Christmas crunch. [English toffee]

In addition to the chocolate peppermint bark cookies I made (here) for my holiday treat bags, my mom and I made English toffee. My mom received this fabulous recipe from our neighbor’s friend a couple of years ago and we’ve used it ever since.

One thing we’ve both learned about making toffee is that in no way is it a one man job. Since the butter and sugar mixture requires constant attention with the spatula/whisk during the time it takes to thicken, someone’s arm is bound to get tired. My mom and I switched off every five minutes or so stirring the mixture. The process takes about 20 minutes.

Although a tedious and laborious task, indulging in a piece of the crunchy and decadent toffee makes the work well worth it in the end.

Recipe:

2 lb. butter

4 cups sugar

2 large packages almonds (from Trader Joe’s)

8 chocolate bars, about 4.4 oz. each, finely grated (from Trader Joe’s)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Finely chop or grate almonds in food processor. Spread out on baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes, until slightly golden brown.

Prepare two baking sheets with fine layer of chopped toasted almonds, then layer with grated chocolate.

Cook butter and sugar over medium heat to 312 degrees, just beyond hard crack—make sure to use a sturdy and easily readable thermometer. Stir constantly. Do not decrease or increase heat during process of cooking the butter and sugar. Process will take about 20 minutes.

Immediately spread candy over almonds and chocolate, then immediately layer with remaining chocolate and almonds.

Cool toffee overnight in pans before breaking into pieces.