Homemade Toffee with Barb from Sweet Mac Shop

Scatter the whole almonds over a cookie sheet and place under the broiler until lightly toasted–don’t burn! Let cool, then chop them up in a food processor. Scatter half of the almonds over a cookie sheet; reserve the rest for later.

In a medium heavy saucepan, over medium to medium-low heat, melt the butter. With a spatula kind of scoot some up on the sides so as to “butter the pan.” As soon as the butter is melted, stir in the sugar. Continue to stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Add the corn-syrup-water mixture and stir well; the mixture will hiss for a few seconds, but that’s all right.

With the pan still on the heat, cover the saucepan and leave it covered for 3 minutes. Then uncover it and stick in a candy thermometer. Keeping the heat at medium-low, and stirring once in a while, heat the mixture to 300°. *Note: for higher altitudes, for every 1000 feet above sea level, subtract 2 degrees.*)

When the candy finally reaches 300°, remove the candy from the heat immediately and pour it onto the chopped nuts, tilting the pan back and forth to cover it evenly.

Let it cool for a few minutes, then scatter chocolate chips over the surface. The heat from the cooling toffee will melt the chips. When they are melted, take a spatula and smooth out the chocolate. Then scatter the remaining chopped almonds over the surface.

Let it really cool down. A lot. When the chocolate is set (about 2 hours or so), break up the toffee into pieces by “stabbing” straight down into the toffee with a paring knife until you hear it break. Makes about 1 pound of candy.