My husband and I recently hosted Thanksgiving. Of course prior to the Thanksgiving meal we had to go out and buy all new pots and pans. My pans were over a decade old, scratched up, and gross looking to the point that my husband was concerned we would be serving our guests more metal than meal.
Today, on a sunny Saturday morning, I am antsy. I need something to do.
I’m not very crafty, well I’m not successfully crafty. I have all of these wonderful intentions to needle felt and paint ceramics and decoupage a chair, but I just end up playing Angry Birds on my phone. So I have decided that, since we are approaching Christmas, I need to pull out my old cookbook and make one of the quick recipes that I know to be a favorite of the family.
Toffee. Not just some new toffee recipe I found on Pinterest, but old school toffee.
When I got married my mother gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook copyrighted 1974. It was the same cookbook given to my mother, my sister, and all three of my mom’s sisters. My grandmother used to work at a book binding company nearby and she came home one day with a box of cookbooks. So we all (eventually) got one. On page 165 is a toffee recipe that doesn’t even specify the final sugar temperature, just “stir for 7 minutes”.
In 15 minutes I had a container of toffee bars cooling on the counter. The Toffee recipe is listed below and I took a few pictures of the process. It really was easy – except for 7 minutes of stirring- and now the whole house smells caramelized and chocolatey! I used dry roasted peanuts instead of pecans – this candy is tasty without nuts if you so desire!! I recommend you give this recipe a try.
Enjoy it with a cup of snowflake tea!
Toffee
- 1 cup pecans, chopped (I prefer peanuts)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine
- 1/2 package (6 ounce size) semi sweet chocolate pieces (about 1/2 cup)
Directions
- Butter a square pan 9 x 9 x 2 inches.
- Spread pecans in pan.
- Heat sugar and butter to boiling.
- Boil over medium heat stirring constantly about seven minutes (using a candy thermometer, I gauged a temperature of 280 degrees, soft crack stage).
- Immediately spread mixture evenly over nuts in pan.
- Sprinkle chocolate pieces over hot mixture.
- Place baking sheet or inverted plate over pan so contained heat will melt the chocolate.
- Spread melted chocolate over candy.
- While hot, cut into 1 1/2 inch squares (I waited until it was cool and then broke it into various pieces).
- Chill until firm.
cookieandacuppa 