If you've ever felt intimidated by candy making, give this English toffee recipe a try. My recipe will help you get it right the first time with step-by-step instructions, photographs, and video. It's a family recipe that has been a holiday staple for over 35 years.
If you've tried making toffee and had the questions: "Why is my toffee soft?" or "Why won't my toffee turn brown?" you've come to the right place! I'll answer those questions and show you how to turn your next batch around in the right direction. You might also like our Churro toffee recipe or Take 5 toffee recipe.
One of my FAVORITE holiday treats is this English toffee. My aunt made this for our family every year for Christmas, and I always looked forward to it! When I grew up and started my own family, I asked her for the recipe so that I could start making it for gifts.
My first batch was...gritty. Eww. And soft. I was SO bummed! When toffee is undercooked, it's not only soft and gritty, but it tastes bad, too. I wasn't going to give up. Making it is so much cheaper than buying it, so I tried again, and the second batch turned out great! I realized that I hadn't cooked it long enough. It's been smooth sailing ever since. I've made dozens and dozens of batches of toffee using this method, and it turns out perfect every time.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Easy to make. Toffee isn't hard to make and uses pretty basic ingredients! This method doesn't even require a candy thermometer.
- Simple ingredients. Sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt. That's the base of the recipe. Add nuts if you'd like, and don't forget to coat it in chocolate.
- Can be made in advance. If you bake for family and friends during the holidays, English toffee is a great treat to add to your lineup. You can make it days in advance since it stays fresh for a week at room temperature, which is considerably longer than most baked goods.
What People Are Saying
I had never made toffee prior to finding your recipe last Christmas. I have since made it seven or eight times and it has been perfect every single time. I just made the first of this season’s batches on a different stove and it was still perfect! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Just made my first batch of your toffee and it came out pretty much exactly like you said it would! Your very clear instructions made it a breeze, and I’ll now be making several more batches to give as Christmas presents.
My first batch was the aforementioned disaster. But I just made my second, and it is beautiful and perfect!
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Tips and Tricks for Perfect Engligh Toffee
- 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 DO NOT use margarine.
- Sugar
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Almonds: I like using whole almonds in the toffee and sliced almonds on top, pecans or walnuts would be delicious too.
- Chocolate: The toffee is coated in melted chocolate. Use chocolate chips or melting wafers.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make English Toffee
Before you dive into our English toffee recipe and make your first batch, be sure to read through my entire post and the helpful tips at the end! You can also watch the video in the recipe card or check out my Instagram highlight videos titled “Toffee” where I make a batch in real time.
Step 1: Line a baking sheet with foil. If you'd like almonds inside the toffee, not just on the top, toss a handful of sliced or whole almonds onto the baking sheet (about 1 cup). You can also use walnuts, pecans, mixed nuts, or just leave the nuts out all together.
Step 2: Heat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a heavy saucepan on medium heat until the butter is melted. Turn the temperature up to medium HIGH and stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil.
Step 3: Set your timer for 5 minutes and DO NOT let ANYTHING disturb you while you stir. The photo above is what it looks like after stirring for two minutes.
Step 4: Keep stirring. After 4 minutes, it has lost its yellow color and is turning brown. It is also looking frothy. But it is not done until it has turned the color of a brown paper bag. It may look done, and you may think it is burning, but keep stirring until your timer goes off. It may even smoke a tiny bit, and that is ok. If you are really concerned, lift your pan off the burner (while you are still stirring) to remove it from the heat, but still stir until your timer goes off.
Step 5: After 5 minutes it should be nice and BROWN. There is a definite difference between 4 and 5 minutes of cooking. That extra minute makes all the difference in the texture. Remove from heat.
Step 6: Immediately pour hot toffee onto your foil-lined baking sheet. If you added nuts to your baking sheet, pour the toffee over the nuts. 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 7: Let cool. It should harden within a couple of minutes.
Step 8: Spread melted chocolate over the toffee with a small spatula or butter knife. Sprinkle with additional nuts, if desired.
Step 9: Once the chocolate hardens, break the toffee into small pieces. Store in an airtight container indefinitely.
And that is it! No temps, no candy thermometer, no special tools required. JUST HEAT, and lots of it.
English Toffee FAQs
Do you like Skor Bars, Heath Bars or Almond Roca? If so, you'll love our English toffee recipe. It is SO MUCH BETTER than any of those! English toffee is made from sugar and butter and heated to the hard crack stage for a crunchy, buttery candy. I've heard that traditional English toffee isn't made with nuts, but we won't even go there. Toffee simply isn't the same without almonds. Many versions only sprinkle nuts on top of the chocolate, but mine has whole almonds in the toffee too. Of course, if you aren't a fan of nuts, you can leave them out.
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!
If your toffee doesn't have a hard texture (where you can snap it in half) you did not cook it long enough. Again, the 5-minutes is just a guide. Cook it until it is the color of a brown bag.
Toffee should be a combination of sweet and salty. A mixture of butter and caramel has a nice snap when broken into pieces. If your toffee is soft or gritty or tastes bitter, see the tips above for troubleshooting.
Toffee can be frozen up to 2 months. It also lasts quite awhile at room temperature if stored in a container.
Fill your pan with hot water and set it aside. It will start dissolving the toffee left inside and make it easier to clean.
More Candy Recipes To Make
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English Toffee Recipe
Equipment
- baking sheet
- foil
- sturdy pan
- wooden spoon
- measuring cup
- measuring spoons
- spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (salted) DO NOT USE MARGARINE
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 cup chocolate chips or melting chocolate
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with foil. If you'd like to have nuts in your toffee, toss a handful of almonds onto the baking sheet. Set aside.
- Heat all of your ingredients (except for the nuts and chocolate) in a nice sturdy saucepan on med heat until butter is melted. Turn temp up to medium 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 the pan off of the burner (while you are still stirring) to remove it from the heat, but still stir until your timer goes off.
- Immediately pour hot toffee onto your foil-lined baking sheet. If you added nuts to your baking sheet, pour the toffee over the nuts.
- 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 cool. It should harden within a couple of minutes.
- Melt Ghirardelli bricks or wafers, Wilton melting chocolate, chocolate chips, or any other variety of melting chocolate in the microwave at 30-second intervals until smooth.
- Spread across your toffee with a small spatula or butter knife. I use about 2 Ghirardelli bricks per batch. If you melt too much that’s ok, it will harden again and you can just microwave it again another time for another use.
- Sprinkle with sliced almonds, if desired, while the chocolate is still soft. 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.
Nutrition
Here is a collection of holiday candy recipes to try from Taste of Home.
Brandy says
This recipe has been a family favorite for over 30 years. I've made countless batches and it really is the best!
Sherry says
Are the almonds raw, or roasted salted, does it matter? I'd love to give this recipe a try but am stuck on which kind of almonds. Could you please let me know?
Brandy says
You can use whatever kind you'd like. I prefer raw, but have used roasted and they are delicious too! Because the butter is already salted I don't use salted nuts, but some prefer salted!
Nancy Gibson says
I’m missing something. I don’t see where to add the vanilla and didn’t realize it until I was pouring the toffee over the nuts. My first batch is cooling. A little bit of the butter separated. We shall see!
Brandy says
Step 2 is to the heat all of the ingredients except for chocolate and nuts in a pan.
It’ll be ok without the vanilla!
Nicole says
I just made my first batch of toffee but didn't do this whole recipe. Half has peanuts and the other half is just toffee. I used salted butter and I noticed right before it was done it started to separate but I continued to stir it and all of a sudden it just had a smoothe texture and the separation was gone so I poured it put then and it's perfect. I did watch a YouTube video of this same recipe with a camera set up to show the pan through the whole cooking process and the lady said that separation just before it's done is common but to keep stirring and it will mix back together smoothly. Mine took closer to 10 minutes from start to finish but I did go slightly lower temp cause I have an electric stove and I didn't want to risk overheating it since the glass won't cool down fast enough and potentially ruin the whole batch. Next I'll be making the whole recipe, didn't have chocolate or almonds this time but it's delicious by itself.
Brandy says
So glad that yours turned out perfect! Stove temps and types definitely vary. Once you figure out what works for yours it's smooth sailing!
M King says
Here is the solution if your butter separates: take off heat, rapidly stir in 1 T very hot water, and it will come back together. Add an additional T water, if necessary, return to heat and finish cooking.
Heidi says
Just want to say that I come back to this page every year. Your toffee recipe has never failed me - and I had lots of failed toffees before I found this page! I've become the 'English toffee friend' at Christmastime - everyone wants to be my buddy because they know I'll make this.
Brandy says
Heidi, this made my day! I'm so glad you've been so successful in toffee making too! Speaking of which, I need to make 2 more batches this week, ha!
Danielle McClain says
I can't even count how many toffee nightmares I have had over the years. I like to make toffee as a gift for the holidays and every year have different kinds of disasters. I decided to try to do the opposite of what the recipes I have been trying instructed and voilà I found this recipe and it worked perfectly! I think my problems stem from the fact that I live at 6,800 ft. This fast and hot recipe seemed to do the trick for me. Many thanks!!
Brandy says
So glad to hear! It’s crazy how different the results can be!
Hannah J Parrish says
Hi Brandy, this toffee was AMAZING!! I made it for my flatmate and she loved it! it didnt quite look like the picture much better! thanks for the recipe I’ll use it again soon! thanks! ~ Hannah.
☀️ https://goodhometime.com/ ☀️
Brandy says
So glad to hear!!