4th Generation English Toffee recipe by Paula

After that great entry on how chocolate makes the toffee, I know you are all saying, "Where's the toffee?". So, here is the recipe for the "greatest toffee in the world". Remember, use the best milk chocolate you can find and use lots of it.

In all the batches of toffee my Mom would make, every once in awhile, a batch wouldn't turn out. I remember her saying that it must be the butter. One thing I learned this year when making the toffee is that you have to use the best quality butter. Walt had bought a lot of cheap, store brand butter when it was on sale. It greatly affected all my holiday baking but especially the toffee. The butter had too much water to milk solids and the toffee separated in the cooking and caused the chocolate to be mushy.

Another tip about making the toffee is that you can't make it when it's cloudy, raining or snowing. I don't know how they can call it English toffee, when it is always raining there. When it is sunny out, I drop everything else and make the toffee.

And finally, it is really a winter thing. We never make toffee in the Summer.

English Toffee

Ingredients:

1 pound unsalted Butter
1 pound light Brown Sugar
1 pound good Milk Chocolate, finely chopped or grated
Almonds or Walnuts, toasted and finely ground
Candy thermometer
11"x17" jelly roll pan

Prepare nuts and chocolate and set aside.

In a medium size pot, melt the butter slowly over low heat. When the butter is just melted but not foaming add the brown sugar and stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon until brown sugar is incorporated.

Insert candy thermometer without tip touching bottom of pan, and turn heat up to medium-low.

Slowly bring the mixture to a rolling, rapid boil. Slowly is the operative word.
Let mixture boil, without stirring, until it reaches the hard crack setting (300-310) on the thermometer. This should take about 30 minutes if done properly. Do not rush this step.

While mixture is cooking, sprinkle half the grated nuts over pan covering completely in a single layer. Then sprinkle half the chocolate over nuts also covering completely and liberally.

When toffee mixture has reached the hard crack setting remove immediately and pour over the previously prepared jelly roll pan. Tip jelly roll pan to spread mixture as far and evenly as possible. Mixture may not cover entire pan area.

Wait about 5 minutes for mixture to cool slightly, then sprinkle the remaining chocolate over the still hot toffee. Let chocolate sit and melt for several minutes. When chocolate has changed color and become darker, it is melted. Take a metal knife or spatula and spread melted chocolate evenly over the toffee. Then sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top.

Put toffee in a cool place for several hours (can be refrigerated) until chocolate is set and toffee is cool. Cut or break into bite size chunks. Store in airtight container. Will keep for months.