Ruse's Toffee

I was just making some of this while on the phone with Abby, and we decided that it needed to be posted here (because she lost her copy of the recipe, but we won't get into that), so here it is!

It's a pretty flexible recipe. If you don't like nuts, leave them out. If you love nuts put them in it and sprinkle them on top. If you love almonds, use almonds, likewise with pecans, walnuts, etc. Like it thick? Use a smaller pan. Like it thin? Spread it thin on a sheet of foil. Love chocolate? Spread chocolate on the top, let it harden, flip it and spread more on the bottom (If it's flipped that would be the top again though wouldn't it? We could call it "the new top", right? To avoid confusion, you know.) . Sprinkle the chocolate with nuts, crushed peppermint candies, sea salt (any of you into the "salted caramel" fad?), chopped/melted white chocolate, and etc and so on.

I should also say that when I come across a recipe that calls for "toffee bits", those bags are expensive folks (!), so I use this stuff chopped up fine. I haven't had any problems with that yet.


You need:
1 c butter
1 1/2 c white sugar
1 T corn syrup (I eyeball it, no need for sticky measuring spoons)
3T water 1 c chopped nuts
1- 1 1/2 c chocolate chips, milk or semi-sweet (original recipe calls for "melted Hershey's bars". Yeah, right.)

In a decent sized sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in sugar, syrup and water. Cook to hard crack (290 degrees) stage. It's easiest to clip a candy thermometer to your pan, but because I always break the glass in those, I use a digital thermometer. I ruin those less frequently. I just stir it every once in a while as I do some other work in the kitchen. I read that over-stirring is a big factor in candy failure. Sounds good to me! I like less hands-on. ; )

I like to line a pan with foil, so I can do multiple batches back to back using the same pan, otherwise just grab a plain old 9x13 and this is the best part: you don't need to grease it! I knew all that butter was in there for a reason.

When your candy is at temperature add the nuts if your going to, or sprinkle them in the bottom of your pan if that's your thing, or leave them out if nuts aren't your thing at all. Pour in the toffee, spread it all out (don't you LOVE these wonderful silicone spatulas?!?). Sprinkle it with chocolate. When the chips melt, spread them, lick the spoon, and let the whole thing cool until the chocolate hardens. If you are in a hurry you might want to stick it into the refrigerator, the chocolate doesn't harden fast. That was an understatement.

Now as long as none of you try passing this out to the Hansens for Christmas, we're all set.