It’s not really the holidays until I start making candies and cookies. If you’ve been following my Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter accounts, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been baking like crazy.
This English Toffee is not only one of my favorite candies to eat, but it is full of good memories. Several years ago, I got my hands on Grandma’s own hand-written recipe and it is one of my treasures.
- 1 ½ sticks butter (3/4 cup butter)
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp vanilla
- About ½ of a 12-ounce package of chocolate chips
- ½ cup ground nuts (walnuts or pecans work great!)
- Prepare cookie sheet ahead of time (I like to line mine with aluminum foil). Sprinkle nuts over cookie sheet.
- Melt butter in pan. Add sugar and salt. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until medium brown stage is reached (caramel color). Note: this is what Grandma's recipe said. I never use a candy thermometer for toffee and just judge it by sight and consistency, but I believe you'd want your sugar mixture to reach approximately 310°.
- Take pan off heat. Add vanilla.
- Pour hot candy mixture on cookie sheet over sprinkled nuts. While hot, spread candy out by pressing with back of large spoon until candy is the desired thickness.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips over hot candy and let them melt. Once they’re softened, spread the chocolate out with a spatula. Sprinkle with remaining nuts.
- Let cool completely, then break into bite-sized pieces. Keep dry.
Note: Candies are not as easy to make as, say, cookies. I got the hang of candy making by watching my mom from an early age, and then helping her for years, and finally moving on to doing it on my own. This recipe is NOT hard, but don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t turn out perfectly the first time. It’s totally worth the effort!
Also…If you’re not a nut fan, leave them out. Caramel and chocolate are still amazing together. Once, I even tried this recipe with white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet. Yum!
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i just made this this afternoon. It came out perfect!!
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Lolli Reply:
December 11th, 2017 at 10:51 pm
That’s awesome! I made a batch this weekend, too :) Yum!
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I’ll b making toffee for sure this year. Looks absolutely delicious, and so easy! What kind of nuts do you use?
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Lolli Reply:
December 8th, 2017 at 8:44 pm
I use either walnuts or pecans, but you can really use any nuts!
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This looks amazingly good!! I am going to ave to put this on my Christmas candy list to make!
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I have never made toffee before. This would make a great gift!
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About what should the “desired thickness” be?
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Lolli Reply:
November 15th, 2017 at 1:47 pm
That’s all about personal preference. I like my toffee to be pretty thin, but I see most toffee made really thick (for my taste).
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Those look delicious! It’s good that English toffee is a seasonal treat – like pecan pie and spekulatius cookies, they’re too good to have around all year!
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1/2 of 6 or 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips?
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Lolli Reply:
December 20th, 2015 at 4:43 pm
I use a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smaller size (I usually go with the jumbo bags if anything!). But…since I use about 1/2 the bag, I suppose using an entire 6 ounce bag would make a lot of sense. :)
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Looks delicious!!
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