English Toffee

A Christmas season without some homemade toffee wouldn't seem quite complete to me.  I've been making it for a few years, and I keep learning each time.  I've compared and tried recipes from different sources.  Most are very similar, the toffee layer consisting of lots of butter and sugar along with some water, salt and maybe nuts and vanilla extract.  Then comes the decision of whether or not to include a chocolate layer with more nuts on top. 

I used to just spread chocolate chips over the hot toffee, give them a few minutes to soften, then spread them over the top of the toffee, followed by a sprinkling of nuts.  I now prefer to (try) to temper the chocolate first, then spread it over the cooled toffee.  The tempered chocolate hardens up better and helps to keep the other pieces of toffee and packaging neater, which is especially nice for gift-giving. 

English Toffee
Note: This makes a fairly large batch of toffee--about enough to fill up a gallon size freezer bag.  I prefer to make a big batch as it makes great gifts and stores well.  I find buying the butter, sugar, almonds and chocolate chips at Costco is quite cost-effective, especially when making toffee.  I buy raw whole almonds, spread them on a baking sheet, and roast them at 350 until fragrant, about 8-12 minutes.  Once cool, I chop the almonds in a food processor.  The almonds can be prepared ahead of time and stored in an airtight container.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups (5 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped, unsalted, dry roasted almonds, divided
3-4 cups chocolate chips or baking chocolate, chopped

Directions:
1. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.  In a large heavy saucepan melt the butter over low heat, stirring frequently with a large wooden spoon.  Add the sugar, water, and salt, and increase heat to medium.  Cook until the mixture reaches 260 degrees F, stirring constantly.  This will take about 15 minutes or more. 

2. Add 1 cup of the chopped almonds.  Stir constantly until the mixture reaches 304-305 degrees F.  This should take about another 10 minutes or more of stirring. 

3.  Immediately pour the hot toffee onto the prepared baking sheets.  Don't take time to scrape out every little bit; you will need to work quickly to spread the toffee while it is still hot.  Lift and tilt the baking pan at different angles to spread out the toffee to your desired thickness.  I like my toffee fairly thick, but it will naturally be thinner toward the edges. 

4. Once the toffee has cooled completely, spread chocolate over the top.  (Temper chocolate first if desired.)  Sprinkle the remaining chopped almonds on top before the chocolate hardens.  Once the chocolate has set, break into pieces of desired size.  (Some of the almonds will fall off when breaking up the toffee.)  If the chocolate was tempered I store it at room temperature; if the chocolate was not tempered, store in the refrigerator to prevent it from starting to melt if the room gets warm.

Source: www.chocolategourmand.com, see also www.cookingforengineers.com