TOFFEE is delicious!! Here's a recipe and how to...

Toffee is one of my all time favorite candies. I love it in a See's box or in the form of a Skors Bar or in an antique candy shop. I could eat it all day except for the whole sugar crash/canker sore thing.

I wasn't allowed to eat candy or junk food growing up but I was allowed to attempt to make anything in the kitchen because that was a learning experience...When I stumbled across this toffee recipe in the Betty Crocker Cook Book it was like the heavens had opened up and presented me with an opportunity to make my own candy!! So make it I did. I spent many a Saturday night in sixth grade watching The Golden Girls and experimenting with this toffee recipe. It's hard to believe that something so magical only takes 7 minutes and four ingredients to make. Here's how:

This is an easy recipe in some ways but I ain't gonna lie it can be a challenge and you may need to try it a couple of times before you get it right. But it totally pays off. All of your Christmas presents will be covered every year and you'll be known for your amazing toffee abilities forever more.
Recipe:

1 cup chopped pecans (or almonds if you prefer)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup salted butter

small pinch of salt

OPTIONAL: 1 cup Chocolate Chips

******Have a timer at your ready. There are no candy thermometers used in this recipe just your sense of smell, sight and a timer!!!!******************************

-First, butter a sheet pan and sprinkle the pecans evenly over it and set aside.

-Heat up a small heavy bottomed (tee hee) sauce pan over medium heat.

-Add the butter, brown sugar and small pinch salt. It should start melting immediately.

-With a wooden spoon mix the mixture until it is combined and bubbles start forming around the outside of the mixture. The second the bubbles start around the outside begin the timer. Set it at 7 minutes.

-For the next seven minutes you and the toffee will become one. Do not stop stirring!!

-The bubbles will start to grow angry and there will be so many of them that the surface of the toffee will begin to appear rough, especially around the outside.

TIP: If the butter ever seperates out and forms an oil in the toffee, you have the heat too high and have to start over. If, right away, the toffee becomes shiny with boils forming and popping on surface, the heat is up too high, it will either burn or become lolipop hard which is too hard for toffee. If the surface never gets rough looking with bubbles then the heat is too low and even though you mixed it deligently for 7 minutes it will only be crumbly brown sugar when it cools.

-Your nose is your best friend when it comes to toffee. Constantly smell it to make sure the sugar is not burning. If it smells carcinagenic at all, remove from heat and let cool down a bit before returning it to a bit lower flame.

-The toffee's bubbles with get less and less angry as the toffee becomes more candy like. Around the 5th minute it will begin to get a bit more gl0ssy and just have singular bubbles in it and finally it will be shiny and candy like with smaller bubbles. Take it off when it does this. It may be at the 6 & 1/2 minute or the seventh.

-Toffee takes a lot of courage and patience. The whole time you are making it you'll be like, Oh my gosh, it's been boiling for soooooo long, it HAS to be ready. Don't give in to that seduction, just stir and stir and believe in the seven minutes.

-Once the toffee has reach the 7 minutes immediately pour over the nuts and spread it out. You know it worked out properly because the toffee will become delicious, buttery candy on the spoon. If it does not harden right away and looks more brown sugary, it will never be toffee. You either cooked it at too low of a temperature or not long enough.

-If you want it to be extra special, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the warm toffee and cover for a couple of minutes until they get soft. With a butter knife or spatula, spread chocolate over the toffee.

-If you can bare the wait, let it cool for about an hour then break it in to big delicious pieces to share with friends and family or to hoard all to yourself!

Enjoy!

xoxo

PS-It seems like it's going to rain for real all weekend therefore I will not be making pies. Sorry!! (Key Lime and Butterscotch Banana Cream Pie next sunny weekend!!!)