Super Simple English Toffee

This is the simplest toffee recipe I could find, and it's so delicious! It came from Paula Deen, you can find the original recipe here. 

What You'll Need:

14 Tbsp salted butter
1 cup Sugar

2 Tbsp cold water

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 tsp vanilla

Dash of salt

6 oz chocolate (optional)

Start by getting your butter and sugar on the stove. Put your cold water in the pan first, so you don't get dry spots on the bottom. Turn it on medium to high heat. While that's melting, get your pan ready.

I used aluminum foil instead of a pan, this way it hardens on a flat surface (most of the pans in this house are warped and bent). I turned up the edges to get neat corners (I made my area too big though, so the toffee didn't entirely reach the corners, but that's okay). Spray your pan or foil with Pam.

It should only take a minute or two for your butter to melt. Use a wooden spoon to stir your mixture, do NOT use plastic! The sugar gets very hot, and can melt the spoon. Continue stirring to keep the mixture heated evenly.

After about 7-10 minutes, your sugar should be a nice caramel color, and reach roughly 310 degrees. I don't have a candy thermometer, so I went by the color. You should be able to SMELL it by now too!

Once it's ready, take it off the heat and add your vanilla, salt, and nuts (if you chose to use nuts). Poor it in your prepared pan.

Before it hardens, score it with a knife. Spray the knife with Pam or butter, and run it along the toffee to make squares. It will harden around the edges much faster than the center. I scored mine once (the sides were already almost hard), and then went back and scored the center parts again a few minutes later. It hardens quickly, so make sure it do it within a couple minutes of pouring!

When it's completely hardened (20-30ish minutes), snap apart the pieces. You can drizzle them with chocolate, or dip them in melted chocolate to coat. I chose to leave mine plain this time.

This is such a simple candy to make for the holidays! It only takes a few minutes to whip up, and has such simple ingredients. People are sure to love it!