warm up your coffee that you have been attempting to drink all day and drink it now.
Chop your nuts. Laugh at yourself for the silly thoughts that just ran through your head and move on.
I used a knife and chopped the pecans by hand instead of using a food processor. For some reason every time I use the food processor I end up with some “nut dust”. I didn’t want “nut dust”….
You get the point…
Moving on….
Spread the chopped nuts in an even layer over the cookie sheet (or sheets if you opted for two medium ones) and set it off to the side
Cut your pound of butter (4 sticks) into sections and dump it, along with the pound of sugar into a large pot.
Yes, when stated like this, it kind of seems like toffee may not be that good for you. Please ignore all of this butter and sugar, we are making toffee for Petes sake….any apprehension you feel will quickly diminish after your first bite…
Insert your candy thermometer into the pot and clip it onto the side. Make sure that the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pot, but rather just resting in the liquid.
Bring the butter and sugar to a slow, rolling boil over medium heat. Patience….
Boil over medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture reaches between 295 and 300 degrees on the thermometer.
As soon as it hits that temp, stop stirring and let it boil to 305 degrees.
The concoction should be about the color of caramel, or a little lighter. Here is where I missed the picture of what the toffee should look like…imagine the color that your vanilla ice cream turns to when you mix it with caramel and it has been sitting for a while. But thicker. That’s about the best I could do…
Immediately remove the boiling butter and sugar from the heat and pour in the tsp of vanilla. Please have this already measured out…time is of the essence here.
Pour the liquid toffee mixture into your pre-greased cookie sheet(s) spreading the mixture evenly with your trusty rubber spatula. Let it sit for a few minutes and then sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Please do not touch the toffee…this stuff takes a long time to cool down, I know because I touched it, and it hurt.
I love this picture because it shows what chocolate looks like when it is melty (that point where its spreadable); you know what it looks like but it’s just not something you can describe.
With your rubber spatula, (please tell me that you have one by now), spread the chocolate into an even layer over the toffee. Now when I say even layer, I mean get the chocolate over as much of the toffee as possible. Do not spend hours making it perfect. It will not taste any different. Promise.
As you can see above, mine was by no means perfectly spread and not one person told me that their toffee did not have equal parts toffee, chocolate and nuts. PS if anyone does notice that and calls you out on it, please take the candy away from them and give it to a more appreciative recipient.
From here, I put mine in the fridge for a bit, then in the freezer for a few hours to speed up the hardening of the chocolate. It depends what kind of combination of patience and self-discipline that you have. I have none. Hence the freezer.
When the chocolate has completely set and hardened, take it out, turn it upside down onto the counter or a cutting board and give it a few whacks with the side of a wooden spoon.
Please eat about 5 or 6 pieces and tell yourself that you will start dieting as soon as the holidays are over. Store the rest in an air tight container to eat at a later time, or if you can part with it, put some in a cellophane bag, wrap a pretty ribbon around it and give it to your neighbor as a gift.
Now, go sit down with a glass of wine (and maybe some more toffee) and relax. You deserve it!
One Mad Housewife 