Since I was a little girl I have been a huge fan of butter toffee! You know those stores that sell candy and chocolates by the pound?… it’s nearly impossible for me to pass one, and not stop in to buy a handful of toffee to swoon over! And then I discovered how simple it was to make at home, and every bit as delicious! Now, I’m not sure which is more dangerous… those candy stores or my kitchen?!
The first time I ever made this toffee, I was hosting a holiday party, and wanted to add something besides Christmas cookies to my dessert table. ……
A little side note about me…. when I host an event, I serve too much food…. it’s a fact! I serve way too many side dishes at Thanksgiving, I bake way too many cookies at Christmas, I put out way to many appetizers at a cocktail party. I know it’s a hosting no-no, but I don’t care! I’m an options girl, and I like for my guests to have choices.
I’m telling you this because at this particular holiday party, like all others, there was a lot of food, and a big dessert table full of cookies and desserts that were tried and true. So when I decide to add something new… there is a risk of it getting lost in the shuffle… and of course the risk of it being a fail. We’ve all been there…. those recipes that look so good in the picture, and come out nothing like we had expected!! Just last week I tried a new Christmas cookie recipe…. BOMB! I mean, they’re edible… but I’ll definitely be hiding them under the rest of the cookies on the tray!! OK.. back to the toffee… 🙂 Not only was this toffee anything but a fail, it was the crowd favorite… over ALL of those other desserts!
I take notes after parties to remember what worked and what didn’t… yes, I am completely OCD…. and my notes for this event state, “Crowd Favorite… only crumbs left at the end of the night… guests wanted more”…. The following year, I served them at another holiday party, and my note said “still a crowd favorite, second year in a row!” As you can imagine, this toffee became a permanent fixture on my recipe list. I now make plenty every holiday to serve at parties, send home with guests, and give as gifts.
I actually chose Dove Dark Chocolate by circumstance. The first year I ever made this, I had used up all of the chocolate chips I had, and only had a bag of Dove Dark Chocolates on hand. I was so happy with the way they turned out, that I made a note to only use Dove Dark Chocolates in the future!! Not to mention…. there’s something so fun about unwrapping those chocolates and reading all of those funny and inspiring messages… For this batch, I happened to unwrap “Get Messy” and “Don’t Apologize”… How fitting if you had seen my kitchen that day!!
The toffee is pretty easy to make, but does require you to pay close attention to a few important steps:
- When cooking the butter-sugar mixture over heat, keep stirring… this is more difficult than you may think because it can get VERY hot to have your hand over a hot stove for 7-10 minutes straight… you may want to have an oven mit nearby!
- When adding the chocolate to the toffee, there is a fine line between adding them too soon, and waiting too long. The toffee still needs to be incredibly hot, so the chocolate will melt and adhere to the toffee… but dont walk away and forget about this step… if the toffee cools, the chocolate wont adhere.
- Let the toffee completely cool before breaking into pieces.
- 1 cup Pecan Pieces
- 1cup Butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp Water
- 1 tbsp Vanilla
- 1 bag Dove Dark Chocolates
- Spread pecans on a baking tray, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes(whole pecans) or 8 minutes (pecan pieces)
- Line a 8 x 8 baking dish with foil
- Spread the toasted pecans along the bottom of the lined dish
- Combine butter, sugar, and water in a saucepan over high heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring constantly
- When the mixture turns an amber color, remove from heat and add the Vanilla
- Immediately pour the mixture over the pecans
- Allow toffee to cool for no more than 10 minutes
- While cooling, unwrap all of the Dove chocolates
- Place the chocolates on top of the toffee, evenly dispersing across the top
- The chocolates will naturally melt from the heat of the toffee
- Once melted, spread the chocolate to cover evenly
- Let cool completely
- Break into pieces
Here are a few other recipes you may like:
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