Brown Sugar Pecan Toffee
Toffee made with brown sugar, toasted almonds and salted butter.
Servings 12
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups pecan halves
- 2 sticks salted butter, softened (228 grams)
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar (300 grams)
- 8 ounces good quality dark or milk chocolate chopped
Instructions
- Lay pecans flat on a baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until they are fragrant and toasted. Let cool, then chop lengthwise or into large chunks.
- Line a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper and set next to stove.
- In a 3-quart heavy saucepan, gently melt the butter. Remove from heat and add the brown sugar, then stir until sugar is as fully blended as you can get it. The butter will be a bit separated from the sugar, but that's okay.
- Set a deep fry thermometer in the pan, being careful that bulb is not touching bottom, and begin cooking over medium-low to medium heat (will vary from stove to stove), at a simmer with the temperature slowly rising, stirring only as needed before 240 (not after) until the mixture reaches hard crack stage or between 305 and 310 degrees F. This process (starting from when you put the melted butter/sugar mixture over the heat) should take about 20 minutes, so keep the temperature rising slowly and only turn up the heat a tiny bit if it stalls.
- Mixture will continue to darken. Be vigilant when you approach the 300 mark and stir if you smell anything close to burning.
- When mixture reaches 310F, immediately remove from heat and pour over the pecans. It will seem soft like toffee at first.
- Scatter squares of chocolate across the hot toffee. Invert a rimmed baking sheet over to hasten the melting process, then begin spreading melted chocolate over evenly. Let cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes, then transfer to refrigerator. The toffee will harden and the chocolate will set.
- After about 2 hours, loosen slab and break into large chunks.
