Spiced English toffee
The Story
I don’t know about you, but if I’m invited somewhere, I feel like you have to bring something. It doesn’t need to be a super elaborate something, but it better be something. So, one day when I was invited to a friend’s birthday party, I knew right away I wanted to bring these brown butter chocolate chip cookies from Bon Appetit that have English toffee in them. They are by far the most amazing chocolate chip cookies you’ll ever eat. However, since I live in Barcelona, I can’t always find the ingredients I need to make a recipe exactly as written. That’s why when I make these I’ll often switch out the toffee for peanut butter chips to give them a bit of something extra or just omit it altogether and bump up the chopped chocolate to compensate.
But for this party, I had my heart set on making the cookies exactly as written. I checked all the usual places for US/English ingredients like A Taste of Home and Taste of America, but no such luck at either place. As I walked home in despair, I had a thought: how hard could it really be to make English toffee from scratch? It’s only a handful of ingredients, and yes it involves heating up sugar until it’s molten-level hot, but I can handle that!
And it’s true, it isn’t hard to make English toffee at all. To put my twist on it, I add a spoonful of my fiancé’s aunt’s warm spices blend, which adds warmth to the candy.
My number one piece of advice…resist the urge to taste it before it’s had a chance to thoroughly cool down and set even though the smell is so intoxicating it’ll take every fiber in your being to do so. Trust me, the tongue burn is not worth it and it gets stuck in your teeth like cement.
Throw whatever ingredients you want on top of the chocolate or even serve them naked. The only disadvantage is once you’ve had homemade you’ll probably never want to buy a Heath or Skor bar ever again.
Difficulty: 2 on a scale of 1-5
Active time to prepare: 30 minutes
Total time to prepare: 2 - 3 hours and 15 minutes including cooking and chilling
Serves: Around 1 pound/450 g
The Ingredients
For the Spiced English toffee:
1 1/2 stick (12 Tbsp.)/180 g butter
3/4 cup/150 g white sugar
1/2 tsp./3 g salt
1 Tbsp./7.8 g warm spice blend (i.e., pumpkin spice)
3 Tbsp./45 g water
Optional toppings: 1.5 cup/170 g dark chocolate, pretzels, nuts like pecans or peanuts, potato chips, cereal like cinnamon toast crunch, maldon salt, etc.
Equipment:
Baking sheet
Silpat
The Recipe
Spiced English toffee:
Line a baking sheet with a silpat. Reserve next to the stove where you’ll prepare the spiced English toffee.
In a heavy-bottom pot set over medium heat, add the butter, sugar, salt, and warm spice blend. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of your pan to track the temperature.
Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the butter and sugar have melted (5 minutes approx).
*NOTE: it is critical to use a wooden spoon, or the hot sugar will melt your spatula.
Stop stirring constantly and bring to a boil, stirring 2 or 3 times, until the mixture reaches 143° C/290° F (10 to 15 minutes approx.).
While the butter and sugar mixture is coming up to a boil, melt the chocolate in the microwave, heating it in short bursts to prevent burning. Set aside.
Once the mixture has reached the temperature, immediately pour out onto the prepared baking sheet.
Pour the melted chocolate on top and spread it out evenly using an offset metal spatula.
Sprinkle with your desired toppings (I like pretzels).
Cool at room temperature for 2 - 3 hours.
Break into pieces and serve.
LEFTOVERS: Store your spiced English toffee in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week. You can theoretically store it in the refrigerator, but I find it creates condensation and changes the texture of the candy.
If you’re having a sweet craving and English toffee isn’t your thing, check out my mango-pineapple ripple cheesecake or coconut cream pie!
