Bens English Toffee Food

BEN'S ENGLISH TOFFEE

Steps:

• Grease a 15x10x1-in. pan with 2 teaspoons butter; set aside., In a large heavy saucepan, combine sugar and cream of tartar; stir in cream and remaining butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 300° (hard-crack stage). Remove from the heat; stir in extract. Quickly pour into prepared pan. Let stand at room temperature until cool., In a microwave, melt chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Spread over toffee. Sprinkle with nuts. Let stand until set, about 1 hour. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

HOMEMADE TOFFEE RECIPE

Steps:

• Start by coating an 11x17 inch baking pan with nonstick spray. Or use your fingers to coat it with a bit of butter. You can use parchment paper if you want but I actually found that it wasn't necessary.
• Add the 1 and 1/2 cups butter to a HEAVY 3 quart saucepan. (You need good quality pots for candy-making.)
• Melt the butter over medium heat until almost melted, then add the water, sugar, and salt. Be sure to add the sugar to the CENTER of the melted butter (see photo). Don't let the sugar touch the edges. If you have even just a few granules of sugar on the edge of the pot, it could crystalize the whole pot of candy, meaning that your mixture will not get hot enough to reach the hard crack stage, which is what you need for toffee.**
• Turn the heat up to medium high and get yourself a long sturdy wooden spoon. You're going to have to stir for the next 10 minutes or so, so gear up. If you skipped the greasing the pan step before, you lose 10 preparation points. Because now you have to stir. Get someone else to prep the pan. (Or do it VERY quickly in between stirs!)
• Stir for about 10 minutes. If you have a candy thermometer, attach it to the edge of your pot, but even if you have one, I would still get out a jar of peanut butter and set it next to the stove with the lid off to see what color it is. When the candy reaches the color of peanut butter, it is ready to be poured into the pan. (There is NO peanut butter in this recipe!! Don't add it to the pot! You just want the color!)
• I tested this recipe with and without a candy thermometer, and my toffee looked like peanut butter at about 285-290 degrees F. Hard crack stage is 300 degrees, and you can certainly go that high if you want. See, there is wiggle room, even in candy recipes! I would rely more on the color of the toffee though. The peanut butter trick really does work great.
• Remove the pot from the stove and QUICKLY pour it into the prepared pan, scraping the edges. Use a spatula to spread it out as soon as possible. You don't need to go to the edges of the pan, although you can.
• Immediately sprinkle the top of the toffee with 2 cups of chocolate chips. Use your judgement to see if you want to add another 1/2 cup. I'm kind of a chocolate addict so...
• Wait 4-5 minutes for the chocoalte chips to melt. If you were too slow and your chocolate isn't melting, then stick it in the oven at 350 for 2-3 minutes, or however long it takes to get the chocolate chips just barely melted. Then use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate to the edges of the toffee.
• Sprinkle right away with sliced almonds. You can use your hands to gently press the almonds in; whichever ones are not touching melty chocolate are just going to fall right off.
• Let the pan cool for 1-2 hours. You can speed this up by sticking it in the fridge, but if you do this will MUST wait until the toffee returns to room temperature before breaking it up, otherwise it will be too brittle and just break into sad toffee crumbs.
• Once the chocolate is completely set, break up the pan. You can lift up the edge of the whole sheet of toffee and break it up, or use a butter knife to help you make cuts (although once you get started, it really does work better to break up with your hands. Snap off pieces to your heart's content. It's so satisfying.)
• Store in a ziplock or tupperware on the counter. Try not to eat it all at once.

ENGLISH TOFFEE

Steps:

• In heavy saucepan, combine butter, sugar, water, and salt.
• Cook to hard-crack stage (300°F) stirring with a WOODEN SPOON constantly and watching carefully. Do not try a plastic spoon, it will melt into your delicious candy!
• Immediately pour into ungreased 13"x9" pan.
• Cool until hard.
• Melt chocolate over hot, but not boiling water.
• Spread over toffee; sprinkle with nuts, pressing them into chocolate.
• Let stand 2-3 hours or chill 30 minutes.
• Break into bite-size pieces.

EASY, EASY ENGLISH TOFFEE

Steps:

• In a large skillet, melt SALTED butter on medium heat. Do not burn butter. It needs to stay yellow. (NOTE: I had many batches fail and separate until I figured out, upon investigation, that you MUST use SALTED butter. I think it has to do with a chemical reaction.).
• **Tip** Bring out a jar of peanut butter and turn it upside down near the skillet to use ONLY as a color guide to know when the mixture is done.
• Add sugar and stir until incorporated (sugar does not need to be "melted" into the butter, just no longer dry) Edited to add on 12/25/16, the temperature MUST STAY CONSTANT or the butter and sugar MAY separate during the final stages. Too high and your butter will burn, too low and you'll be stirring forever!
• **At no time can you walk away at this point, you must keep stirring so that the butter will not burn. It's very crucial.
• Add water, pouring it all over the pan. The butter/sugar will get bubbly and frothy -- keep constantly stirring -- stirring low and slow -- I use a rubber spatula. As you stir, angle your spatula down as low (level to the pan) as you can to have few air bubbles.
• I timed it, as you are stirring the yellow, sugary, melted, bubbly butter, at the 4 minute mark add the slivered almonds. Keep stirring.
• Stir continuously and slowly in a small circular motion bringing the outside mixture edges to the center as the sides will tend to cook faster than the middle. It will slowly begin to caramelize and toast up -- about 6 minutes more.
• Cook this mixture until it is the color of the inverted peanut butter jar.
• **Important** It will brown fast in the end, so don't let it get too dark or let the almonds get really burned).
• Pour into a 9 X 13 pan. (you could use disposable aluminum pans also). with your rubber spatula, spread the mixture quickly to the edges before it starts to harden on you.
• Let cool completely, remove from pan and pat off any extra butter from both sides with paper towels.
• Place on wax or parchment paper.
• Topping:.
• Microwave chocolate for 1 minute on high. (be mindful that every microwave is different and you must watch your chocolate closely so that it won't overcook). If a few seconds more are needed to melt completely, do so in small increments. You can also use a double boiler to melt chocolate -- I do prefer to do it this way.
• Coat toffee with chocolate (like frosting) and top with slivered almonds. I only cover one side but you can do both if desired.
• Lightly press down almonds to make sure they stick to the chocolate.
• Cool on the counter for at least 30 minutes, then put the pan into the refrigerator for 2 hours (You can stack multiple batches on top of each other as long as the chocolate is pretty solid).
• Break into pieces after it has hardened and store in a covered container.
• Variations: Use different kinds of chips. (mint, white, dark, milk chocolate).

MARILYN'S ENGLISH TOFFEE

Steps:

• Line a large jelly roll or half-sheet pan with heavy-duty foil and butter the foil or just use a Silpat.
• Melt the butter with the salt in a heavy 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. Slowly add the sugar, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Add the water about halfway through this process.
• After all the sugar is added, begin testing the mixture to see if the sugar is dissolved. The mixture will probably be boiling at this point.
• When sugar is dissolved, add the almonds, and increase the heat to medium high. Cook to the hard-crack stage, or about 310-320 degrees on a candy thermometer, stirring often to keep the candy from burning on the bottom. When it's done, it should be a medium-dark amber color and have a caramel aroma. The almonds should have a toasted color but they should not burn. I use a temperature right in the middle, 315 degrees.
• Remove from heat and pour into the prepared pan, spreading as evenly as possible with an offset spatula. Be careful, this stuff is hot! Sprinkle the chocolate chips all over the toffee, and wait a couple of minutes until they melt. Then spread the chocolate evenly over the toffee. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, and press them in gently with a spatula or bottom of a glass to anchor them in the chocolate.
• Allow the toffee to harden at least 6-8 hours. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container in a cool place.

ENGLISH TOFFEE

Steps:

• Place a piece of foil that is big enough to cover a 9 X 13 jelly roll pan (like a cookie sheet with sides).
• Spray the foil with cooking spray.
• Sprinkle pecan pieces evenly on foil.
• Melt butter, sugar (both the two cups and 1 tablespoon of sugar), Karo syrup, and water in pan on stovetop.
• Bring the mixture to a boil.
• Turn to medium heat and stir continuously until a candy thermometer says between 290 and 300 degrees or caramel in color.
• Pour mixture over the pecans.
• Spread evenly over the pecans.
• Evenly distribute chocolate chips over toffee.
• Let the chocolate chips melt on toffee for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Use fork or spoon to spread melted chocolate chips over toffee.
• Sprinkle 1 cup chopped walnuts on top of chocolate mixture.
• Refrigerate until chocolate is firm.
• Break toffee into pieces.
• Store in an airtight container.
• 30 minutes preparation and cooking time does not include the time it takes to cool and the chocolate to harden on top.