English Toffee

Buttery, crunchy English Toffee

I really should try to locate some business sense and sell this English toffee.  It is everything I want English toffee to be: buttery, nutty, chocolatey, with an amazing crunch to the toffee... Excuse me while I get some tissue to wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth.
My brother requests this every year, and I think I send him progressively more each year as he lets his amigos try it, and they know the time of year to start trolling his house to pick up a little nugget of deliciousness.
I specify the brand of sugar because in candy, I think, it really makes a difference.  I actually purchased the C & H Brown Sugar at Sam's Club one time, and I noticed the toffee tasted off.  When I looked at the ingredients, they listed, "sugar, molasses."  Apparently, the processing of sugar takes all of the molasses out to make it white.  The cheaper kinds of brown sugar are the ones they add molasses back into.  This means your brown sugar is doubly processed.  C & H Brown sugar in the box or 2 pound bag only has "brown sugar" listed as an ingredient because only some of the molasses has been extracted, but it's never been white.  All that to say, the sugar makes a difference in the taste. 
This English toffee has not won any awards, but I've chalked that up to the disgusting Iowa humidity in August (Iowa State Fair time). The toffee is both delicious and unhealthy. As always, feel free to message me if you have any questions.


English Toffee


Ingredients

• 1 cup coarsely chopped almonds or macadamia nuts (roasted unsalted)
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds or macadamia nuts (roasted unsalted)
• 3/4 cup packed C & H Light Brown Sugar 
• 3/4 cups  C & H white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 9 ounces chocolate, melted and tempered (I like to use Dove Milk Chocolate)

Instructions
1. Line a rectangular Pyrex/glass pan (9x13) with parchment paper (Do not use a metal pan for this). Spread coarse nuts in bottom of pan. Set aside.
2. In a heavy saucepan heat butter and sugar to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil over medium heat until it reaches 300° on a candy thermometer. At that point immediately pour and spread over the nuts. Allow to cool 5-6 minutes.
3. With a bench scraper, cut toffee while it is still soft into 36 pieces. Allow to cool to the touch, and break apart. Set on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Over a double boiler, melt chocolate until it is 2/3 melted. Remove from heat and stir until completely melted. Place finely chopped nuts in a shallow pan.
5. Using two forks, completely coat each piece of toffee with the chocolate. Toss in the finely chopped nuts until coated. Return to parchment paper to cool and set.
Makes about 36 yummy chunks.

Note: An easier alternative to coating individual pieces is to just pour melted chocolate over the cooled, uncut toffee and sprinkle with nuts. Then when the chocolate has set, break toffee into pieces.

Dove Chocolate unwrapped and ready to be melted and tempered.