English Toffee

Grandma's Favorite

Everybody in the family knew that English Toffee was Grandma's favorite candy. She would often receive multiple boxes or cans for Christmas every year. I was surprised then to find a recipe for it in her box. I never saw her make it for herself, but I was excited to try it because she passed her passion for it down to me. 

The recipe seemed simple, with very few ingredients and a straightforward method. However, I still went to Google and watched how someone else prepared their English Toffee. That person gave me a few more details, such as a temperature to cook the mixture to, which would be helpful. Armed with additional knowledge, I began. 

How to Make English Toffee

First, I added the butter, sugar, and water to a heavy pan.

I brought that to a boil and, following the directions I'd received online, stirred with a whisk while it cooked. 

Things were going well . . . until they weren't. 

That was not the English Toffee I was hoping for. 

I was not happy. I had really been looking forward to tasting this recipe. I threw everything away, chalked it up as a failure, and went to a movie to mope. 

However, as I was watching Zootopia 2, something unrelated to animal mayhem popped into my head. The lady online had said not to fiddle with the temperature as the mixture cooked. I hadn't caught that until I rewatched the video after my failure. I had fiddled with the temperature. Maybe that had been my problem. 

It was late in the day, which would not make for ideal pictures, but I decided to try again. This time, I kept the heat at medium the whole time. I didn't use a thermometer, just watched for the signs Grandma had said to look for in her recipe: the mixture would leave the sides of the pan and turn light brown. 

As soon as that happened, I took it off the stove and poured it onto a baking sheet that I'd prepared with buttered parchment paper. 

While it cooled and hardened, I melted some chocolate. I used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. 

Using an offset spatula, I spread the chocolate over the hardened toffee. 

I then sprinkled on some chopped nuts. 

The temperature outside was fridge-like, so I placed the pan on the table outside long enough for the chocolate to set up. I then placed some parchment paper on the bottom of a baking sheet, put it over the top of the toffee, and turned the whole thing upside down. Again, I spread melted chocolate and sprinkled nuts on the top, which had been the bottom before, so that both sides were coated with chocolate and nuts.  Here's what it looked like after it had set up. Apologies for the blurriness of the photo. 

The Verdict

To be honest, I was a little nervous before I took my first bite. I really wanted this to work. I took a taste, and man, oh man, did it ever work. It was seriously some of the best English Toffee I've ever had. The toffee was crisp and melt-in-your-mouth. The creamy chocolate and crunchy nuts complemented it perfectly. So good. I chopped it into pieces and packaged it up for neighbors. 

I've since received compliments from those very neighbors who agreed with my assessment: this English Toffee is amazing. 

With that, here is the recipe. Merry Christmas!