This Easy Homemade Toffee.....No Candy Thermometer Needed is the perfect Christmas Candy! However, It's so easy to make it will be a year around recipe in your home!
This Easy Homemade Toffee…..No Candy Thermometer Needed recipe is brought to you from my in laws. Davids mom makes the BEST toffee. I am completely intimidated by candy making, but this stuff is easy to make; no candy thermometer needed! It truly is the best toffee I have ever had. Gather your ingredients and get to cooking!!
Easy Homemade Toffee
1 C. Butter
1 C. Sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
1 Cup chopped walnuts or almonds--Big bag of almonds found here.
1 Cup Chocolate-chips or bars
Instructions: Prepare foil or parchment paper covered cookie sheet with at least 1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds. Make an oval shape with the nuts. Set aside. Place butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a skillet. Cook over medium to high heat, stirring constantly until mixture turns the color of a brown paper sack. Candy will start to smoke when it is ready to pour. Pour over nuts on the cookie sheet. (Don't scrape the candy out of the pot). Spread melted chocolate over the toffee. (you can also sprinkle chocolate chips over the toffee and they will melt). Top the chocolate with chopped nuts as a garnish. Let chocolate set up, and then break it into small pieces. Store in a cool place.
**Recipe yields approximately 1.5 lbs. of candy.
**Keep in mind there is A LOT of stirring in this recipe. Grab a helper if needed.
Prepare and Toast Almonds
We toasted our almonds before chopping them. It took 10-15 minutes on 350 degrees. Watch them carefully so they don't burn.
- Toasted almonds in our small ninja blender
- 10-15 seconds of blending and they were perfect
Prepare The Chocolate
Our family loves Peter's Chocolate. This brick of chocolate is bigger than it looks, and tastier too!
- We used a double broiler to melt the chocolate. It took around 15 minutes. After 5 minutes it started to melt
- At 15 minutes we could stir it and it was completely melted. Be careful so the chocolate doesn't burn.
Easy Homemade Toffee Recipe
Now let's learn how to make the toffee! **Here's a quick tip, use a pan deep enough so the toffee doesn't bubble over as it's cooking. We used this pan!
Place butter, sugar, and salt in a skillet.
Cook over medium to high heat, stirring constantly until mixture turns the color of a brown paper sack.
Constantly stirring
You can see it start to thicken
The color is noticeably getting darker
I can tell we are close but it isn't yet "smoking"
Just started to smoke so we know it's done! Be careful at this step. We left one of our batches on about 60 seconds too long, and it burned. Immediately remove once you see it starting to "smoke".
Pour the toffee onto the nuts. Notice the nuts are in an oval type shape.
At this point, you can either sprinkle toffee with chocolate chips or add your melted chocolate like we did. Both work and taste great, this comes down to personal preference.
We did quite a thick layer of chocolate. We like ours like this. But again, it all comes down to personal preference.
Sprinkle a few nuts on top to make it look beautiful!
This is the induction cooker we used. The stovetop will work just fine too. Keep at the medium/high heat seating. It's super awesome and keeps the candy at a steady temperature.
Let the toffee set up. Either place outside in the cold, or let it set up overnight. Break into small pieces and enjoy! It tastes very similar to Almond Roca. It truly is such a simple and delicious recipe. Let us know if you have any questions!
Pin it!!
I couldn't find Peter's Chocolate on Amazon, but this Merckens chocolate below had good ratings! Or click here for a list of Peter's chocolate distributors.
Pin it!
Easy Homemade Toffee
Equipment
- Deep Non-stick Pan
- Flat bottomed wooden spoon or rubber spatula that can withstand the heat
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Butter Salted
- 1 Cup Granulated White Sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Dash of Salt
- 1 Cup Toasted walnuts or Almonds Chopped
Instructions
Toffee
- Prepare foil or parchment paper covered cookie sheet with at least 1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
- Make an oval shape with the nuts and set aside.
- Place butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a skillet. Cook over medium- high heat.
- Stir constantly until mixture turns the color of a brown paper sack.
- Candy will start to smoke when it is ready to pour.
- Immediately pour the mixture over the nuts on the cookie sheet. (Don't scrape the candy out of the pot, just let it fall out on its own).
- Spread melted chocolate or sprinkle chocolate chips over toffee.
- If using chocolate chips, spread evenly over toffee once they are melted.
- Garnish the top of the chocolate with your chopped-toasted nuts. *This step is mostly for looks and is optional.
- Allow the toffee to cool and set up for a few hours before breaking into small chunks. Process can be sped up in a fridge or outside in the cold weather.
How to toast nuts
- Cover cookie sheet in parchment and spread almonds or walnuts out.
- Cook at 350 degrees fahrenheit until light brown.
- Chop in food processor or blender until you have crumbs with a few larger chunks.
When I make my toffee I buy the thin Hershey bars, unwrap them and lay them on top of the hot toffee so the heat will melt them. One less step and one less pan.
Jan,
Great idea! Thanks for the suggestion.
-Sadie
Great idea . Thank you
Ok. I have tried lots of recipes from Pinterest. Some were good and some were very good. This has to be the very best recipe on the site. Thank you so much for sharing. I have already made it three times this season. My entire neighborhood is enjoying this wonderful treat.
Connie,
Thank you so much for your kind words! I am thrilled you like the recipe and hope that it becomes a tradition for you year after year.
-Sadie
About how much toffee can you get from this recipe? 1 lb or more?
Hi there,
I am not sure how many pounds this recipe makes but I will make it today, weigh it, and report back tonight or tomorrow. I do know that it covers about 3/4 of the entire sheet pan (standard 12"x17" size) before I break it up into small pieces.
Be in touch soon,
Sadie
Gabee,
I just finished weighing my batch of toffee. It weighs approximately 1.5 lbs.
Let me know if you have any other questions,
Sadie
Can you place in the refrigerator to cool? Or best to keep out to harden? And - do you ever freeze to enjoy at a later date?
You can definitely put it in the fridge to cool! We usually put the pan outside for a bit to help it harden faster. I've never frozen it but I imagine it would freeze just fine!
-Sadie
I freeze mine right away so I can have my cookie sheet back again
I think that's genius!! -Sadie
Cassie,
What kind of air-tight container do you use to store the candy? And do you put it in cellophane gift bags to pass it out as a gift?
Hi Denise,
We just use regular old Tupperware or Ziploc baggies to store it. And yes to the cellophane! Typically we'll put it on a plate and wrap it in cellophane. This year Sadie found some treat boxes from Walmart that she is passing hers out in. They are made out of paper material and are disposable.
Tried making this tonite, my toffee got thick and bubbly but didnt brown like in the picture. Everything else seemed to go well.
Hi Sandy,
As long as it starts to "smoke" and you immediately take it off, then it should have reached the right temperature to set up. Hoping all went well! Thanks for stopping by.
-Cassie and Sadie
seemed way too much butter,was floating in it .I poured some off it started smoking took off ,it seems ok but not really pleased with it.
Sharon,
Sorry to hear that. I have noticed a difference in consistency with different brands of butter so it could definitely be related to that. Again, sorry you're not pleased with the recipe.
Merry Christmas,
Sadie
The toffee was wonderful and so easy! Thank you very much for the receipe! I am more than pleased
With it! Merry Christmas!
Genai,
Thank you so much for letting us know! So glad you liked the recipe!!! Hope you had a good Christmas.
Cassie and Sadie
Electric stove here
I’ve tried toffee before and seems I don’t get the brown coloring even after cooking and stirring
30 plus minutes
Any thoughts
Linda,
Interesting. I was actually just talking to my sister Cassie about toffee color the other day and she said hers doesn't get as dark either. Does your toffee still set up? I would think color doesn't matter as much as long as it sets up.
Sadie
I made a batch of English Toffee just filled the instructions to a t . Even use a new candy thermometer I just bought for $ 12 but it did not set up. I googled how to get it to set up and added the cornstarch to a little water and melted it down again and then added the cornstarch mixture. Well it didn't work eighter. It cost me around $ 25 to buy everything I needed. It turned out more like sticky fudge . Never again will I use the marshmallow in a jar . I learned a Costly Lesson.
Kathleen,
That can be really frustrating. I get a bit intimidated by candy making and haven't tried many recipes yet. I do have a few I'd like to try though so I will keep in mind what you have mentioned and avoid those recipes. Happy holidays!
-Sadie
Excellent recipe. Absolutely delicious. My first try making this and I went with this recipe. Came out perfect my only complaint I have arthritis in my hands, and omg letting everyone know you stir a lot...a lot. I may never be able to make it again without a helper monkey but it was perfect.
Thank you for a fantastic recipe. Everyone loved it.
Cathy,
We are so pleased that you liked the recipe and took the time to let us know! So sorry about the stirring, you are right, there is A LOT of stirring. I will most definitely add that bit of wording to the post.
Thanks for stopping by,
Sadie
Why do you not scrape the candy out of the pan? Just curious.
Thanks.😊
Sheila
Hi Sheila,
This is my mother in-law's recipe and she told me that the last little drips that you would be scraping out can have a scorched taste.
Thanks for stopping by,
Sadie
Cassie, I think people may have had poor results due to them having never made candy. It takes quite a bit of time to get it to the smoke stage. If you have a gob of goo, thats normal. Just keeping stirring and cooking and it will thin out. Also you must adjust the heat. Start out on low to med heat then as it starts to thin you can turn it up to med to high. But you cannot make candy on high heat as it will burn. Also, if you live in a very humid climate, this could also affect it. I have made this twice and its an easy recipe. Thanks!
Deb,
Thank you for taking the time to write a nice note!! We appreciate your insight and completely agree with the points you made!!!
-Cassie and Sadie
Can you use salted butter and omit the salt?
Hello!!
I imagine it would be just fine!! I haven't actually tried it that way. It won't hurt the integrity of the toffee at all, just the flavor (and I imagine only slightly). This will tell you how unhealthy we are...we use salted butter and the added salt. If you do try it, let us know how the flavor is!
-Sadie and Cassie
Wow… Really easy...
I had it over a medium flame in a large non-stick sauce pan. It caramelized quicker than I thought. The entire process was complete in 15 minutes...
It did turn brown. We got excited to see the smoke! Very neat! We knew it was time to take off the flame.
Thank you.
Lee Fothergill and the Fothergill family
Lee,
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a nice comment! We are glad you found the recipe easy to follow. We hope it was as delicious as it is easy.
Thank you for stopping by and supporting us.
-Cassie and Sadie
I’m not the person who wrote this, but today I made toffee with salted butter without adding the additional salt you’d use if you used plain butter. It turned out pretty tasty! In fact I used plant butter haha and it was quite yummy.
Great info! I need to try it with the plant butter now. Thanks Cerys!
How much in advance can I make this?
Fran I apologize that we're just getting to you! This will last a couple weeks in an airtight container!
I live this recipe and so does my family. it has the right crunch without that break-your-teeth hardness! Someone earlier said it is the best recipe on Pinterest. I agree 100%.
Thank you Jenn!!! It's a crowd favorite over here as well!!