Chocolate Toffee crunch, a play on Almond Rocca

Every year when summer turns into fall, and most people are wistfully saying good bye to warm weather, I start thinking about Christmas.  I know that sounds crazy, but I make no apologies for my love of the holidays with all the glittering lights and festivities.  I love the food (no surprise there), the coziness, and connecting with loved ones - for me there isn't much not to like with exception of braving the mall. As well, even though I'm not really a crafty person I like to make homemade Christmas presents. I'm always touched if someone goes to the effort of making me a gift, so why not pass that sentiment along.  For the last few years, I've tried my hand at a few different homemade gifts like making fleece tie blankets, drying herbs, making balsamic reduction, canning that I made during the summer fruit season, and just some good old Christmas baking.  This year I was having trouble coming up with something I could get excited about making. I started to think perhaps it would be better to buy a nice box of chocolates instead and call it a day (hence why I start thinking about all of this in September). However, one day I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and came across a David Lebovitz recipe for Chocolate Almond Buttercrunch Toffee, and thought why not give it a try!

I love David`s blog and while I don`t have time to read it religiously (since I have a toddler running around), I've made a few of his recipes and am always happy with the result.  When I saw this toffee candy recipe, I immediately went out and bought almonds (the only ingredient I didn't already have on hand) to make later that day.

I was very impressed with how easily this recipe comes together as well as not requiring a bunch of hard to find ingredients.  However, I would be remiss not to mention making this without a candy thermometer might be a little dodgy, as the recipe calls for cooking the toffee component to 300 degrees F in order to get a nice crunchy consistency.  If you don't have a candy thermometer, keep a glass of water next to the stove and cook the toffee for 10 to 12 minutes (as directed below) at which point all the ingredients will have come together, thickened and hopefully reached the requisite temperature. To test if the mixture has cooked enough, drop a little of the caramel from a spoon into the glass of water.  If it forms into threads that can be cracked apart or spontaneously crack apart when it hits the water, then the toffee has reached the correct temperature.  As mentioned earlier, this process is made much easier if you have a candy thermometer, by eliminating any guess work and the margin for error.  However, if you want to make this and really don't want to buy a piece of specialized equipment to do so, the water test is the best alternative.

I've slightly adapted the recipe found on David's blog; I found the volume of almonds in the original recipe a little too much once chopped.  The excess almonds just fell off and ended up in the bottom of the tin, which isn't bad, I just prefer to have the almonds all stick to the candy.  Although, if this doesn't bother or you like the idea of finding extra almonds as a treat, then by all means, stick to the original recipe.  As well, I use a mixture of dark and milk chocolate for the topping, I personally like the combination of the two as the result is kind of like a semi-sweet chocolate which my family prefers (my husband is morally opposed to dark chocolate). However, feel free to use all dark chocolate, all milk, or as I did a combination of both. Also, David recommends a sprinkling of fleur de sel over the finished candy as optional.  I feel this is a necessary component which brings all the flavours together and balances out the sweetness.  I recommend using a nice flaked sea salt like Maldon, but any salt that isn't fine table salt is great.

One last recommendation - it's a good idea to have your ingredients ready prior to starting, in addition to reading the recipe through so you're familiar with the steps.  Once you get started with the toffee making, there's no way to pause the cooking process to read an entire recipe.  As well, taking care of your mise en place (french for "putting in place" and essentially getting organized) makes things much simpler, rather than hurriedly trying to get ingredients ready at the last minute.

Almond Toffee Crunch
Ingredients:

1 cup of whole almonds (chopped finely)
2 tablespoons of water
1/2 cup of unsalted butter (1 stick)
Big pinch of salt
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
5 ounces or a generous 1/2 cup of chocolate chopped finely (or use chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a small pan or baking sheet with parchment paper (I use a 9 x 9 inch metal pan).

Chop the almonds to a fine consistency (it's alright if they're not completely uniform with some larger and smaller pieces).  Scatter all the almonds on the lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes or until fragrant and lightly toasted - you may need to stir or toss the nuts half way through for even toasting.  Set aside to cool slightly and then remove a little over half of the almonds from the pan to a small bowl; so there's a sparse layer left in the pan.

In a small to medium sized sauce pan, combine the water, butter, salt, and both sugars.  Bring to a boil over relatively high heat and cook until a candy thermometer reads 300 degrees F, stirring regularly.  You often hear that when making toffee or caramel, it's advisable not to stir, however I've found when making candy you actually need to stir frequently to obtain the correct consistency for the hard crack stage of candy cooking.  If you don't have a candy thermometer, then (as noted above) cook for 10 to 12 minutes and test by drizzling some toffee into a glass of water from a spoon.  If the toffee forms threads that crack apart, then it's cooked enough.

Once the toffee is at the correct temperature, add the baking soda and vanilla stirring vigorously but also mindful of spillage (as the mixture is very hot).  Then pour into the prepared baking tray, onto the nuts and spread into an even layer.  Then sprinkle the chocolate evenly over the toffee.  Let sit for a minute or two for the chocolate to start melting, and then use a small offset spatula to spread the chocolate around and into the corners. Sprinkle the remaining almonds (that you removed from the pan earlier) over the chocolate and then a little bit of salt, I like to use Maldon Flaked Sea salt for a little added crunch.

Let sit out a room temperature to cool and harden, for about 2 hours.  If you're really in a hurry, you could put the tray in the fridge to speed up the cooling process.  However, I wouldn't leave it in there too long as this candy is really meant to sit out at room temperature.

Happy holiday baking!

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