Whenever I come home to Chicago, I know I can ask my family for help with taste testing. Dabbling in candy making has been on my mind, and seeing as it’s one of my dad’s favorites, I tried my hand at a toffee recipe.

Toffee has a crunchy, buttery caramel base, covered in chocolate, and topped with nuts. What’s so great about it is that you can really use any kind of chocolate and any kind of nuts you like! The recipe I’m sharing below uses semi-sweet chocolate chips (because I always have those on hand) and pecans (because, uh, yum!). I would also really urge you to try using a darker, more bitter chocolate to pair with the sweet caramel flavor, as well as a saltier nut like peanuts. Next time I bust this recipe out I think I’ll go with 70% dark chocolate, peanuts, and some big flakes of sea salt!

Here are some fun options to try! Box some up and you have a great, homemade gift.

• Butter Pecan Toffee – See below
• Bitter Salted Almond Toffee – use the butter toffee base with 70% cacao chocolate and sliced salted almonds
• Sweet White Chocolate Peanut Toffee – use the butter toffee base with white chocolate and chopped peanuts
• Goblin Toffee – use the butter toffee base with any dark chocolate and chopped pistachios

Make sure you have a candy thermometer on hand before you try this or any other candy recipe. If you do not get the candy heated up to the exact temperature required, it will not harden properly! I learned this the hard way when making pralines once…but that’s for another time.

The Simplest Butter Pecan Toffee

Ingredients:

1 cup Butter (2 sticks)
1 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup Chopped Pecans

1. Prepare a baking sheet for your toffee by covering it with aluminum foil or wax paper. Chop up your pecans and set aside.

2. In a large pot, combine the butter, sugar, and salt. Heat on the stove over medium heat to allow the butter to melt, stirring continuously to keep the sugar from burning using a heat resistant spoon. Once the butter has melted, bring the butter toffee mixture to a boil. Cook until the mixture is a rich caramel brown color and has reached 285 deg F (use a candy thermometer to check this, regular cooking thermometers will not go high enough so make sure you have one that does!).

3. Pour the butter toffee mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and smooth out into a thin layer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the butter toffee mixture while it is still hot to allow the chocolate to melt. Smooth out the chocolate after about a minute using a  silicone scraper or knife making sure to cover all edges of the candy. Place the pecans on top of the chocolate and gently press them into the chocolate to make sure they stick. I had my little sous chef do this for me!

4. Put your baking sheet into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to allow the chocolate to harden. Once it has hardened, you can break up the toffee with your hands into various sized pieces and serve them up!

Keep the toffee refrigerated in an airtight container until serving time. The Butter Pecan Toffee can also be saved for a couple of months in the freezer (think easy Christmas gift prep!).