Irresistible Toffee
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, cut into pieces
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 16 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped and divided
- ½ cup shelled pistachios, chopped
- 1 3.5 oz bar good-quality white chocolate (I use Choco Blanc), chopped
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, covering the sides too. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, water, and corn syrup. Mix with a wooden spoon from time to time, until butter melts. Once butter has melted, increase heat to medium-high and insert a candy thermometer.
- Cook mixture until golden brown and registering 300℉ on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes. Do not stir. (I strongly recommend the use of a candy thermometer. However, if you do not own one, you can tell when the toffee is ready by its color. Wait for it to turn a warm beige.)
- Remove saucepan from heat; carefully stir in the chopped pecans.
- Quickly pour toffee onto prepared baking pan. Spread to the edges, using a spatula, working quickly to prevent hardening. Let stand for 30 minutes.
- Melt half the bittersweet chocolate (see Notes); spread over cooled toffee. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Once firm, flip entire bar over and peel off the parchment paper. Let toffee come to room temperature for 5 minutes or so. (This will help you with the next step and prevent chocolate from hardening too quickly.)
- Melt the remaining bittersweet chocolate. Spread over toffee bar; immediately sprinkle with pistachios. (Once the chocolate hardens, pistachios won’t stick.)
- Melt white chocolate (see Notes); Cool a bit, then pour into a resealable plastic bag. Snip off a corner of the bag and drizzle white chocolate over the entire bar and pistachios. Freeze until firm.
- Once chocolate is firm, break bar into bite-sized pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer. Toffee will stay fresh for about a month at room temperature.
Notes
When melting regular bittersweet chocolate, start by chopping the bar into chunks then microwaving for 1 minute. Give it a quick stir; then return to the microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir again, and, only if necessary, return for another 30 seconds.
White chocolate is more delicate and can scorch easily. It’s best to chop the white chocolate into very small, even pieces before microwaving. Start with 30 seconds, then melt at 15-second intervals, stirring between each. Microwave the chocolate for as short a time as possible. Stir vigorously to get to get the chocolate smooth rather than returning it to the microwave again.
This recipe doubles, triples, and quadruples (!) well. Just pull out your largest dairy pot.
