How to Make Toffee

Learn how to make toffee at home! Buttery crisp and topped with melted chocolate, this classic homemade candy makes a great gift.

Here’s a little secret: I like homemade candy during the holidays better than I like cookies. 🙈 I can’t help it…I’m a candy girl! I’ll never turn down an oven fresh cookie, but after they are cooled, hand over all the buckeyes, brittle and turtles.

This buttery sweet homemade toffee recipe is easier to make than you think, and we’ll walk you through the steps to ensure success!

Why you’ll love this recipe:

• traditional toffee recipe
• buttery and crisp
• topped with dark chocolate
• perfect for gift giving

What is toffee?

Toffee is a homemade candy that is made by caramelizing sugar and butter. You’ll cook it to the “hard crack stage” and end up with a crisp, buttery candy that has a deep brown sugar molasses flavor.

What is in toffee?

• Butter. Use a high quality butter. If you can find European butter, that works great in this recipe. Don’t use margarine!
• Brown sugar. You can use white sugar or brown sugar, but preferred the slight difference in brown sugar.
• Water. Adding water helps the sugar crystals melt quickly so that your toffee is the right texture.
• Corn syrup. This also helps prevent the sugar from crystalizing.
• Salt. You can leave the salt out if you use salted butter.
• Dark chocolate chips. Or milk chocolate or semisweet. The choice is yours!
• Chopped pecans. For making the top look pretty. A sprinkling of sea salt helps too!

You’ll also need a good thermometer. We LOVE our Thermoworks ThermaPen to quickly test temperatures. This probe thermometer is AMAZING. Get it here.

How to Make Toffee

To prepare, cover a 10×15” baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside until you’ve cooked the toffee.

• Cover a 10×15” baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a saucepan over medium heat, melt together the butter, brown sugar, water, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

• Cook and stir until the temperature of the syrup reaches hard crack stage, 290-295 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the heat.
• Immediately pour the mixture on the parchment paper lined pan.

• Allow the mixture to cool for 3 minutes.
• Sprinkle with chocolate chips and let them sit and melt for 5 minutes.
• Use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate chips to cover the top.
• Sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Recipe Variations:

• Use white sugar instead of brown sugar.
• Add slivered almonds or pecans to the toffee itself before pouring.
• Drizzle the top with white chocolate.
• Add sprinkles to the toffee.
• Score the toffee as it is setting to get more cleanly cut pieces.
• Cover each piece completely in chocolate. This will help keep it fresh longer.

How to Store Toffee

Once the toffee is set and broken into pieces, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

English Toffee Recipe

4.34 from 12 votes

Learn how to make toffee at home! Buttery crisp and topped with melted chocolate, this classic homemade candy makes a great gift.

Servings 20

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Setting Time 4 hours

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Ingredients

 

• 16 ounces unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips
• 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

Instructions

 

• Cover a 10×15” baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a saucepan over medium heat, melt together the butter, brown sugar, water, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until the temperature of the syrup reaches hard crack stage, 290-295 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the heat.
• Immediately pour the mixture on the parchment paper lined pan.
• Allow the mixture to cool for 3 minutes.
• Sprinkle with chocolate chips and let them sit and melt for 5 minutes.
• Use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate chips to cover the top.
• Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
• Allow the toffee to set at room temperature for 4 hours or until the chocolate is set.
• Break into pieces and store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Notes

The calories shown are based on the recipe being divided into 20 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 piece of toffee. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**

Nutrition

Calories: 418kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 89mg | Potassium: 184mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 571IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 88mg | Iron: 1mg

Author Julie Clark

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Calories 418

Keyword christmas, homemade candy

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