I am an English Toffee snob. It is my favorite candy of the Christmas season so it has to be just right! I’ve tried many recipes over the years, but this is my go-to recipe for great English Toffee. It’s the thing that I make that it is not Christmas until Mom makes this English Toffee. Do you have a family treat like that? Well, it is finally Christmas because I have officially made my English Toffee!
I am so excited to share this with you and hope that you like it as much as we do! I don’t know why but this English Toffee has kind of a “soft” crunch. When you bite into this, it is hard, but softly shatters and even turns a little chewy. I am just drooling and thinking I need to go and have another piece right now!
So enough of me jabbering about my favorite Christmas candy….here is the recipe. You’re welcome.
No doubt, This Pin Rocks!
English Toffee
Ingredients
- 1 pound butter - has to be butter
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 1 cup nuts pecans finely chopped
- 1 pound chocolate chips. I use 1/2 milk chocolate and 1/2 semi sweet
Instructions
- Combine the first four ingredients. Stirring constantly, cook over med to med-high heat until 285 degrees. It usually takes me around 20-25 minutes. Mixture should turn into a light brown/caramel look.
- Pour into jelly roll pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Let chocolate chips soften and then spread all over the toffee. Sprinkle with chopped pecans while chocolate is still warm. I also kinda press the pecans down into the chocolate a little.
- Let cool until hard, then break into pieces.
- DO NOT PUT IN THE FRIDGE TO COOL! It will ruin the look of the chocolate.
Merry Christmas Everyone. Enjoy every minute of being with your family and friends!
Sadly not sure what I did wrong but it didn’t get dark enough and 45 minutes later I’m still waiting for it to harden.
Jodie! This makes me so sad! I have never NOT had this recipe turn out. Was your heat med to med-high? The reason it gets dark is because the butter starts to brown because of the heat. Dang! So sorry about this. Deb – The Oldest Sister
I myself have never had a recipe not turn out and a day later I’m still waiting for to harden!!
Mine isn’t hardening either!!
Hi Carolyn, I’m so sorry that this did not work for you. It is my no-fail toffee recipe since I’ve never had it not work. I wish I was in your kitchen so I could make a suggestion!
This is cooling on my counter as I type and is setting up beautifully! I had a minor mishap of not using a big enough pot to start out with and boiled over a little, but a quick switch of pots and I was golden. I scraped some of the leavings from the bottom of the pot and gauging off of that as it is cooling, this will turn out perfectly. Thank you so much for a great recipe for a first time toffee maker.
Oh Jessica, I can’t wait until you try it! I too was a “first time toffee maker” until this recipe! Sure glad you saved the day!
I was wondering if maple syrup or honey would work instead of corn syrup?
hmmm…I’ve never substituted anything with this recipe so am not really sure how syrup or honey would work. Sorry Evelyne!
Just wanted to tell you I finished making this recipe today, and it is awesome. Came out perfect… For those who had issues with the running, make sure you use a candy thermometer, eye balling it can be deceiving ( I learned the hard way) and I cooked mine until it reached 290 to be certain. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Madelyn, I’m so glad that you came back to let us know how it turned out and that you liked it. It just isn’t Christmas in our household until this toffee is made. Merry Christmas!
I have made 2 batches already and the toffee part came out great and everyone loved it. BUT….on both batches my chocolate came out so ugly looking once it cooled. The chocolate came out white-ish like its expired so I was embarrassed to pass it out to neighbors. It tastes great but looked bad. And I did not put it in the fridge just left it on my counter. ANY IDEA WHY ITS CHANGING COLOR once cooled??? Any tips to stop it?? I would love to make another batch for a party but scared to.
Tami I have NEVER had that happen. Well I take that back. Once I did put a batch in the fridge to cool faster and it came out like you describe. I honestly don’t know what’s up with that. Was your chocolate fresh?
Yes, just bought the bags and both batches came from different bags. Now the only thing I did do different is not use 2 different types of Chocolate. Not sure if that matters. Maybe my house is too cold??? lol My 1st batch it looked great and before bed I put foil over it to keep it more fresh, in the morning it looked white-ish like old chocolate looks like. I made another batch 2 days later and this time I wasn’t going to use foil in case that’s what did it. This time it turned white-ish before the other one did with nothing over it. 🙁 Made me so sad. I was hoping by contacting you you would know what did it. Like I said maybe my house is too cold. Don’t know….I live in AZ. I want to make a 3rd batch for a party, maybe I will try the 2 different chocolates. And BTW, thanks so much for sharing this recipe!!!!
Well if you live in AZ I can’t believe that your house is too cold! haha However I just found this interesting article about it. I don’t know if it will help but here you go. https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/chocolate-bloom.htm
OMG see how in the picture they show how its spotty? Thats what it looked liked! Which I thought the spots made it looked even more scary. LOL Its crazy I just bought it from Costco and AZ is a dry place so it must be where it came from. Thanks for sending that to me!
Oh Tami, so glad that helped. I think you’re right. It must have been where they got the chocolate from. So weird!!!
It is called blooming. Chocolate is sopusddta be tempered to produce shiny smooth chocolate. Now I’m not saying I ever really temper my chocolate… it’s not my strong suite
What size pan do you pour into to set?
I pour mine into a jelly roll sized pan. Which is great because it makes a lot!
do you grease the jellyroll pan? Thanks
No, I don’t. It hardens up and breaks up with sticking!
Just made this today. It’s really good!
Oh Jessica, I am so glad that you liked it! Making mine tomorrow!
I just made this! Almost fully hardened. My husband couldn’t wait and took a bite already and said it was the best and dangerous! 🙂 getting it to 285 to 290 is key. I sprinkled sea salt in top of the chocolate omitted nuts. Thank you!
Oh Sophia, I am so glad that it turned out for you. I’ve never had a batch not turn out. Glad your hubby likes it too! Merry Christmas!
I should have known better, but I followed the recipe exactly, and the chocolate part doesn’t make sense. When I sprinkled the chocolate chips on the toffee, they just sink in. So instead of being a layer on the top, it got all mixed together. Seems like you need to let the toffee harden a bit before putting the chocolate chips on the top. Hoping it still turns out ok! Waiting for it to harden.
Hi Kelly, The chips do sink in a little but once they soften, I spread them across the top of the toffee. Is that what you did? Let me know how it tastes after it hardens. Sure hope it turns out for you!
I just made this, but mine never turned brown. It seems like it’s hardening in the jelly roll pan. Will it taste the same?
Julie, if it didn’t turn brown, then it wasn’t cooked long enough. It will be chewy and you won’t be able to “crack” it. The trick really is to get it to at least 285 degrees and see it turn color. When cooked properly, it hardens very quickly. So sorry this batch didn’t work, but I hope you try again!
Debbie, this turned out great, thanks for the recipe! I’m a toffee snob too, and I love it. I’m wondering if the reason it didn’t turn out for some people is that they didn’t account for a change in altitude? The temp worked great for me at 5, 800 feet, but there articles about needing to account for different altitudes. Anyway, it was fantastic!
Jade, I am so glad that you liked it! I will be making more batches next week!
Thank you for a great recipe! This is my new go to toffee recipe! Turned out PERFECT!
Oh Staci, I am so glad you liked it. It is the only recipe that I use!