Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Christmas Toffee




I call it "My Crazy Aunt Becky's Famous Christmas Toffee". Everybody should have at least one crazy aunt* and everyone should have a Christmas tradition that tastes this good and is so easy to make! After years of bringing it to church socials and giving it as gifts, our family is famous for it. Here is the recipe with my additional comments.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups white granulated sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups pecans

DIRECTIONS:

Cook ingredients over high heat, stirring constantly until light brown in color. Pour onto a large flat pan (13 x 9 inches) previously prepared with 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans. Then immediately cover top of this with one package (small) chocolate chips and spread evenly over mixture while hot. Let cool in refrigerator or freezer until hard. Then turn out and break as desired.

Now, here are my tips:

Margarine works better than butter.
I don't measure the pecans, just chop and spread them in the pan till they cover it well.
I use a cookie sheet with sides.
I like more chocolate so I use the 12 oz package of chocolate chips.
I like to let the toffee stand at room temperature for at least a little while before putting in the refrigerator, or just leave it overnight. Chilling it too soon seems to make the chocolate separate from the candy when it's broken into pieces for serving. Letting the candy cool too much before spreading the chocolate on it can do that, too.


If you're still with me so far and want to see how it all comes together, here's the video:




*I call her my crazy aunt because she has always brought an extra serving of fun to everything and everyone she touches! I love you, Aunt Becky!