This homemade salted dark chocolate almond toffee is completely over the top in the best way possible. Covered in rich salted dark chocolate, each sweet buttery bite is filled with crunchy toasted almonds.
Toffee. I’m all about it right now. I went on a major toffee kick for a few weeks, making batch after batch after batch. It was a little personal challenge I made for myself: master the art that is stovetop toffee making.
It’s all about salted dark chocolate now!
This salted dark chocolate almond toffee is completely worth every single second making it from scratch. It’s the kind of toffee that won’t break your teeth; rather, it’s on the crispy-tender side. Completely melting in your mouth as you chew. Not something you get with all toffee recipes. And that is why I call this one my favorite.
The dark chocolate and toasty almonds are an obvious addition to my butter toffee. I remember eating toffee exactly like this during the holidays when I was growing up, easily demolishing the entire batch over the course of a couple days. And as the weather starts to get cold, I crave salty sweet candy exactly like it. After one taste, you’ll begin to crave this ridiculous-in-the-best-way toffee too. I brought it along with me to a book signing last weekend and, naturally, people were going insane over it.
Old-fashioned, authentic toffee making takes some time, some practice, and some patience. Don’t be intimidated. You can absolutely do this if you have just a few special tools. These three items will make your toffee making experience easier, as well as guarantee toffee success. Sweet, sweet success.
Candy thermometer. There is no way you can make old-fashioned toffee with no sugar graininess, a hard yet soft texture, and a toffee bursting with the toasty caramelized flavors of properly cooked butter and sugar without this tool. I recommend a digital candy thermometer. The one I own is easy to hook onto my pot and very easy to read. No mistaking temperatures with this particular model. Don’t be scared of a candy thermometer! It’s literally just a thermometer telling you when your candy reaches certain cooking stages. Using a candy thermometer is so much easier and more accurate than using your eyes to detect doneness.
A heavy bottomed saucepan. Oh, the many batches of toffee I ruined from using a cheap saucepan. An ideal saucepan for making today’s candy is one that is deep and thick. Thin pans, which often have hot spots, do not withstand the heat needed for toffee to cook. I burned 1,000 batches of toffee before realizing this. Well, not really. But it sure as heck seemed like it. I have a few pans I use for making toffee: here and here.
Wooden spoon: Wood = high heat tolerance, strong, will not scratch your pan. Most importantly? It’s insulated. A wooden spoon guarantees you are not going to cause a sudden crystallization by sucking out a bunch of heat from your candy.
A silicone baking mat. This will make your candy making experience much easier. Why? Well, when you pour the toffee out onto a large baking sheet, it is so much easier to spread onto and remove from this slick silicone surface compared to a bare baking sheet, parchment, or aluminum foil. Not only this, I don’t bake my chocolate chip cookies (or any cookies) on any other surface! Always a silicone baking mat. I own 9 of them. I wish I was joking. I’m ridiculous.
Besides these three items, you’ll also need the ingredients and some self control if you plan to share it or gift it.
I really, really want you to make this. I sound like a walking (typing) advertisement for any and all things toffee. But really! I want your holidays to include homemade toffee and I want you to challenge yourself in the kitchen. Your family, friends, and absolutely anyone with tastebuds will thank you for this recipe. They will get down on their knees and praise your toffee making abilities. Or something like that.
