English Toffee

My mother in law, Jan, came for a visit back in January and I was lucky enough make a batch of her famous English Toffee with her. My husband would insist that the portion we receive from her every year is not proportional to our growing family, especially considering certain other family members receive the same sized portion yet they don’t have chocolate crazy children like we do. Notwithstanding, Cam’s eyes are bigger than his stomach and we are always content with the amount we eat every year.

I’m happy to now know how to make this exquisite treat for ourselves. I made this toffee (along with Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts) to sell at this year’s Seafest; Prince Rupert’s annual summer celebration. The money raised is going to be put towards building a new porch on the front of Oona River‘s community hall. The 50g packages of English Toffee went fast and the bake sale was a success!

I made some slight adjustments to this recipe to suit our tastes, like making it corn syrup free. I’m quite happy with the results! It’s pretty important to have a candy thermometer when making this toffee. I’ve done it without but it’s not always that obvious when the hard crack stage has been reached if you don’t have experience making candy like this.

English Toffee

• 1 1/2 cup whole Almonds
• 1/2 cup Pecans
• 1 cup Butter
• 1 heaping cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup cold Water
• 2 tbsp Honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups Dark Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350’F. On a cookie sheet roast almonds, taking care not to burn them.
2. Coarsely chop the almonds and set aside. Finely chop the pecans and set aside.
3. In a heavy bottomed pot on medium heat, melt butter and then add sugar. Stir until dissolved and smooth. Take off the heat and stir in honey and water.
4. Put back on the heat and rest candy thermometer on the pot’s rim making sure it’s not in contact with the bottom of the pot but still in the butter mixture. Stir slowly and consistently until you reach “hard crack” or 302’F.
5. Take off the heat and stir in vanilla and the course chopped almonds.
6. Stretch out on an unlined cookie sheet. After about a minute, sprinkle with 3/4 cup chocolate chips and spread smooth as it melts. Sprinkle with half the finely chopped pecans and use a knife or spatula to carefully push the pecans into the chocolate. Let sit to cool/harden for at least one hour.
7. Loosen the toffee by racking the cookie sheet from corner to corner. Put a piece of wax or parchment paper on the top of the loosened toffee along with another cookie sheet and carefully flip the toffee over.
8. Put a 1/2 cup of the remaining chocolate chips in a double boiler to melt. Once it’s melted, remove from the heat and stir in the last 1/4 cup to melt as well. Spread this chocolate on the toffee and press in the rest of the pecans like you did on the first side. Let sit to cool/harden.
9. Break into pieces as you desire.