English Toffee Recipe

Jar of classic engligh toffee with almonds.

4.40 from 33 votes

If you’ve ever felt intimidated by candy making, give this English toffee recipe a try. One of our favorite holiday recipes to make for family and friends.

Prep Time5

Cook Time5

cooling toffee and cooling chocolate20

Total Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 156kcal

Author: Brandy Nelson

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

US Customary - Metric

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 the toffee harden. Spread melted chocolate over the toffee with a small spatula or butter knife. It's ok if the toffee is still warm. Sprinkle with additional nuts, if desired.
Note: You can also sprinkle chocolate chips over the hardened but warm toffee, let them melt as the toffee cools, then spread them evenly over the toffee.
Sprinkle with sliced almonds, if desired, while the chocolate is still soft. After it has set up, break toffee into pieces.

Video

Notes

Here are some more helpful hints for making this English toffee recipe.

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