This is the easiest churro toffee recipe! No candy thermometer or dipping in chocolate. If you're missing Disneyland make a batch today!
English toffee is so delicious, and this churro toffee is a spin-off of that. Buttery, crunchy, and made with basic ingredients. You might also like my Take 5 toffee or classic English toffee recipe.
I mistakenly thought that both Disney World and Disneyland sold churro toffee. I kept searching the app when we were at Disney World in February, looking for a shop that sold it, but then found out that it is a Disneyland thing. That's ok, I know how to make the best English toffee, and I told the kids I'd make them a batch of churro toffee when we got home. What was the silver lining in all of this? It left more money in my pocket for Dole Whips!
Why I Like This Recipe
- Easy to make: Churro toffee is incredibly easy to make and doesn't require a candy thermometer. I've created an ENTIRE post all about English toffee making with tips and tricks for making it perfectly every time. Make sure to watch my step by step video before making your first batch. You'll see exactly how I make it, and you'll be on your way to enjoying this delicious Disney treat at home.
- Simple ingredients. Toffee requires the simplest of ingredients. Butter, sugar, salt, vanilla. Things you most likely already have in your kitchen!
- Can be made in advance. Unlike most baked goods, toffee will stay fresh for at least a week, making this the ideal treat to make during the holidays for treat plates.
What Others Are Saying
I'm obsessed with the churro toffee at Disney, and this was an easy variation to make at home, thank you! ---Bre on Pinterest
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Tips and Tricks
- Do not double the recipe. My aunt told me it is better to make this toffee in single batches so that is what I have always done.
- Use a wooden spoon. Metal spoons will heat up as the mixture heats up. A good old-fashioned wooden spoon or silicone spatula works well, as they do not conduct heat.
- Use a clean, dry pan for each new batch.
- Cook over high-medium/high heat. Don't be afraid to crank the heat up once the mixture begins to simmer. This is NOT a low and slow recipe. It's HIGH and fast.
- 5 minutes is a guide. By all means, if after 5 minutes your toffee still isn't the color of a brown bag, keep it on the stove for another minute or so. Every stove cooks differently. The 5-minute timer is a guide.
Ingredients
- Butter: Use salted butter and never use margarine.
- Sugar
- Vanilla
- Salt
- White chocolate chips (or melting chocolate)
- Cinnamon and sugar
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Churro Toffee At Home
Step 1: Line a baking sheet with foil. Heat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a nice sturdy saucepan on medium heat until butter is melted. Turn the temp up to med-high and stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil.
Step 2: Set your timer for 5 minutes and DO NOT let ANYTHING disturb you while you stir. You must keep stirring your butter/sugar mixture so that it does not burn. And you must use a WOODEN spoon.
Step 3: Keep stirring until your timer goes off. It may even smoke a tiny bit and that is ok. If you are really concerned, lift you pan off of the burner (while you are still stirring) to remove it from the heat, but still stir until your timer goes off. You are looking for toffee that is the color of a brown paper bag. Not tan or beige, but BROWN.
Step 4: Immediately pour hot toffee onto your foil-lined baking sheet. The toffee will be about ¼-½" thick. Do not scrape the bottom of the pan. As you pour, the bottom will brown, and you don’t want that in your toffee.
Step 5: Let toffee cool. Melt white chocolate. Spread across your toffee with a small spatula or butter knife. Sprinkle liberally with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar while the white chocolate is still wet.
Step 6: After it has set up, break the toffee into pieces.
Disneyland Churro Toffee Vs. Homemade Churro Toffee
The churro toffee that you'll find at Disney is served in large squares. The squares are completely dipped in white chocolate and covered in cinnamon and sugar. I find that the smaller pieces are easier to eat, and since most of the flavor comes from the toffee (and not the white chocolate) that covering one side works just fine. It's quicker, too! I'll leave it up to you to decide how much chocolate you want on your toffee.
To cover one side of the toffee in white chocolate, simply melt a bowl of white chocolate chips and pour the melted chocolate over your toffee and spread it around in an even layer. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
To completely cover the toffee, break the toffee into sections, then dip it in white chocolate. Place toffee on waxed paper and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Toffee FAQs
No. English toffee must be made with butter. Butter is a key ingredient in any caramel or toffee recipe.
There are a couple of things that could be happening. 1: Your heat might not be high enough. 2: I haven't ever experienced this, but I have heard that if you use SALTED butter that it is better for toffee making. I only buy salted butter so maybe that's why I've never had my toffee separate. You also need to make sure that you are CONSTANTLY stirring the mixture.
It will turn brown if the heat is medium-high and you cook it for 5-6 minutes. Crank up that heat, don't let it simmer on low. It will start out yellow, then become light brown, then finally the right brown paper brown that you are looking for. Just keep stirring and cooking!
Fill your pan with hot water and set it aside. It will start dissolving the toffee left inside and make it easier to clean.
Not with this recipe. This is a visual recipe, which means you are looking for the right color instead of temperature. You want a toffee that is the color of a brown bag. Not tan, not beige (otherwise the toffee will be gritty and undercooked).
Store toffee in an airtight container. It will last quite awhile.
More Copycat Recipes To Make
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The EASIEST Churro Toffee Recipe
Equipment
- baking sheet
- foil
- sturdy pan
- wooden spoon
- measuring cup
- measuring spoons
- spatula
Ingredients
- 1 c. butter (salted) DO NOT USE MARGARINE
- 1 c. sugar
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- pinch salt
- 1 c white chips or melting chocolate
- cinnamon and sugar
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Heat butter, sugar, vanilla and salt in a nice sturdy saucepan on med heat until butter is melted. Turn temp up to med-high and stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil.
- Set your timer for 5 minutes and DO NOT let ANYTHING disturb you while you stir. You must keep stirring your butter/sugar mixture so that it does not burn. And you must use a WOODEN spoon.
- Keep stirring until your timer goes off. It may even smoke a tiny bit and that is ok. If you are really concerned, lift you pan off of the burner (while you are still stirring) to remove it from the heat, but still stir until your timer goes off. You are looking for toffee that is the color of a brown paper bag. Not tan or beige, but BROWN.
- Immediately pour hot toffee onto your foil-lined baking sheet.
- The toffee will be about ¼-1/2" thick. Do not scrape the bottom of the pan. As you pour, the bottom will brown and you don’t want that in your toffee.
- Fill your pan with hot water and set it aside. It will start dissolving the toffee left inside and make it easier to clean.
- Let toffee cool. It should harden within a couple of minutes.
- Melt Ghirardelli bricks or wafers, Wilton melting chocolate, chocolate chips, or any other variety of white melting chocolate in the microwave at 30-second intervals until smooth.
- Spread across your toffee with a small spatula or butter knife.
- Sprinkle liberally with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar while white chocolate is still wet. After it has set up, break toffee into pieces.
Notes
- Do NOT double the recipe
- You must use a WOODEN spoon
- Use a clean, dry pan for each new batch.
- Cook over high- medium/high. (My stove is gas and tends to cook really hot, really fast. So I usually drop the heat to medium for my toffee, but in years past when I had an electric flat top stove, med-high worked best.)
- The 5 minute cook time is just a guide. If you hit 5 minutes and your toffee still isn't the color of a brown paper bag, add an extra minute. Cook times vary on each stove.
Beth says
Help! I constantly stirred and before the 5 minute mark my toffee began to look chunky and by the time the timer went off it was brown but still chunks sitting in oil! I could not get it to be smooth. Maybe my butter has too high of water content it’s Walmart brand butter
Brandy says
Hi Beth! I’m not sure what would cause it to be chunky. I’ve never had that happen before! If anything, if it separates I’ve heard that adding a tiny amount of water will bring it back together. It might be helpful to google “toffee separation” to see if that’s what happened.
Lori says
Hi, I'd like to give this a try for Christmas. What size baking sheet do you use?
Brandy says
My pans are half sheet size (13x18)