Do you have a sweet tooth? Do you enjoy your candy with dark chocolate and crunchy, toasted nuts? If you do, this recipe is for you! I like it with pecans, but you can use slivered almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia or any other night you like. And if you’d prefer it without nuts, just leave them out. If you leave the nuts out, you could also sprinkle a little course salt on top of the chocolate.

It is important that you have a thermometer for this. Either a candy-thermometer or an instant-read thermometer. You will get a much more accurate result with the thermometer than if I tell you it will take 5 or 10 minutes.

Ingredients

• 227 grams / 8 oz lightly toasted pecans, roughly chopped (2 cups chopped)
• 340 grams / 12 oz butter (1 1/2 cups)
• 340 grams / 12 oz granulated sugar (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 170 grams / 6 oz chocolate chips (1 cup)

Lightly toast the pecans for approximately 10 minutes at 350°F / 175°C, or until lightly browned. Set the pecans aside to cool, then roughly chop all of the nuts and reserve 1/2 cup of chopped nuts for the topping. Line a 23-cm x 30-cm (9″x12″) baking sheet with parchment paper, making sure the paper comes up all four sides. If you don’t have a baking sheet that size, you can use a baking dish that’s close in size.

Add the butter, sugar and salt to a pot (heavy bottomed) and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring, as the butter melts and the sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the candy reaches 300°F / 150°C. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans and stir through.

Carefully pour the candy onto your parchment-lined pan and use a spoon or metal spatula to smooth it out in an even layer. Let it sit for 5 minutes (and only 5 minutes) and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the toffee. Let sit another 5 minutes, then use a spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the toffee. Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of chopped nuts over the chocolate and cool completely. If the chocolate doesn’t set up at room temperature, once the toffee is cool, you can chill it for 10-15 minutes until the chocolate is set.

Lift the parchment paper and remove the toffee from the pan. Place it on a cutting board and cut into smaller pieces. Store in an air-tight container in a cool place.