Crunchy, buttery caramelized sugar candy topped with bittersweet chocolate and pecans (or your favorite chocolate and nuts). Submitted by pastry chef Greg Leone. Strangely enough, several sources report that the “English” toffee popular in the US is not actually English in origin; it’s an American concoction.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (see note*)
1-1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3 tablespoons water
1 pound bittersweet chocolate (milk, semi-sweet, and white chocolate also work fine), in small chunks or chips
1 pound ground pecans or nuts of choice
Directions
- Butter a large rimmed cookie sheet. Melt butter and sugar, add corn syrup and water. Boil over high heat till candy thermometer reads 300 F (start watching very closely once it reaches 280F). Immediately pour on prepared cookie sheet. When cooled and crisp, break into pieces. In the top of a double boiler over hot (not boiling) water, melt chocolate. Dip toffee pieces in melted chocolate. Cover with ground pecans while chocolate is still melted. Allow to cool on sheets of waxed paper. Yield depends on how large or small your pieces are!
Notes
- * The original recipe calls for unsalted butter but I actually prefer it with a little salt. If you like, you can add 1/4 teaspoon of salt in with the unsalted butter. Or, make it with salted butter.
- Reviewers: if you have a kitchen scale, please help us out by letting us know how much this recipe makes, by weight. Thanks!
- Kindly donated by San Francisco pastry chef Greg Léon.