Heath Bar Toffee Butter Crunch
This is an old family favorite at Christmastime. We first made it from the 1980 Pillsbury Holiday cookbook, which has been long lost, I think.
This is an old family favorite at Christmastime. We first made it from the 1980 Pillsbury Holiday cookbook, which has been long lost, I think.
- Carbohydrate 4.50329864323163 g
- Cholesterol 8.14133334021561 mg
- Fat 4.9060329400152 g
- Fiber 0.409259312914387 g
- Protein 0.603459237683988 g
- Saturated Fat 2.57931489703448 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (12g)
- Sodium 0.471558333702898 mg
- Sugar 4.09403933031724 g
- Trans Fat 0.642169274889969 g
- Calories 61 calories
Step-by-step
- Completely line a 9" x 13" x 2" pan with aluminum foil and spread 1/2 cup fo slivered almonds evenly accross.
- Take the other 1/2 cup of almonds and finely chop them. Set aside.
- Now make the toffee mix. Rub unsalted butter on the inside of a 2 quart heavy bottom saucepan and and melt two sticks of the butter over medium heat. Add 1 cup sugar, 3 table spoons of water, 1 tbsp of corn syrup and 1/4 tbsp of salt. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat. Continue to heat, stirring frequently.Put in candy thermometer. When the mix reaches 290 degrees F, remove from heat and pour evenly in pan over the almond slivers.
- After a few minutes, spread finely chopped bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate evenly over the toffee mix. Let it sit long enough for the chocolate to melt evenly over the mix.
- Put into the refrigerator for an hour or two to harden. Remove and crack into bite sized pieces.
Temperature control at the 290 degree Fahrenheit mark separates smooth, brittle toffee from a scorched, bitter block of separated fats. When boiling granulated sugar alongside unsalted butter, water, and corn syrup, the added glucose molecules disrupt sucrose crystallization, preventing graininess while the butterfat emulsifies completely into the boiling syrup. Rubbing the interior of a heavy-bottomed two-quart saucepan with cold butter before melting prevents local hot spots and scorching along the pan walls. Spreading precisely one-half cup of blanched slivered almonds across a foil-lined nine-by-thirteen-inch pan creates an immediate thermal contact base that lightly toasts the nuts from the residual heat of the poured candy. Waiting until residual heat softens the six ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips allows for an even spread without seizing the cocoa butter through excessive agitation. Chilling the entire assembly in the refrigerator for one to two hours solidifies the lipid matrix before manual cracking yields irregular, bite-sized shards. Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, this confection maintains its brittle snap for up to two weeks, though textural softening may occur if humidity levels exceed fifty percent.
