2 c. butter
2 c sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup
6 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz chocolate
2 c. slivered almonds, divided

 

Butter a 10×15 jelly roll pan.

Melt 2 c. butter in a heavy saucepan over med-low heat.

 

 

 

 

Add 2 c. sugar, 2 Tbsp corn syrup, 6 Tbsp water.

Increase heat to medium.

 

 

 

Cook slowly to 275 degrees (soft crack stage). Some recipes call for cooking it to 290-300 degrees, but it almost tastes burnt to me at that point. But you may prefer that flavor.

Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.

 

 

 

Just before reaching soft crack stage, around 260 degrees, add 1 c. slivered almonds.

Some recipes call for adding the almonds at the beginning of cooking, but I find that they scorch very easily doing this. Some recipes call for adding the almonds after removing the toffee from the heat, but they tend to maintain a raw flavor to them, rather than a more toasted flavor.

 

 

After reaching soft crack stage, remove from heat, and add 1 tsp vanilla extract.

 

 

 

 

Pour into prepared pan.

Let cool.

 

 

 

 

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. The original recipe calls for 8 oz of chocolate. Are you kidding me? That’s not enough for something this yummy.

Obviously, I used a healthy amount of Vitamin C (Vitamin Chocolate).

 

 

Pour chocolate over cooled toffee.

 

 

 

 

 

Smooth evenly over toffee.

Alternatively, I have just sprinkled chocolate chips over the toffee mixture while it is still hot. After the chips soften, I spread them over the toffee. However, I tend to have more ‘bloom’ on the chocolate surface when I do that. I’ve heard two theories on ‘bloom.’ One is that the chocolate doesn’t contain enough fat, another is that the chocolate got a little too hot at some point during the melting process. It may be a combination of both of those, or even something a little different. But ‘bloom’ does tend to take away from the finished overall appearance. I guess you can use chocolate flavored wafers rather than real chocolate, and avoid ‘bloom’ altogether, but I like the taste of the real stuff better 🙂

 

Sprinkle with 1 c. slivered almonds.

 

 

 

 

 

Let chocolate cool and harden.

Using a butter knife, pry up an edge of the toffee.

 

 

 

 

Then start cracking it into pieces. You can use the back of an ice cream scoop and break it apart; however, I found that the chocolate and toffee tend to separate when I do that.

I like to just poke the butter knife along an edge of the candy, and it will automatically crack, keeping the chocolate attached to the toffee.

 

 

Store in an airtight container.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m pretty sure a mouth counts as an airtight container 🙂

Makes around 3 lbs of candy.