English Toffee

English Toffee is a classic holiday recipe - crunchy, chocolatey, and delicious. This delicious toffee is the perfect combination with a crunchy buttery homemade toffee, melted milk chocolate, and chopped pecans.

Course Christmas, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword english toffee

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Cooling Time 1

Total Time 1 20

Servings

Calories 319kcal

Author Jessica - Together as Family

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter (I use salted butter)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons purified water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups milk chocolate chips
chopped pecans

Instructions

Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper, and set aside.
In a large saucepan, over medium-low heat, add the butter, granulated sugar, water, vanilla extract, and salt. Let it cook for a few minutes, while stirring occasionally, until the butter has completely melted.
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons purified water, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Once the butter is melted, increase the heat to medium-high and continue cooking, while stirring continuously. Cook and stir until the color turns to amber and the temperature reaches 300℉ (use a candy thermometer to check it).
^{*Do not allow the bottom to burn! It's important to continuously stir it to avoid this.}
Once it reaches temperature, remove it from the heat and immediately pour the toffee mixture into the prepared baking pan. Carefully spread it into the corners and make sure it's in an even layer. Let it sit for 2 minutes.
Sprinkle the milk chocolate chips on top of the toffee. Allow the chocolate chips to sit and melt for 3 minutes, and then use an icing spatula or other spatula to spread the melted chocolate evenly over the toffee.
1½ cups milk chocolate chips
Sprinkle the chopped pecans over top the chocolate.
chopped pecans
Place the pan in the fridge and allow it to chill for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once completely cooled, break it into pieces, serve & enjoy!

Notes

If you want a thinner toffee use a 10x15 baking sheet instead; also called a jelly roll pan. The thicker toffee, as pictured, was made in a 9x13 baking pan so it turns out with a thicker layer of toffee. Sometimes you can also find a 9x13 cookie sheet pan and that can be used as well.
The most important thing is to stay close to your saucepan! You must stir continuously, with a wooden spoon, or heat-resistant spoon or spatula, once the heat is increased to prevent the toffee mixture from burning. Make sure you are constantly stirring it while checking the temperature.
Once it reaches the correct temperature it's important to immediately take it off the heat.
The hot molten toffee mixture is very hot so please be careful when pouring it into the pan and stirring it.
Be sure and line the pan with parchment paper so the toffee easily lifts out of the pan.
Follow the stove top heat instructions carefully - keep the heat at low-medium/medium-high and don't try to increase the heat to speed up the process.
The serving size/nutrition information is for 12 people, with each serving being about 2 pieces of toffee. When the toffee is broken into pieces I can usually get around 24 pieces of toffee.

Nutrition