English Toffee

After some searching, this is the toffee recipe I landed on for the holidays. It takes some patience and lots of stirring, but the results are delicious!

Ingredients:
1lb granulated sugar
1lb butter, unsalted
3oz water
1tsp salt
1tsp vanilla extract
1lb chopped almonds
1.5lbs bulk dark chocolate, not chips

Combine sugar, butter, water and salt in a heavy saucepan. Over medium high heat, stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Using a candy thermometer, keep stirring constantly until temperature reaches 298 degrees. When it reaches temperature, take off heat, add vanilla and stir well to combine. Then immediately pour out on a silpat. Using an offset spatula, quickly spread to desired thickness. You can either leave as one big sheet or score break lines in the toffee as it begins to cool. To score, oil a chefs knife with canola or safflower oil and repeatedly mark lines in toffee as it cools. Edges will cool first, so be strategic.

When cool, wipe excess butter off the toffee with a paper towel. If you scored the toffee, break it up for dipping. If you left it as a sheet, you'll coat it entirely with chocolate, then break into shards.

To temper chocolate (the easy way), chop chocolate finely and put in a microwave safe mixing bowl. Reserve a good sized chunk of chocolate for the last step. Microwave in 15-20 sec bursts, stirring for 15-20 sec after each time. When the chocolate has only a few small lumps after a microwave burst, add the reserved chunk and stir for a minute or more. All the small lumps should melt and the chocolate should thicken. Your larger chunk will not, it's there to add the right crystals and cool your chocolate. Now your chocolate is tempered.

Either dip the individual pieces and lay on parchment or pour chocolate on the sheet of toffee and spread with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with chopped almonds and allow to cool completely. Reserve any leftover chocolate by pouring onto parchment to cook and then wrap in plastic.