There are some treats that just scream Christmas to me: sugar cookies, peppermint bark, and toffee. I was home a few weeks ago which meant I had the luxury of using my kitchen, which is something I really miss while I am at school. The first thing I made is butter toffee, which is one of my all time favorite recipes.
Toffee is a ridiculously easy thing to make, but it’s equally impressive. People always overestimate how hard it is to make, assuming you need a keen eye and special tools, but you don’t. Besides the physical ingredients all you need is a pot, parchment paper, a spatula, and a wooden spoon.
What you’ll need to make toffee:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons water (optional)
- A handful of chocolate chips
That’s all, no. Seriously. The only really necessary things are the sugar and butter, but adding the water lessens your risk of separation while cooking, and the chocolate chips are just a nice finish.
Steps:
You are going to want to add the sugar, butter, and water into a sauce pan and boil it all together, stirring constantly. Once the toffee is boiling bring the temperature down to just a simmer and keep stirring. You are going to want to cook until it transforms to the color of almond skin, which usually takes about 20 minutes. (Don’t forget to keep stirring!)
Once your toffee is the color pictured above you can pour it out on your parchment paper. You are going to want to immediately start spreading the toffee with a spatula because it hardens up fast. The thickness is up to you, I always try to keep mine fairly thin, though.
As soon as that is finished, sprinkle chocolate chips on your hot toffee, and use the same spatula to spread them out once they get all melty and soft. If you have any additional toppings, you’ll want to add them now. I recommend using either chopped nuts or a sprinkling of coarse sea salt!
Once that hardens all that is left is to break it up and enjoy! If you want to speed up it’s setting time you can stick it in the fridge, otherwise it takes a really long time for the chocolate to get hard!
What are your favorite holiday recipes?