Caramelized sugar topped with chocolate and chopped pecans. This Easy Toffee is an addictively tasty candy!
12 Days of Holiday Treats: Day 4
Welcome to Day 4 of SugarSpicesLife 12 Days of Holiday Treats! This is a 12 day series of different holiday treat recipes! Today’s Recipe: Easy Toffee.
Easy Toffee
Maybe 7 or 8 years ago, I realized how amazing toffee tastes, and it became one of my favorite candies.
It was around Christmas, and my friend Caitlin had some homemade toffee at her house. I ate a piece and thought, “this is incredible, why have I not realized this?!” So, I ate a bunch of it, and was really happy about it.
When my son was old enough to go trick-or-treating, I decided that Heath Bars were probably “too hard” and “not safe” for him, so I made a sacrifice and went Godzilla on them. My kids are now 3 and 5, but I’m still standing between them and certain toffee peril. Fortunately, they don’t seem to notice.
Candy Thermometer
Toffee is pretty easy to make. There is very little work involved. But, I highly recommend using a candy thermometer to best control the outcome.
I cook my toffee to 280 – 285 degrees F as I don’t want it to be too hard and crackly (I’m not a fan of toffee that gets stuck in my teeth). If you want very hard, crackly toffee, you could go up to 305 degrees F or so.
Chocolate
For this recipe, I use semi-sweet chocolate as I think it works best with the hard sugar. But, if you like your toffee sweeter, go for milk chocolate. Or, if you’re a dark chocolate fan, that works too!
Nuts
Traditionally, toffee is topped with almonds. However, I’m a big pecan fan. So, I top this Easy Toffee with chopped pecans.
Use whatever variety of chopped nuts that you want on top! You can’t go wrong.
This Easy Toffee is a delicious candy that is perfect for dessert or to give as a gift!
Easy Toffee
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
 extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 2-3 tablespoons crushed pecans or other crushed nuts
Instructions
- Line bottom and sides of a small jelly roll pan (~8.5″ x ~11″) with parchment paper or wax paper.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Continue stirring frequently until the mixture reaches 280 to 290 degrees F (the mixture will be amber in color and have a nutty smell).
- Pour mixture into prepared baking pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Be careful not to touch the liquid as it will burn you!
- Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over top of mixture. Let chocolate sit and melt for 1-2 minutes, then use spatula to spread chocolate evenly over top.
- Sprinkle crushed pecans evenly over chocolate.
- Transfer pan to refrigerator until toffee has firmed, about 2 hours. Once firm, break into pieces.
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed this Easy Toffee, you may also enjoy these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Buckeyes (Peanut Butter Chocolate Candy)
Caramelized Dulce de Leche Crepes
Salted Caramel Tart
Nutella Truffles
Tiger Butter Fudge
