English Toffee

By cindyandmojo

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 12 oz milk chocolate, melted
• 1 cup unblanched whole almonds
• 1 cup finely ground walnuts

Details

Servings 24
Adapted from shugarysweets.com

Preparation

Step 1

However, if you don’t own one of these pans (or 5 like I do), feel free to pour into a foil lined 11×7. You can also choose to do both sides of toffee with chocolate and walnuts. YUM. Breaking into pieces will leave you some shards on your cutting board. SAVE THESE. They are delicious on ice cream. Just sayin! One more tip…don’t cut this while cold. The chocolate will separate from the toffee if it’s cold while cutting. Keep it room temp!

I have an addiction to all things TOFFEE:

In a heavy pan, combine butter, margarine, sugar, and salt. Cook over medium-high heat with a wooden spoon until butter melts, stirring constantly. (REALLY STIRRING CONSTANTLY)! Bring mixture to a rolling boil. Continue boiling (AND STIRRING) an additional 5-7 minutes until candy turns the color of almonds (about 300 degrees). Add vanilla extract. Pour over almonds. If using the brownie bite pan, I use a small metal scoop to get toffee into each bite, working quickly!

**tip- when I say stirring, I'm talking taking that wooding spoon and whipping it! haha!! I have an electric stovetop and turn my heat on 7...and it remains on 7 through the entire boiling process.

**If you choose to scoop into brownie bite pan vs.pouring into a baking pan, your butter might separate a little bit by the time you get to the 20th scoop! Don't worry about it. I use my scooper to slightly stir as I take a scoop of toffee.

add one

YUM! I LOVE toffee! Your pictures are beautiful as usual! Thanks for sharing this recipe! I have the perfect new addition to my Christmas plates this year!

this toffee looks incredible! So buttery and smooth, and I love the almond accent on top. Definitely a must-make for xmas gift-giving!

If using the brownie bite pan (24 servings), does this recipe make just one pan?

I love anything toffee and using the silicon molds make them sooo pretty! What a great recipe

HEATH PRETZEL STICKS

Can you make these without the almonds? My children have nut allergies. They look delicious!

Sure thing! I make a batch or two every year with no nuts! Still delicious!

Have a question. We’re talking some boiling hot candy here.. how do you pour the candy out without making a huge mess? I’ve made something similar (not this exact recipe) and you just dump it on the pan (or crushed walnuts/chocolate).

I love the way those pretty things look from the silicon, just wondering how to do that without wasting a bunch of mix or whatever.

These look fantastic! I really cant wait to try them! I bet they would make fantastic christmas gifts!

Oh no Mary! Did you stir constantly? Not sure how that happened. Was it before/after the boiling process? I wish I was in your kitchen to see what happened! I know how frustrating it can be when something doesn’t work properly! Did you use a wooden spoon? Just checking some of the little things. Sorry.

This happened to me too! Is this supposed to be whipped as it is cooked? I “stirred” constantly and ended up with over 1/2 C butter floating on top. Also, it would really help if a temp was given for the toffee. I make candy often and having a specific temperature to remove from the heat really helps. Thanks!! (I am going to try these again after I get some idea of what went wrong. They look yummy!)

In the recipe above I stated cook to about 300 degrees. And yes, stir constantly while boiling. Hope this helps!

If you use the silicone brownie bite pan you don’t have to worry about cutting it and it comes out in those cute squares! Otherwise, if you pour it into an 11×7 you will get some breaking and crumbing…just comes with the territory!

If you use the silicone pan is there a trick to pouring the mix into it? Do you spoon it in or pour? I can’t wait to make these!!

Oops I forgot to ask how many pieces does this recipe make with the brownie bite silicone pans? Thanks!!

i tried making these today…but my butter mixture didn’t harden. and when i tried it…hours later after refrigerating the bottom mixture tasted like the sugar didn’t melt…i’m not sure what i did wrong!

You should get a kick back from Wilton! Because I went right out and bought A) The stuff to make these yummy things and B) Two brownie bite pans! You rock! Thanks so much.

I love your idea of using the silicone mold. I love to make toffee but hate having to cut it up. Thanks for sharing!

I’ve never made toffee so I’m unsure how much of a mess I have the potential to make here, lol! Will this work if I make this in a nonstick mini muffin pan? Or will it stick and not come out? I looked for silicone pans and they only had quite large gingerbread man molds :-/ I want them to be pretty when they’re finished.

At what point did the butter separate? While stirring, you really need to be stirring quickly with a wooden spoon, if it starts to separate in the beginning before boiling, that’s okay. KEEP stirring. If it separates after it has boiled, and the color changed, you went too long. I hope this helps. I think I need to do a video on this one!!!

Excellent recipe. The first time I made it, I allowed it to get to dark and it taste burnt. 5 minutes was too long for me on high heat. It only took my stove top about 3-4 minutes on high heat for it to turn a beautiful almond color. Very crispy. I really, really am happy with this recipe. It didn’t make as much as I though it would so I doubled it.

Thanks Eden! I did add that the temperature should reach 300 degrees, I know some stovetops heat faster! I’m glad it worked out well for you! So delicious. And, I agree, it doesn’t make nearly enough! My husband and I usually make at least a dozen batches (sometimes more) over the course of the holidays to give to friends and family!

Looks delicious! I’ve pinned it for later – and plan to make it!

I have tried this 2 times and have had no luck. The first time my thermometer read 300 and it turned almond color but the butter separated and I really was whipping it. I poured it anyways in to the brownie bite pan, let it sit. There was butter on top and when I popped them out there was like grease on the bottom. It did not get hard like toffee. I tried again this morning and didn’t cook it as long (297) I poured it out again and now it tastes like a cube of sugar. It is not hard at all, but I had no separation in the pan with the butter. Can’t figure this out. Is it suppose to be like peanut brittle? Any suggestions would be great.

I was wondering what unblanched almonds are. Are they raw? Im looking forward to make your recipe they look delicious. Thank you.

I asked my husband, who is more knowledgeable than I am, and he said that blanched almonds are almonds that have been boiled. I noticed that all of the almonds that were in the nut section of my baking aisle were blanched. I went to the snack section and found a bag of whole, raw almonds – which didn’t say “unblanched” but, hubby said that since they were whole, and the skin was still on them, they *should* be unblanched.

At 250º the whole thing broke and I had butter and weird sugar separated. Total loss. I stirred constantly with a wooden spoon in a heavy bottom pan. Very sad. This is one of my favourites to eat.

I’ve only ever used a wooden spoon, but I imagine silicone would work! It’s perfect for high heat! And I LOVE Alton Brown!

This is my new addiction! Thank you for the recipe! I’ve already made three batches, and I’m getting ready to make a triple batch tonight. I, too, have experienced the butter separation. Mine separates the second it starts to change colors (I’ve been watching closely, thinking I somehow missed a step). After this happens, I’ve been pulling mine off of the heat, draining off most of the excess butter, and then whipping again to mix back in any remaining butter as it cools slightly. This has been working for me. I don’t know how it compares to yours, but it still tastes fantastic!

I’ve just found your site and I’m in heaven. I, too, love to bake, so I’m basically a kid in a candy store here. English toffee is a big favorite of mine, and I’m sure to make this at some point soon!

Can you tell me what kind of chocolate to buy? Can’t wait to make these!!

I’m excited to make these, they look so delicious! Question to all you candy makers, though: How long can you store toffee before it’s just not worth it? I got the airtight container part, but can you freeze them? I’m expecting a baby around that time and probably not going to be whipping up batches of candy for Christmas…

When I make this recipe, I add the almonds to the toffe while cooking. I use a half cup of chocolate chips and spread them on top of the toffee after spreading it in the pan, while it is still hot. That melts the chocolate. No problem with separation while cutting!

I made these today and turn out ok but my toffee splited when I was pouring it in the silicone pan…I guess it took too long even thou I was trying to be as fast as I could. You mentioned that you avoid this by stiring with your metal scoop but that didn’t work for me. I put it back in the heat and kept stiring but no luck…I had to pour out all the butter and with the rest I did some more toffee. I still have to try if they turned out ok. With the brown butter I poured out I made chocolate chip cookies!! so nothing wasted there!!

Oh my goodness! This recipe was delicious! I made it just as you suggested “whipping” the ingredients together constantly. It turned out perfectly on my first try. My husband is not crazy about chocolate, so I left that part out. He loved the toffee so much that they were all gone in 2 days! Thank you so much for the recipe. I’ll certainly make it again, and again!

Heather

These look so good! I really want to make them but would like to avoid the cutting. I have a regular mini muffin tin, would that work?

I made two batches of these; one with regular chocolate and one with white chocolate. They turned out great! Thank you for the recipe. The silicone brownie bite pan is a great idea. I followed your instructions and proportions and they were spot on. I used a thick silicone spatula for stirring (whipping!) the toffee and a plastic 1 Tbsp measuring spoon for scooping the toffee into the molds in lieu of a metal scoop to avoid scratching my non-stick pan.

are the almonds optional? because im allergic to almonds. or if there is anything i can use to replace them, it would be good to know

O.M.G. This looks AMAZING. I make toffee every year for the holidays, but I’ve never made it in a brownie bites pan. What a fantastic idea! They look professional like that! Darn it, now I want to go make this right now…

Thanks Jenn! It definitely makes them look more presentable. The down side is, when I used to cut the big pan of toffee, little bits would crack off. We saved those for ice cream toppings

Do you mean the butter separated a little bit? Mine did too. Just give it a good stir and pour the mixture into a pan and the butter goes back into the rest of the mixture.

I’ve made 4 batches and not one came out right. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong? The toffee will not harden at all. So I started over and cooked it longer and it just turned into a foam mixture any tips?

If the toffee is not hardening, it’s not cooking long enough. It literally will go from light butter colored to light brown (almond colored) in seconds. Once it turns, you need to remove from heat. While it’s cooking and getting to the right temperature, it will be foaming.

Hi Amy-I have to tell you after reading some of the comments on these, I was a little hesitant to try them, but I forged ahead. I ordered 2 of the silicone pans on Amazon last night, but could not wait to get them to try these. I had a set of 12 standard silicone muffin liners, and thought I would try the recipe with these. It was SO easy and everything came out beautifully. I just put about 1/4 inch of mixture in each liner. After cooling, they just popped out. I had a little mixture left over, so just put it on to a silicone pan. They are SCRUMPTIOUS!! I followed the recipe exactly, using a candy thermometer to 300 degrees and used a silicone spatula to constantly mix it. I will have to try this on my old high school friends, because a few years ago I had some toffee at a get-together for them. I did not want to serve it because I had done something wrong and it was too chewy and stuck to your teeth. The girls said to serve it anyway, and all of a sudden one girl came up to me and said she was going to have to leave because one of her false front teeth had come out while she was eating it. I was trying to act concerned, but hon estly I was dying laughing on the inside. Well, thanks to your recipe, this won’t ever happen again. Yours was the same consistency as some I used to buy in a fine candy shop. Thanks for the recipe, and have yourself “A Merry Little Christmas”!

I would like to make them about 10 days before giving them away as gifts but I’m sure if they will become rancid. thank you for your help.

I like to keep them at room temperature or in the refrigerator. I don’t think I would freeze them. 10 days would be totally fine! Just make sure to keep them in an airtight container!

this sounds amazing i can’t wait to make it. just wondering, when we cool it should we refrigerate it or just allow it to sit at room temperature?

Just made these as homemade Christmas gifts. Thanks to your great directions, they turned out perfect and will be such a treat to give. Thanks a million!

You can. But it can separate, whereas using half margarine keeps it combined better.

So, this really doesn’t take brown sugar? I followed the instructions perfectly, but the mixture never turned to the color of almonds. Still pretty yellow-ish. It is setting up now. Hoping it turns out well.

I am making these now for a party and am really excited about them! You mentioned in response on earlier posts that the Margarine helps keep the butter from separating. Is the separation a problem when pouring into a large pan (vs scooping into the brownie bites pan)? Also, do you grease the foiled lined pan at all? Thanks so much for the great recipe!

I have to say this is the best recipe I’ve tried for toffee, but I will say I used a 8×8 pan foiled line pan and it came out thin, so next time I make it I will double if not triple the recipe . I just finished making them today , I really stired it and even whipped it and they came out great. Any body new trying this stir it the whole time so you won’t have a problem with it ( I didn’t thank God ) I do recommend as soon as you pour it in the pan soak that pan in really hot water and and spoons you used the candy hardens fast and if you don’t soak it immediately its hard to clean . Enjoy I know I did.

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