English Toffee

Ingredients

1 cup whole raw almonds

1 cup butter - cut into 1-inch cubes

1 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups dark chocolate chips

¼ cup finely chopped pecans

Directions

•Get all of your ingredients measured and set out before you start the recipe. Then place your almonds on a plate and microwave them for 2-3 minutes on high to toast them. Line a baking sheet (preferable a 9×13 pan) with foil and place the almonds in a single layer on the foil – space them out as best you can.

•Add sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt to a large sauce pan (at least 2-quarts and it needs to have a thick bottom – not a thin metal one or your toffee will burn!) and melt over medium heat, stirring throughout.

•When ingredients are completely melted, continuously stir and gradually increase heat to medium-high. Keep stirring, stirring, stirring for 9-15 minutes until the toffee is a golden brown color (similar to the color of the raw almonds). As soon as it reaches that color, quickly pour over almonds in your prepared pan.

•Allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then sprinkle with chocolate chips. Allow to sit for another couple of minutes so the chocolate chips will melt, then spread over the toffee. Sprinkle with chopped pecans and allow to cool completely. (If you put the pan in the fridge it will speed up the process a bit).

•After toffee and chocolate and completely cooled, use a butter knife to break apart the toffee. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

You can tell that your toffee has separated when the candy looks really oily on top. This means that the butter did not fully mix with the sugar and emulsify like it should. This can happen when the temperature changes from too cold or too hot, too fast. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, slowly melt your toffee ingredients and continuously stir while it is cooking. Don’t turn up the heat to medium-high until everything is melted and mixed together, and don’t turn it all the way up in the process ever.

If your toffee does separate, you can try to fix it by adding very, very hot water to it by the tablespoon until it comes back together. Make sure to only add one spoonful of water at a time. However, if your toffee has already cooled and you notice that it separated, it is sadly too late to save it. It is still edible and you can try crunching it up and using it as an ice cream topping or in cookies instead!