English Toffee

 A classic treat for a holiday or anytime!

English Toffee

1 cup sugar
3 Tb. water
1 square butter
1 square good margarine
1 cup chocolate chips

Prepare chopped nuts and spread on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cook ingredients listed above at medium high heat, stirring constantly until candy texture changes, smokes, and is light brown (hard crack stage). Pour candy over nuts. Let stand 2 minutes. Pour on chocolate chips. When melted, spread over candy. Sprinkle with finely chopped nuts. Break into pieces.

Becky's Note:  I have made English Toffee many, many times.  In fact, I have even taught classes about "How Easy it is to make English Toffee."  Imagine my consternation when I ruined two batches of Toffee right in a row.  After taking a few days breather (and mourning the loss of a pound of butter), I attempted the recipe again with success!  So here are a few things I learned: you can in fact make toffee with 2 squares of butter (I don't usually use margarine and I wondered if my failure was due to not following the recipe- but the final attempt was just great with two cubes of butter), cook the ingredients at the same heat (don't get impatient and think, oh, I will just turn up the stove a touch), and it may help to wipe the sugar crystals from the sides of the pan so your toffee doesn't crystallize.  

This was always one of my favorite treats that we would make around Easter time.  I love English Toffee with nuts, but this time I made the recipe without.

Mom's note: If you want double chocolate, follow the recipe. Then when the chocolate is set, turn the pan over and dump it out gently onto the counter or another pan. Melt more chips onto the still warm toffee, spread, sprinkle with finely chopped nuts.