Every holiday season we would receive a container of this toffee from my grandma.
Ingredients
- 1lb salted butter + 2 Tbsp to butter slab
- 2½ c. sugar
- 2 c. almonds* (whole, halved, or coarsely chopped)
- 2 c. chocolate chips
- 1½ c. walnuts, finely chopped (nut grinder)
Directions
- Lightly coat marble slab or 12 x 18″ baking pan with 1-2 Tbsp butter.
- In a heavy dutch oven or large stainless steel skillet, stir butter and sugar together over medium-high heat. (my induction #7)
- Cook and stir until candy thermometer reads 250F degrees add almonds.
- Continue to stir until candy reaches 300F then pour into slab. Allow to cool five minutes. Loosen candy with a spatula.
- Sprinkle with half of chocolate chips. Spread when melted. Shift candy to make sure it doesn’t stick. Sprinkle chocolate top with half of walnuts. Pat lightly with spatula. Turn candy over.
- Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top and wait 2 minutes.
- Spread the chocolate evenly on candy and sprinkle remaining walnuts. Pat lightly.
- When candy is completely cool, break into pieces and store in airtight containers.
Notes
* Original recipe calls for 1 and 1/2 cups almonds, but i like it better with 2 full cups.
- I add chocolate chips to the first side in stages. After 1-2 minutes, I sprinkle the chips around the first 2-3 inches of the perimeter, another 1-2 minutes, sprinkle in another few inches, etc. If the chip sinks into the candy, it’s too soon. But you only have X amount of residual heat to work with and one of the worst things that can happen is not having enough heat to melt the chocolate on the flip side. That’s when you gotta get out a heat gun or hair drier… and that’s never a good time.
- When it’s time to break the toffee up into chunks, I find it easiest to put down a small dowel, butter knife or chop-stick, then take larger pieces and push them down on top to split them rather cleanly.
- 5 minutes after the candy is poured, you need to release it from the surface before it sticks. If you’re working on a slab, or have access all around the candy, you can take a piece of butchers twine, butter it up, and then slide it across the back.
- I guess my grandma would say, “never try to make this toffee when it’s raining” which I never heard until recently. I’ve made it many times when it’s raining being in the PNW and never had an issue, but your mileage may very.
