Frying Pan English Toffee

Frying Pan English Toffee

1 c. butter (laid side by side in the frying pan)

1 c. sugar (poured over the butter)

3 Tbsp. water (poured over the sugar)

Put ingredients into a stainless steel 10” or so frying pan (not non-stick–I use my old Club aluminum pan). Let the butter melt and incorporate the sugar into it without much stirring at all over medium-high heat (I use a 7 out of 10 on my electric burner). Once it’s melted, you can stir MINIMALLY (once around the edge, wait a minute or two, then again in a zig-zag through the middle so it doesn’t burn, and repeat). It will bubble and mix together, and you’ll know if it separates because the butter will float to the top–then you have to start again. OH–use a wooden spoon, not metal or non-stick. Keep cooking and stirring this way until the toffee turns a warm maple/oak wood color–it usually takes 10-15 minutes. You want it to be at a slow, rolling boil the whole time. You can test if it gets to a hard crack stage by dropping a little into a small bowl of ice water–then taste it. If it crunches, you’re good to go, if it’s still a little chewy, keep cooking a little more.

Once it’s ready, remove from heat and stir in 1 tsp. vanilla. When that’s mixed, quickly pour onto a jelly roll pan (sided cookie sheet) and use a rubber scraper to spread thinly over the whole cookie sheet–it should take up almost the whole space. You have to move fairly quickly because it cools quickly and then it stays where it is!!

Put on top:

3 Hershey chocloate bars, broken up into sections and put evenly over the candy. (I use dipping chocolate, pre-melted in the top of a double boiler.)

Once the chocolate is melted, use the back of a spoon (regular eating one) to spread it around until the candy is covered.

Sprinkle chopped pecans on top, using about ½ c or whatever you like. Cool in the refrigerator until you want to break it apart!

It looks complicated, but really isn’t. I only stress the right tools and stirring as it can be a little touchy and you don’t want to have it separate.