Chocolate Nut Toffee
Ingredients
Accompaniment
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Description
A delicious treat - a little like 'rocky road' but in toffee form. Very sweet but very more-ish!
Method
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1
Put the nuts in a small plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin to break them up roughly (you can chop them, but this is easier!).
Line a small baking tin** (mine is about 26cm X 16cm) with baking paper, leaving an overhang at the two shortest ends to make it easier to lift the toffee out when set.
Scatter the half of the chocolate and half of the nuts all over the base of the tin to roughly cover it.
Put the butter and brown sugar in a thick-bottomed saucepan over a low heat and, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, heat to 140 degrees C / 300 degrees F, using a sugar thermometer. Alternatively, stir for about 10 minutes and drop a little from the spoon into cold water - if it sets into a ball immediately, it is ready.
Remove the pan from the heat and, if using, quickly stir in the vanilla extract and / or pinch of salt (these act as flavour enhancers but it is still good without - I tend to use vanilla but not salt, but if you like salted caramels, then I recommend adding a little). Then pour it over the nuts and chocolate in the tin and move the tin about to evenly distribute the toffee and reach into the corners (remember, the tin will be hot, so use an oven glove or tea towel to protect your hands!). Scatter over the rest of the chocolate and the rest of the nuts, and gently press them down with the back of the spoon. If you want a smooth surface, lay a piece of baking paper over the top and smooth over with the back of a large metal spoon heated by dipping it in boiling water. Leave to cool for 15 minutes, then place the tin in the freezer for an hour. Remove the toffee slab on the paper and cut into 24 pieces (or larger or smaller ones if you prefer, of course) - some will be more 'rustic' than others. If you are not eating it straight away and your house is quite warm, store in the fridge.
Chef's Tips
The toffee mixture is at risk of splitting if you have the heat turned up too high, and may also happen if the pan is not very thick, so use a thick-bottomed pan if you can. I have not yet invested in a copper pan myself, but these are said to be the best for toffee making, so use one if you have it.
The toffee shouldn't be grainy. However, once when I made it, it was a still a little grainy and I thought it may have ruined it, but it still tasted good, because the chocolate and nuts are such a major feature of this toffee, so don't feel you need to throw it out if this happens.
*You can used blanched nuts, or nuts with their skins on, as you prefer. My favourite combination is 40 g hazelnuts, 40 g Brazil nuts and 20 g almonds.
**If you only have a standard swiss roll tin / roasting pan, double the quantities. If you have a 20cm X 20cm square tin, this works well with the quantities given here.
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