Monday, January 7, 2013

Almond Toffee




For many years I have made almond toffee for my family and friends, but this year I didn't for some reason.  

A couple of days before Christmas, I got a request for my recipe for the toffee, so that person could make it as a gift for her friends. She said mine was the best.....wasn't that nice of her to say so. 

My recipe comes from an old Dinah Shore Cookbook, and is fairly simple to do. I like it because it has the fewest of ingredients, and doesn't call for any corn syrup.

My friend, T, made it without any problems.  She was pleased with her results.

If you care to try, the recipe is below: Be forewarned, once you know how to make it yourself, you will find all sorts of reasons to make another batch.


1 pound butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups whole unblanched almonds
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips  (Ghirardelli)
1 1/2 cups chopped almonds, lightly toasted

In a large, deep saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in sugar and water. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to boil.  Boil, stirring syrup until it changes to golden caramel color,  10-12 minutes.  Add whole almonds, increase heat to high, and cook until almonds pop, about 2 minutes.  Pour into a well-greased 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan and cool.
Melt chocolate in the microwave -No more than 1 minute! -  spread on the top of toffee then sprinkle on half of the chopped nuts right away while the chocolate is still soft.  You will have to wait a few hours or overnight to flip the toffee over in order to spread more melted chocolate on the second side.  Add the chopped nuts on top of the soft chocolate.

I let my toffee boil longer to get a darker color.....but it can burn very fast so you have to keep stirring and watch carefully!!!    

TAKE GOOD CARE AND DO NOT GET ANY ON YOUR SKIN-----this is very HOT!!!!!

I use a wooden spoon.  After you pour it out of the pan, soak the pan in water, and the spoon, it will all melt away without any scrubbing.

Only use real butter,  white sugar, and I add a little salt.  From start to finish it takes approx. 25 minutes until you pour the hot toffee onto the pan.







Good cooking!

Mem






 

4 comments:

  1. Now that I'm not drinking wine during the week, I have a few hundred freed up calories, so what better excuse than to try to brew up something as seasonally delish as this?!

    Thank you for the recipe! It appears to be easy...I'll let you know how mine comes out. : )

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  2. I made almond rocha as Xmas presents this year and the recipe is similar but this looks quite delicious too! I'll have to give it a try for next Christmas :)

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  3. It seems that around the holidays, we get a lot of almond toffee dropped on us as gifts from some of our dear friends. So we enjoy a private tasting to try and figure out who makes the best almond toffee. To be truthful, it is all good, or at least none of it makes it past the first week of January. All gone! Your recipe looks very good. Have a great day

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for dropping by! This makes a tasty morsel, and it's hard to stop from eating it all. You have a great day, also.

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