One of my favorite candies in the whole wide world is the Toffee-ettes from See's Candies. But they are so stinkin expensive! I usually only get them for my Christmas or my Birthday. So I did what any Toffee lovin gal would do, I set out to make my own toffee! And it turned out REALLY GOOD! Apparently I'm not the only one in my family to have a toffee addiction now. My hubby cleaned out the majority of my last batch. I found lots of little hands reaching into the bag as well! Funny thing is that my hubby said he didn't really LIKE toffee. Liar!
So here's my recipe! Try not to eat the whole batch yourself. ;) Seriously this stuff is so easy to make (and eat), my kids help me make it (and eat it). It only takes a few simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand. Dangerous, I know.
1 pound butter, cut into slices (4 sticks)
2 cups white sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 bag chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate)
3/4 cup chopped nuts (usually almonds)
(I cheated, I had a can of ice cream nut topping in my pantry, so I used that. It worked GREAT!)
Candy Thermometer (I don't recommend making any candy without one)
Line a jellyroll pan with heavy duty aluminum foil and lightly spray it with cooking spray. Set it aside.
In a 3 quart, heavy bottomed sauce pan combine butter, sugar, water, and salt. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, bring it to a rolling boil over medium/high heat, for my stove that is a 6 on the dial, 10 being the highest heat setting. Continue stirring until your candy thermometer reaches 280 degrees. You are going to want to watch it really closely, those things jump in temperature really fast, when you see that it is getting really close to the right temp, you might want to pull it off a little early.
After toffee has reached the right temperature, and is nice and golden in color, remove it from the heat and immediately add the vanilla. Stir vigorously! You need to incorporate the vanilla before the toffee cools to much or it will start to separate.
Pour evenly over your prepared jelly roll pan. You can smooth and spread with the back of a spoon, but again, this part needs to be done pretty quickly. Let it sit for about 3 minutes then sprinkle the top of the toffee with the whole bag of chocolate chips. Let that sit for 5 minutes then spread it out with the back of a spoon until it looks smooth and pretty. Quickly sprinkle the chopped nuts over the top of the chocolate and then..... WAIT.... for it to set. For us, we let it sit over night, for it to cool properly. Although, I must admit that we have been known to take a small sampling before we go to bed. You know, just to make sure the batch turned out right. ;)
When it is all set, break it into pieces and store it in an airtight container. Sadly, I don't really know the shelf life of this yummy stuff. It's always gone too quickly! Enjoy!
Tip: Soak your pan, thermometer, and wooden spoon to get any remaining toffee off.
