Homemade English Toffee – you can make mouthwatering candy at home with this simple toffee recipe!
Guys, toffee is one of my favorite treats on the planet, and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to make it from scratch. It is incredible!!
Last Christmas my mom and sister in law came down for a day of candy making for neighbor gifts. Toffee was one of the recipes on my list. It was so easy and turned out so yummy that I ended up making two more batches after they left!
I always assumed that making toffee was challenging, but it’s really quite simple. I think the secret to delicious toffee is cooking it till turns a nice caramel color.
You can see in the photo below that it is still creamy colored. It’s close, and still yummy if you pour it at this stage, but it has a deeper, richer flavor if you let it cook a little longer.
You can use a candy thermometer, but I prefer the ice water method. Make sure you have your cookie sheet ready, because after the mixture reaches 280 degrees, it can burn really fast.
You can see in this photo that the toffee is a nice caramel color. That’s what gives it that rich toffee flavor. I highly recommend using silicone pan liners when making toffee. Nothing sticks to them!
My toffee recipe calls for chopped almonds on top, but you can use pecans if you prefer. I like to use the sliced almonds and just give them a rough chop.
Everyone raved about this homemade toffee. Be careful, it is seriously addicting! I had a hard time resisting it, so it’s a good thing I handed most of it out to the neighbors.
Love making candy? Here are a few more simple recipes:
- Caramel Pecan Turtles
- Rice Crispy Peanut Butter Balls
- Toffee Chocolate Cake Balls
- Melted Snowman Bark
- Mint Cookie Crunch
- Butter Mints
- Microwave Caramels
- Brigadeiro Recipe
- Saltine Toffee
- Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls
- White Chocolate Puffcorn
Homemade English Toffee Recipe
Homemade Toffee Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1 Tbsp corn syrup
- pinch of salt
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped almonds or pecans
Instructions
- Line a large cookie sheet with a silicone liner or buttered parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large heavy pan, heat the butter, sugar, water, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla over medium heat. Bring to a boil.
- Continue cooking till mixture reaches about 290 degrees and turns a deep caramel color. (Right between the soft and hard crack stage.) Watch carefully, it can burn quickly after it reaches 280°.
- Quickly pour the hot mixture onto the pan. Let it sit for about 3-5 minutes, then sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top.
- Let sit for 5-10 minutes or till chocolate is melted. Spread the chocolate over the top, then sprinkle with chopped almonds.
- Let toffee cool completely, then break into pieces.
Notes
- You can use a candy thermometer, or drop a spoonful of the hot mixture into a cup of cold water. If it cracks, it's ready.
- I've tried the recipe without the corn syrup. It still works, but it's trickier at the end because it tends to separate, so you have to stir very vigorously.
- Yield is about 1 1/2 pounds of toffee; nutritional information is just an estimate.
My chocolate chips get soft when they should be hard. Why???
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It can take several hours for the chocolate to harden back up. Different brands also set differently. I have also found that semi-sweet chocolate tends to set harder, so sometimes I do half and half.
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Love this recipe! It’s my go to!! So easy and quick. I use less chocolate because I like more of the toffee flavor to come through and I use pecans. But amazing!!
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So glad you love it Heidi! I bet it’s just as tasty with pecans. I’ll have to try that sometime!
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I think you missed replying to Sarah.
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Thanks Amy, not sure how I missed that!
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What is a good inexpensive heavy pot. I have Revere, is that heavy enough?
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Yes, that should be just fine. I’ve used this pan with great results: https://amzn.to/34X1wLM (affiliate link)
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Such a great idea for neighbor gifts! Definitely keeping this recipe!
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Heavenly! Using this for neighbor gifts this Christmas!
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When do you add the vanilla? Thanks for the recipe!
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Cara…….. I made a batch today. YOU ROCK !!!!
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I have tried several times to make toffee but it often turns out crystallized and yuck. I have about given up. Any tips? I’ve heard not scraping the side of the pot helps but I don’t know what I”m doing wrong! This is seriously the one candy that I love above all others and it’s so expensive to buy!
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Not scraping the sides does help, but it could also be that you just overcooked the toffee. It can turn very quickly from the perfect temperature to overdone. If you are using a candy thermometer, you might want to check it to make sure it is calibrated correctly.
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Once it starts to boil don’t keep stirring – at most swirl the pan lightly so it’s cooking evenly but vigorously stirring creates more sugar crystals. Let it hit temp the give it a quick stir before pouring into your prepared pan. This should keep it from becoming a crystallized sugar mess.
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looking good
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Thanks Kural!
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Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
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I use salted butter in all of my cooking. 🙂
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