In the meantime, Jeff took it into his own hands to make a delicious chocolaty treat. This is our absolutely favorite toffee recipe. It's easy, and turns out fabulous every time. You don't even need a candy thermometer. I think we've only had it fail once, and that was because Jeff used the wrong ingredients (though I'm not sure how, they're pretty simple ingredients). It ends up nice and crunchy, with a wonderful caramelized-sugar flavor. Yum!
We originally got this recipe from The Tightwad Gazette.
Toffee
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Butter an 8-inch square pan. Spread the chopped walnuts in the pan.
Heat the butter or margarine and sugar, and boil over medium heat in a 1-quart saucepan, stirring constantly. Do this until the mixture darkens and just begins to smoke, about 7 minutes (you've really got to pay attention. Let it go too long and it starts to burn). Immediately pour the mixture over the walnuts.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the hot mixture, and put a cookie sheet over the top to hold in the heat so that it melts the chips. Spread the chocolate with a knife. If desired, sprinkle ground walnuts on the melted chocolate.
Score into 1 1/2-inch squares while still warm (we usually skip this step, and end up with unevenly shaped toffee). Refrigerate. Break into squares when cool.
This time, Jeff found the ground walnuts that I was going to use for the cheesecake's crust and put them on top of the toffee before adding the chocolate chips (grrrrr....). He made up for his folly by immediately buying more walnuts for the cheesecake. Good man.
Showing the lovely caramel color of the toffee, yummy!
yummy!!!! i've been looking for an easy toffee recipe and this fits the bill!!! thanks!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE making toffee -- it is so therapeutic and amazing. You basically stand there slowly cooking sugar and butter and end up with this amazing, rich, delicious food. It never ceases to absolutely delight me. ;-)
ReplyDeleteLooking at those made me crave soda cracker toffee!!! Yum!
ReplyDeleteHEY... this looks easy enough ....I am such a dummy when it comes to anything candy like. I shall try this. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but I've never made toffee. I certainly like it. And now that I see YOUR recipe, I'm certainly going to do this.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I need to bring a hostess gift this weekend....I'm thinking this is perfect!
Thanks!!
This is going to be dangerous, I can tell. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou need to try saltine toffee. It's made with saltine crackers and is cheap to make and SO GOOD!!
ReplyDeleteToffee is my absolute favorite! I don't know why I've never tried making it..thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great recipe, as you stated, originally in the Tightwad Gazette. That is a wonderful book, BTW, and well worth buying a copy! She has tons of recipes that are thrifty and great, just like this one. I concur, the only real way you can wreck this is to burn it. Sadly, that's easy to do. I made it today and hit it perfectly - it was 7 minutes as stated on medium heat. Also, I used a LOT less than 1 cup of walnuts on the bottom. My family likes some but not that many (plus, of all the ingredients, it's the most expensive). We really like Heath bars and this is every bit as good (plus Mom made it....). : ) Thanks for posting it!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great recipe, as you stated, originally in the Tightwad Gazette. That is a wonderful book, BTW, and well worth buying a copy! She has tons of recipes that are thrifty and great, just like this one. I concur, the only real way you can wreck this is to burn it. Sadly, that's easy to do. I made it today and hit it perfectly - it was 7 minutes as stated on medium heat. Also, I used a LOT less than 1 cup of walnuts on the bottom. My family likes some but not that many (plus, of all the ingredients, it's the most expensive). We really like Heath bars and this is every bit as good (plus Mom made it....). : ) Thanks for posting i
ReplyDelete