We recently made homemade English toffee as an activity to accompany reading The Magician’s Nephew. This is an easy recipe for toffee. Although you have to use a candy thermometer and that seems to automatically make me think of difficult. But it’s not. Really. Trust me, I avoid doing hard things in the kitchen when at all possible.
Yummy, yes. Hard, no.
I based this recipe on one I found from Ghirardelli combined with a couple ideas from this recipe and really liked the results. I should disclose that I have no idea if this really is indeed authentic English toffee. But it worked for us. 🙂 As a bonus, it’s naturally gluten free. Can I get an Hallelujah from all the gluten free mommies out there?!
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. water
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread chopped pecans on cookie sheet and lightly toast.
- Line small baking sheet or pan with aluminum foil making sure there is at least ½ inch "wall" on the sides.
- Combine first four ingredients in heavy saucepan over medium heat stirring occasionally. Allow mixture to come to a boil and reach 305 degrees.
- When mixture reaches 305 degrees, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Pour mixture into prepared baking sheet.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips over top of mixture and allow to sit for 2 minutes. Once softened, spread chocolate in even layer.
- Sprinkle nuts over mixture and gently press into chocolate.
- Place in refrigerator until set.
- Break toffee into pieces and store in airtight container.
The next time I make this I will press the pecans in a bit more than I did because they fell off more than I would have liked. I’m also not a big fan of semi-sweet chocolate – well, chocolate in general – but the chocolate was not too bitter for my tastes. The toffee had a really nice balance in the flavors.
If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear what you think!
April McBride says
December 13, 2015 at 7:50 pmLove this recipe! The best toffee recipe I have tried. So delicious. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
LeCarol says
December 21, 2015 at 8:33 pmLove it! So delicious and easy to make.
Lisa says
December 17, 2017 at 1:52 pmMy toffee never turned brown. What am I doing wrong?
Ellise says
December 17, 2018 at 10:48 pmDid you boil until it reached 305 degrees? That’s the key to the right color and texture.
Ellise says
December 17, 2018 at 10:51 pmI made this tonight, and it turned out perfect! I did almost burn it ( I don’t have a heavy pan that the candy thermometer will hang right on the side). But it doesn’t taste burnt, and the crunchy texture was perfect! Thanks for the recipe!