English Toffee (Utahna's)

By Snowy0wl

"I have been making this toffee and giving it to friends and family for years. It is simply delicious and is the main goodie that I make at Christmas. Recently, my sister Jacqueline (Purple Chocolat Home) and I had a day of making toffee at my home. Do not be intimidated by making toffee; this is really the most easy candy to make --- and the most delicious. It is a vintage recipe of my husband's Grandma Utahna. I guess you could guess that she was born in Utah and named after her home state.

I am giving you the recipe as it was given to me. Although I use a thermometer with most other candy, I don't with this recipe. Also, I always use milk chocolate chips. The brand I love to use is not available anymore. Jaqueline brought three kinds of chocolate chips and I closed my eyes -- yes, a true blind test -- when tasting. The Ghiardelli milk chocolate tasted the best -- the chips were sweet and creamy. Do NOT use margarine! I always use salted butter."

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 cup toasted pecans broken in pieces--Toast in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.
• Milk chocolate chips

Preparation

Step 1

Place toasted pecans in the bottom of 8 x8 pyrex pan. Put butter, sugar, and water in medium heavy sauce pan and cook at high temperature. I always break up my butter in small pieces in the sauce pan. Stir with wooden spoon throughout the cooking time. The mix should always appear fluffy at all times. Cook until mixture turns an amber color, starts to leave the sides of the pan, and is slightly smoking, take off heat and turn immediately over onto prepared nuts. The cooking time is relatively short, depending on your stove, approximately 7 to 8 minutes with a gas stove and 10-11 minutes with an electrice stove. These are just approximate times. Let toffee cool for 8 to 10 minutes. Then sprinkle with milk chocolate chips. When chips are melted, swirl around with knife. Let chocolate dry -- this takes several hours. When chocolate is dry, turn over toffee on wax paper and break into pieces.

Candy Making Notes:
While stirring, use a wet pastry brush or clean, wet dishcloth to wash down the sides of the pan to dissolve any undissolved sugar crysals. If you skip this step, the candy might sugar. Also when you pour the toffee mixture on the pecans, do NOT scrape the pan. If you do scrape the pan, this could also cause the mixture to sugar. If you are making more than one batch, make sure that your pan and spoon are clean of sugar crystals. If it DOES sugar, it tastes wonderful broken up and served on a good quality vanilla ice cream. Also, make sure that your toffee is truly an amber color before you take it off the stove.