How to Make Toffee

Guide Note This page explains How to Make Toffee and guides you through the process of making English Toffee. Making toffee is not too challenging, but it does require about thirty minutes to complete. Patience and a good candy thermometer are essential.

Table of Contents

Making Toffee Tips

  1. Mini chocolate chips melt faster than regular chocolate chips and work better for this recipe.
  2. Dark chocolate or white chocolate chips can be substituted for semisweet chocolate chips.
  3. Do not substitute the butter for anything else.
  4. The toffee will become extremely hot, so use caution while cooking.
  5. Soak the cooking pot and all utensils immediately after use.

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Introduction

  • Buttery, crunchy, delicious toffee is a wonderful candy that requires only a few ingredients to make.1 In this guide to How to Make Toffee, you will learn the important steps needed to whip up a batch of delectable English Toffee, the classic combination of toffee, chocolate, and almonds. You can easily vary this recipe by using dark or white chocolate chips or using crushed or chopped almonds instead of sliced for a different visual effect. Toasting the almonds is optional - try it both ways to see which one you like best!

Step 1: Gather Ingredients and Equipment

  • A 6 quart stockpot with a heavy bottom is the best pot to use when making toffee.2 You'll also need a candy thermometer, and this can be found in many grocery stores. If you can find them, mini chocolate chips are best because they melt faster than regular-sized chips.
(Creative Commons photo by Jessica Merz)
(Creative Commons photo by Jessica Merz)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of salted butter
  • 2 cups of sugar
  • 12 ounce package of chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Equipment

  • 1 large stockpan with a heavy bottom
  • 1 wooden spoon or heat-proof plastic spatual
  • 1 candy thermometer3
  • 1 cookie sheet or jellyroll pan with a lip around the edge
  • 1 heavy metal spoon or butter knife
  • 1 flat-bottomed drinking glass

Step 2: Toast the Almonds

  1. Preheat oven to 325.
  2. Scatter almonds evenly over cookie sheet.
  3. Place cookie sheet in oven.
  4. Toast almonds for ten minutes, stirring twice during toasting.
  5. Remove from oven and let cool.
  6. Pour almonds into a small bowl and set aside.
  7. When the cookie sheet is cool, butter it generously. You can also line it with foil or parchment paper.5 6

Step 3: Cook the Toffee

  • This step will take about twenty minutes, mainly because butter has a high water content which needs to be boiled away.7 Patience and time are needed to make a proper batch of toffee candy.8 It is vital that you stir the toffee constantly as it is cooking. Be careful not to hit the candy thermometer as it may shatter.
  1. Put butter and sugar into the stockpot
  2. Mix together over medium to medium low heat until the butter has melted and combined with the sugar.
  3. Clip the candy thermometer onto the pot. The tip of the thermometer must touch the toffee; however, it must not touch the bottom of the pan.2 Doing so will not let you accurately judge the candy's temperature.
  4. Stir the toffee over medium/medium low heat and let it cook.
  5. As the toffee heats up, it will bubble, foam, and eventually turn brown.
  6. The toffee will eventually reach the hard crack stage.9 It needs to be heated to just under 300 degrees Fahrenheit.510
  7. When the toffee reaches just under 300 F and has turned light brown, it is done cooking.

Step 4: Set the Toffee

  • At this stage, the toffee is extremely hot and glutinous. Be particularly careful when handling it!
  1. (Creative Commons photo by Lars Plougmann)
    (Creative Commons photo by Lars Plougmann)
    Pour the toffee into the buttered cookie sheet.
  2. With the back of the spoon or spatula, gently spread it around the cookie sheet until it is even across the pan.
  3. Let the toffee cool for ten minutes.2
  4. After ten minutes, scatter the chocolate chips liberally over the toffee and let them melt.
  5. Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the toffee with the back of the metal spoon or knife.
  6. Sprinkle the almonds over the chocolate.
  7. Gently press almonds into the candy with the bottom of the drinking glass.
  8. Place toffee in the fridge for at least a half hour.4 This helps the melted chocolate set properly.

Step 5: Break up the Toffee

  • Toffee is a hard candy, so it is broken up into pieces instead of cut or sliced. Use the end of a heavy spoon or butter knife to break it up.
    (Creative Commons photo by Trevor Blake)
    (Creative Commons photo by Trevor Blake)
  1. Take the toffee out of the fridge.
  2. Cover toffee with a clean dishtowel.
  3. Stretch the dishtowel tightly over the cookie sheet.
  4. Hold ends of towel with both hands, one on each end of the sheet.
  5. Flip the cookie sheet over and lay toffee on the counter.
  6. If the toffee is still attached to the pan, hit the pan on the counter until the toffee comes loose.
  7. Break the toffee into pieces, starting at the center and working outwards.2
  8. For best results, store toffee in the fridge. If you keep it at room temperature, the chocolate will be softer which may make the toffee a little messy to eat.7

Conclusion

  • Toffee makes a perfect gift for the holidays, a birthday, a bridal shower, and just about any gift-giving occasion you can think of. Try creating a batch of toffee the next time you want to show your appreciation to someone. Since toffee is so rich, a few pieces are more than enough, so you can get quite a number of servings out of just one batch of toffee.

References for How to Make Toffee

  1. ↑ About.com: Toffee
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Youtube: Signature Sweet Shoppe Presents How to Make Toffee(Time: 9:59)
  3. ↑ Shanghai Wisdom Industries: Candy Thermometer
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 About.com: English Toffee
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Allrecipes: Best Toffee Ever
  6. ↑ The Cook's Thesaurus: Food Wrapper
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Cooking for Engineers: English Toffee
  8. ↑ Baking911: Candy Toffee
  9. ↑ Science of Cooking: The Cold Water Candy Test
  10. ↑ Office of Legislation and Public Affairs: Temperature Conversion

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