Sharing our FAVORITE Christmas Candy Recipe today…English Toffee!
We love English Toffee! Who would believe it could be so EASY to make. This recipe is so simple and yet the candy looks so professional when you are finished. This is one of our favorite treats to give away during the holidays. Try some for yourself!
Here is our recipe:
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds or pecans (for bottom layer)
1 cup butter (salted)
1 cup sugar
1 T light corn syrup
3 T water
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds or pecans (for top layer)
Line a cookie sheet with tinfoil and sprinkle 1/2 cup of toasted almonds in the pan on the foil. In heavy saucepan melt butter. Add sugar, corn syrup and water. Cook and stir over medium-high heat to boiling.
Cook and stir over medium heat to 290 degrees using a candy thermometer (soft-crack stage). Watch carefully and stir, it can burn easily after 280 degrees. Remove from heat and pour mixture over the nuts in the pan immediately. Let stand 5 minutes or until firm but still hot. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and let the stand for 1 to 2 minutes. When softened, spread chocolate over mixture. Sprinkle the chocolate with nuts. Chill till firm. Break into peices. Store tightly covered. Makes 1 1/2 pounds.
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I'm Lori...and maybe I'm you, too. says
Toffee is my favorite showstopper. People are always impressed when you make it yourself.
I use slivered or flaked almonds in mine, toasted and stirred into the toffee right before you pour it. I think it gives more of a nutty flavor to the candy itself. And a pinch of salt at the end makes it really pop.
So glad you are feeling better! I have a compromised immune system and have been fighting this for 5 weeks yesterday, I had the flu, strep throat, sinus infection, pneumonia and ear infection….ugh
Your toffee looks so yummy. Come check out my site some time! Crocheted Hugs x.x.x.x.
English Toffee is my all time favorite!!!!!!
All I can say is YUM! I am printing this recipe right now.
I tried to print this out and for some reason, all I got was 20 pages of comments.
Amy…I've just found your blog..signing up as a follower! It is the neatest blog ever, one of the best…reminds me of my life raising our 8 children and all the things we made and did. (I read about the mean spirited comments..don't give it a second thought. There are those out there who are jealous, don't let it set you back at all)
I got a bit of shaded remarks about Halloween too but then lots of good ones.
I live in So. Central Ut. red rock country…Come say hi :D
I love English Toffee! I haven't made it for a long time, but I'm thinking I'll make some this year.
One year, my mom made some toffee for Christmas & then she and I stayed up late and ate the whole batch! Then we were up the rest of the night because we were both sick to our stomach from way too much sugar! :)
Glad you are feeling better AND I love your blog!
My mom makes this every year at Christmas, and just seeing the picture makes me want to eat a whole batch! :)
Amy, I've made English Toffee a few times but have never been thrilled with the recipes I've tried. Yours looks fabulous. I look forward to trying it! Thank you!
Jenn @ rookno17.blogspot.com
um… freaking YUM!!! I bet that beats store bought heath bars any day. Ill have to make some now. Thanks for sharing :)
I am def trying this.
I see you have a recipe for Peppermint Bark too.
I had some from WmSonoma last year. It was delicious. I am not a big peppermint fan, but I want to make it this year for take homes.
Thanks!
So glad I found your blog!
Kathleen
Southampton, NY
I made this for my husband for Valentine's Day and it is fabulous! Thank you for this recipe!
Just found your blog. Someone pinned your toffee recipe on Pinterest, oh lucky me. Can’t wait to try it. I am torn between almond or pecan. Yummy!!!
I first found this recipe in the Better Homes and Garden cookbook back in the early 90s. I make it every Christmas and it is the best toffee I’ve found.
I followed the recipe but when I broke up the toffee, the chocolate slid off. What did you do to make sure the chocolate stayed stuck to the toffee?
Erin – I have the same problem after trying a couple different recipes. I would love to know the secret.
I’ve learned that if you cool the finished product at room temp, it will stay together (after many frustrating results of cooling the freezer or fridge and it sliding right off when trying to break it) Thru trial and error, you must cool at room temp! Do NOT freeze or put in refrigerator. This takes a few hours…I put in a cool room (closed off bedroom). If you do not do this, the chocolate and toffee come apart when you try to break it. I think because when it’s in a fridge or freezer, the chocolate cools much faster than the toffee and separates. That’s my not so scientific take….haha
Also if you score the toffee with pizza cutter sprayed with Pam, that helps too (before you put on the chocolate and nuts). Do this a couple minutes after you’ve poured the toffee into the pan. Also…another tip. I have much better luck with parchment paper than tin foil.
Terry- Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
I wish there was a print button:(
omg just copy paste into word doc and print from there
Be nice!
Wow this looks great! I used to make something similar to this with my Mom and we called it Almond Rocha. I’ll have to compare the recipes to see how close they are. Either way, I know I’ll love this! Thank you!
I just made both the almond and pecan toffee! It is delicious and turned out great! I waited about a minute or two after pouring over the nuts and then put the chocolate on. It did fine. I took a large knife and cut it into squares after I had hardened it in the refrigerator.
I can’t wait to make this recipe for Christmas. I do have a question that may be dumb but what does the T stand for tablespoon or teaspoon or something different? Thanks for the help!
Found this through Pinterest– but I wish I could pin it directly :(
t= teaspoon
T= tablespoon
3t= 1T
Found you on Pinterest as well. Just wanted to share that I made this over the weekend for a party and it was lovely! Not a morsel left at the end of the night! Thank you for sharing! :)
LOVE this recipe! Sooooo easy and a great gift to give over the holidays. Thank you!
Just made this today. It took all of about 20 minutes (I’m a slow poke and triple check everything)…LOL…Anyway, it was awesome. I’ve tried several other recipes and although they were good, they weren’t quite as good as this one! I’m sooo happy…Yummo. Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you loved it and had great results!
Think I may try this ‘English’ toffee as it looks quite different to anything we have in England. Looks interesting :0)
I was going to say the same thing! It’s like ‘English’ muffins you get in the States. I’ve no idea why they’re supposed to be English either – but this does look like a yummy recipe all the same :-)
Thanks, they are yummy!
Can I use something else besides corn syrup? This looks so good, but I don’t use corn syrup in anything.
Thanks!
That’s my question as well.
Thank you so much for this yummy recipe! I have made six batches for Christmas presents. No complaints yet ;) I love your blog, thanks for sharing with the world!!!
This recipe looks super NUMMO and can’t wait to try it!
interesting factoids i just found out about Toffee:
English toffee is actually made with brown sugar and butter- no other ingredients should be added (nuts, chocolate, vanilla, etc). it’s served plain- most often broken into chunks with a hammer (fun!)
American style toffee is made with white sugar
Toffee with chocolate and nuts is actually called Buttercrunch
I thought that was really interesting and thought i’d share :-)
This picture is beautiful…but…my candy thermometer clearly says that soft crack is 265. Hard crack is 290. I cooked it to soft crack and its really white. It does not taste like toffee at all :( I’ll buy a new thermometer and try again…or maybe I’ll just cook it till it turns that amber color. Phooey
I had the same problem too. I followed the recipe exactly and mine was still too white in color and once cooled it was too chewy and not crunchy. Made it a second time and just cooked it longer until I saw it turn a beautiful caramel color (stirring constantly though). Betty Crockers recipe says to heat to 300F degrees. It has the perfect crunch now and the color.
Yes! I have found the key is too pay attention to the color of it. When it turns a caramel brown color it gets thicker and smells different. This is when it is ready!
I made this with my children yesterday and it is absolutely divine. Great recipe, worked perfectly!
I know that you said a cookie sheet, but it doesn’t spread out on the entire sheet. Is it maybe 12×12?
No! You can use either. This is a great question. I should have been more instructional in my tutorial. It does not spread out on the entire sheet for me either. As long as it thins out evenly whichever size sheet you use should be fine! Thanks for bringing that to my attention!
If you preheat your cookie sheet prior it will help the hot mixture spread more evenly.
Great tip Christina!
I had a hard time getting the chocolate to melt! Maybe my countertop was too cold. Also, it looks like it is not going to be hard like your picture shows! Should I have cooked it longer even though it was at the soft crack temp.?
This is the same thing that happened to me. I followed the directions. It looks like it is going to turn out sticky and the chocolate got mixed in, not floating on top. Mine doesn’t look anything like this picture. lol- I feel like a baking failure!
I made this yesterday….SO FABULOUS!!!!! and easy….wouldnt change a thing!!
I used your picture in my post today! Hmmm. Toffee. http://betterscienceteaching.com/2012/12/14/tis-the-season/
I used to make this toffee from the original Better Homes and Gardens recipe. I used Hersheys milk chocolate bars for the chocolate and put the chocolate and finely chopped roasted almonds on both sides. I wish I could find that original recipe.
I made this just now and it sure was easy. I put almonds on one end and pecans on the other since I ran out of almonds. Anxious to try it. Thanks and greetings from Okla.
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Can anyone tell me if this is a “softer” toffee? I am looking for a recipe for one that is more a “melt in your mouth” rather than a “tooth breaker”, if you know what I mean.
Thanks!
If you cook it right, it has a nice soft buttery texture and more “melt in your mouth” than hard. It is so good!
Thanks, Amy, that is what I wanted to know.
Can I trade Honey for the Kayro syrup?
After breaking apart, all the “crumbs” left on the tray, are great as a ice cream topper as well! We actually make a batch in Spring (vs the usual Christmas season batches) to chop up and give as ice cream toppers! Can be used in chex mex recipes too! :) Love multi use recipes!
Great idea!!
The English Toffee calls for 1T of light corn syrup & 3T of water. Is that tee spoons or table spoons?
What size cookie sheet small or large ? Looks so good !
Large
I use this exact recipe, but put in the chocolate chips as soon as I pour the toffee. It seems to keep the chocolate and toffee from separating later. It’s the best recipe ever.
My choc chips when melted turn white and small circles like its moldy or something. I’ve used many different kinds and still happens. Never used to years ago?? Any help???
Thinking of trying this toffee. I’ve tried so many & they all usually end up sticking to our teeth. Does this one as well, or is it crunchy?
Cindy- I dont feel like this one sticks to my teeth at all. Hope you give it a try!