How to make English Toffee the easy way. You’ll love this homemade Christmas treat perfect for gifting or parties.
DELICIOUS AND EASY ENGLISH TOFFEE
It wouldn’t be a Christmas season without making my mom’s homemade English Toffee recipe. She’s the reason I started this blog after all, (read the story here!) so it’s only appropriate that I share one of her most famous recipes with all of you.
This English Toffee candy is so simple to make and tastes delicious! Like, melt in your mouth delicious.
So if you’ve ever wondered “how to make toffee” this post will show you how easy it is!
WHAT IS TOFFEE?
This English butter toffee recipe is a popular Christmas treat made with butter, sugar, and chocolate.
ENGLISH TOFFEE GIFTS
Homemade toffee is great for Neighbor gifts, teacher gifts, or visitors who stop by. Just package this English butter toffee little cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon for a quick gift!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE TOFFEE:
- large sauce pan
- baker’s half sheet (I use this one for all my baking!)
- cellophane bags for gifts
SHOP THE SUPPLIES
HOW TO MAKE ENGLISH TOFFEE
1. First, melt the butter in a large saucepan on medium heat. Don’t burn it! Once the butter starts melting, attach the candy thermometer to side of the pan like this:
2. Once the butter melts, stir in the water, sugar, and light corn syrup. You’ll cook it until it reaches 300 degrees F, or the hard crack stage. This is a hard toffee recipe, so be sure it reaches the full temperature.
It will take about 15 minutes to reach 300 degrees. Just keep stirring. So before you start making this Toffee, make sure you have a good 20 minutes or so that you can dedicate to just this!
3. Once the old English toffee mixture has reaches that temperature, you pour the super hot, sweet-smelling hot toffee mixture onto an extra large cookie sheet.
4. Then you sprinkle semi-sweet chocolate chips onto the toffee. And if you keep your chocolate chips in the freezer like I do and are worried about them not melting, do not fear! They will melt just fine.
You’ll want a bowl scraper to smooth the chocolate chips all over the toffee. Keep smoothing until the chocolate has melted and you have a nice, smooth layer on top.
5. For English toffee with nuts, just sprinkle chopped walnuts, or your favorite nuts, on top at this point. You can certainly make it without nuts, too.
Get the cutest new Christmas book: "See Christ In Christmas: 12 Symbols of Christmas". It sold out last year, so pre-order your copy here!
6. Take the cookie sheet of goodness and place outside (if it’s nice and cold!) or in the refrigerator and leave there until the toffee has hardened and the chocolate is no longer runny.
7. Once the toffee has cooled completely, hit with the back of a knife to make uneven pieces. Once you have one section broken, you can even use your hands to break the rest.
8. Store in an airtight container or package up for yummy gifts.
See how easy making toffee can be? Seriously, you got this!
READY TO MAKE THE BEST ENGLISH TOFFEE?
I would say I would send you some of ours, but the truth is: our entire batch is already gone. Guess we’ll just need to make another! 🙂
OTHER AMAZING RECIPES TO TRY:
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (2 dozen in 30 minutes!)
5-Minute Frozen Hot Chocolate
Cute & Easy Santa Cupcakes
Here’s the easy English Toffee recipe!
The Best English Toffee
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 13x18 cookie sheet 1x
Description
A simple but amazing English Toffee, perfect for holiday gifts, parties, or treats!
Ingredients
- 1 pound real butter, do not use margarine
- 1 cup water
- 2 ½ cups white sugar
- 4 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- about 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- chopped walnuts, if desired
- candy thermometer
- wooden spoon
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan now.
- Once the butter is melted, add in the water, white sugar and corn syrup.
- Cook the mixture until it reaches 300 degrees F (hard crack) on a candy thermometer. This will take about 12-14 minutes. Make sure to stir continually so that it doesn’t burn. Use a wooden spoon– a plastic spoon will melt!
- Once it reaches 300 F, pour the mixture on an ungreased cookie sheet (10×15 is good).
- Sprinkle chocolate chips on the top and spread with a bowl scraper. (They will melt). Once you spread the chocolate and it’s all melted, sprinkle the chopped nuts if you are going to add them. Cool until hard. To speed up the process, place outside in the cold weather or place in the refrigerator.
- Once cool and hard, use the back of a knife to break the English Toffee into pieces. Store in an air-tight container.
- Prep Time: 3 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Category: Treats
Keywords: english toffee,
Save this for later! Enjoy one of our favorite Christmas goodies!
Leslie says
Thanks for sharing. My grandma made delicious toffee and always had a tin of it in her refrigerator. I have always been too scared to try it since I did not inherit her culinary genius. You give me courage. Maybe I will have to try it.
Chris says
I just made this toffee and it is amazing! I didn’t use the chocolate or the nuts as I just needed the toffee part. Thanks so much for sharing, this recipe it’s a keeper.
Mel says
I’m so glad you loved it! It’s our favorite too!
Linda Martin says
I made this last year for Christmas for myself as well as for gifts and everyone loved it.
I am making it again this year as I have had lots of requests for it. I also make a lot of other candies as well because my kids (5 of them) have children with families of their own and I make enough different candies to give each family an assortment of candies for Christmas.so I make at least between 15 – 20 tins of candy and this is one of my favorites, it is quick , easy and delicious . Thanks for this recipe
Mel says
Your comment makes me so happy to hear! This was my mom’s famous recipe. She passed away when I was 15, but every time I make it, I think of her! I’m glad you LOVE it! I’m currently eating a few pieces myself. 🙂
Ton says
My butter separated what did I do wrong. I followed your instructions
sofestivemel says
what altitude are you at? I’ve never had that problem, but wondering if altitude or your thermometer could be off? I’m so sorry!
Whitney says
I love this recipe. My husband requested I make it for him every year!
sofestivemel says
So happy to hear! It’s a keeper! Merry Christmas!