Simple toffee recipe; This homemade english toffee recipe is simple and delicious. There’s no need to be afraid of candy making with this basic toffee recipe!
I don’t know about your house, but at mine, the chores get done really quickly. Really well, too. *ahem*
Just today, The Lizard asked permission to go to a friends, and I replied by asking whether his chores were done, the chores he knows need to be done every week, or every day. The chores that should be done before he even asks permission.
And he replied with a grunt of frustration, and headed off to practice the piano.
He is so amazingly efficient, he managed to practice three songs, plus his scales and arpeggios, in less than 10 minutes. And sadly, it still may have been the best practicing he has done all week.
He proceeded to clean his room {from whence a seriously funky smell was emanating} which took less than 5 minutes. Who knew a room could be cleaned so quickly?
He was both shocked and angry when I sent him back for a second try.
Some famous argument lines:
“Why does my room need to be vacuumed?”
“I already did that!”
“You make it really hard to go to my friends!”
Sigh. Parenthood is not for the faint of heart.
While the holiday season does not exactly give one a break from the joys of parenthood, it does provide a change of schedule and scenery, which by itself is often enough to recharge the disciplinary batteries.
And if that doesn’t work… I usually opt for homemade candy.
Toffee is probably my favorite of all homemade candies. It’s easy, has a short list of ingredients, and is addictively tasty. My sister-in-law and I make it every year, and put a box of it in the freezer. In the past, I have felt like the toffee recipe was complicated and convoluted, but recently I have come to realize that we were probably making it harder than it needed to be.
It’s basically equal parts butter and sugar, and if you want, you can throw in a little cream for good measure. And make your life easier by lining your pan with foil. It may have been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in the kitchen.
And following up my discipline with a big hug was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my parenting.
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup whipping cream
- 6 oz. chocolate chips (semi sweet or milk chocolate)
- Sliced almonds to taste (about ¼ cup)
- Use a heavy saucepan to melt butter. Add sugar and cream. Continue cooking over medium to medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until candy becomes the color of a brown paper bag, about 7-10 minutes. (The consistency may change, and that's okay.)
- Pour candy into a foil-lined baking dish or small cookie sheet. Immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips. Leave them for 1 minute to let them melt.
- Spread melted chips and immediately sprinkle with almonds.
- Let cool until chocolate is set, 1-2 hours. (Once is cools a bit, you can speed up the process by putting it in the fridge.)
- Once cooled completely, use foil to remove candy from pan, and use a large knife to cut into chunks.
- Candy keeps best in the fridge or freezer.
If you enjoy this recipe, you might also enjoy:
Toffee Almond Cookies from Jen’s Favorite Cookies
Saltine Cracker Toffee from The Girl Who Ate Everything
Toffee Crunch Cupcakes from Bakers Royale
This post linked up at: Lady Behind the Curtain; Lil Luna; Someday Crafts; Gingersnap Crafts; Back For Seconds; Domessblissity; Katherine’s Corner; Miz Helen’s Country Cottage; Tidy Mom; Simple Living; Shabby Nest; My Romantic Home; Rattlebridge Farm; Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms; Delightfully Dowling; Skip to my Lou; I Should Be Mopping the Floor; Hope Studios; Mandy’s Recipe Box; Sugar Bee Crafts; Carolyn’s Homework; Bowl Full of Lemons; Gooseberry Patch;
Very nice recipe. I am very eager to try it
Looks great, I will have to try this one for the holidays!
Robin
Yum, would love to get a box of these for the holidays!! Beautiful.
“It’s basically equal parts butter and sugar, and if you want, you can throw in a little cream for good measure. And make your life easier by lining your pan with foil.” That’s the whole recipe right there! Great way to distill it down to the basics. I haven’t made toffee in years – but now I’m thinking maybe I should, and perhaps tonight! You’ve gotten me hungry. And yes, I’ve done my chores. 😉
Jen I love toffee too…this looks amazing. I could go to TOWN on this stuff! And I’ve seen this post on all the foodie sites, too…nice job 🙂
your toffee recipe seems easy enough, don’t you need to use a thermometer and take the temperateure?
I’m far too lazy to use a thermometer for toffee! Since it’s mostly butter, checking the color is generally enough. If you like it a little softer, you can take it off the heat when it’s a lighter color. This is why I like this kind of candy making… it’s not rocket science!
Hi there. The current Food on Friday is all about Christmas! It would be great if you linked in any Xmas favourites you have. This is the link . Have a good week.
I love visiting your blog. Yummy cookies…I did all my chores..please pass the milk, giggle. thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop.xo
All I can say is wait until your son is 13… my kids have so few chores. They spend more time complaining about them then it would have taken them to do the chores. I love toffee great idea a nice break from cookies and cakes during this holiday season. Thanks for sharing it on foodie friday.
Um, yeah… He’s 15. We’ve been doing this dance for a while now.
Hi Jen,
We would just love your Almond Toffee Candy, and what a lovely gift it would be. Hope you are having a great weekend and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
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I feature your yummies at Katherines Corner today! xo
This looks delicious!
These look amazing! I hope you’ll share them at our Holiday Cookie Recipe Swap: http://thedomesticatedprincess.blogspot.com/2012/12/holiday-cookie-recipe-swap-week-3.html
Hi Jen, I have some unsalted butter to use up. Do I need to add a bit of salt?
France’s, couldn’t hurt! 😉
I just made this today (twice) First time was stirring and waiting for color change and it completely broke. went from lovely to yucky in about 2 seconds – I did pour it out and covered it in chocolate chips thinking it would harden back up but not a chance – so on to try 2 – got it to the same stage all nice and thick but no color change, saw it was starting to break again so I pulled it off and poured it out and it is very grainy. Not as bad as the first one but still not the pretty toffee I was hoping for. Any suggestions? I followed your directions and it just wouldn’t stay fluffy 🙁 I gave it a three star only cause it taste like toffee just super grainy…
The texture does change after a few minutes, it starts to separate and look pretty weird. That’s totally normal, just keep cooking it until it gets to the right color! I’m guessing you didn’t cook it long enough. It used to freak me out, to see it separate like that. I always thought I was doing something wrong, but now I’ve come to expect it, like a memorable landmark on a long road trip! It takes several minutes of stirring and cooking to get to the right color, so be patient, keep stirring, and try not to worry too much about the texture.
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