My Toffee Recipe makes buttery, crunchy homemade toffee after just 15 minutes on the stove. I’m including lots of tips so you can feel confident making this candy at home. Recipe includes a how-to video!
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A Foolproof Toffee Recipe
I know firsthand how frustrating a failed batch of toffee can be. Many, many batches of ruined candy made their way through my kitchen on my journey to discover perfectly crisp, buttery toffee perfection. Fortunately, after plenty of trial and error, I’m finally proud to share the BEST toffee recipe. Today’s post includes plenty of tips, tricks, and straightforward, easy steps!
One of the most important tips I can give you for this recipe is to use a candy thermometer! While you can skip the thermometer for my family’s favorite chocolate fudge or potato candy, please DON’T do so here. A reliable candy thermometer will make all the difference with your final result, so please use one.
Also, if you’re new to making candy or haven’t made it in a while, remember that you must be patient when cooking candy. During my research process, the temptation to bump up the heat to speed up the process was real, and often my most fatal mistake. Take it slow!
Why use my toffee recipe:
- Cooks in just 15 minutes!
- Thoroughly tested to produce perfect toffee, every time.
- Requires just six ingredients and NO corn syrup!
- Customizable; use whatever nuts or chocolate you like, or leave them out.
You only need six simple ingredients to make my toffee recipe (seven if you count water!).
- Butter. I like to use unsalted butter and add salt myself for better control. If you want to use salted butter, read my salted vs unsalted butter post for the proper substitution.
- Sugar. We’re using regular granulated sugar here and NO corn syrup!
- Vanilla. Some toffees are made without vanilla extract, and I don’t understand why. Vanilla adds such a nice flavor to this (or any) toffee recipe, and I can’t imagine making it without it! We’ll be adding the vanilla after the toffee is removed from the heat to preserve its flavor (if added to soon it will simply evaporate out).
- Chocolate chips. This recipe is a rare instance where I actually prefer milk chocolate chips, but semi-sweet would work too.
- Almonds. I love adding nuts to my toffee, but if you want to make yours nut-free, you certainly can. If choose to add nuts, you can use whatever kind you like (toasted pecans would also be great!).
SAM’S TIP: This toffee recipe works best if you have all of your ingredients ready before you begin. Once your toffee reaches 305°F, it’s time to move. You won’t have time to go scrambling to your spice cabinet to measure out your vanilla, find that rogue measuring spoon in your kitchen drawer, line your pan with parchment, chop your almonds…you get the idea. Be prepared and set yourself up for success from the beginning. I also recommend reading through the whole recipe at least once and even watching the video before you begin.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
ENGLISH TOFFEE | How It’s Made
FAQ
What is toffee made from?
How is toffee different than caramel?
What’s the difference between taffy and toffee?
What’s the difference between candy and toffee?
How is toffee made?
Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 149 to 154 °C (300 to 310 °F). While being prepared, toffee is sometimes mixed with nuts or raisins .
How do you make toffee?
Toffee is a homemade candy that is made by caramelizing sugar and butter. You’ll cook it to the “hard crack stage” and end up with a crisp, buttery candy that has a deep brown sugar molasses flavor. What is in toffee? Butter. Use a high quality butter. If you can find European butter, that works great in this recipe. Don’t use margarine!
What ingredients are used in toffee?
Toffee is made using ingredients such as milk, sugar, salt, and butter. These are the basic ingredients for it that you’ll find being used in most recipes. Sometimes cream might be used in the place of butter, and you can also use molasses instead of sugar. It just depends on the exact type of toffee that someone is trying to make.
How do you make toffee ice cream?
To start, you combine sugar, butter, salt, and milk in a saucepan. Put this mixture on the stove and use medium heat. Stir the mixture until the butter has melted. Now you’re going to keep heating the mixture and bring it to a boil. Stir occasionally during this time. You keep going until the toffee mixture has a dark amber color.