Email to Kim Shook      

Darienne’s Enstrom’s Style Toffee

Source of Recipe

My friend, Darienne at eGullet.org


Recipe Introduction

No one who is interested in food and reads about it in magazines and online can miss the love that folks have for Enstrom’s famous toffee. The company is based in Colorado, but you hear about the toffee all over the place. Toffee is one of my favorite candies. When I read on eGullet that my friend Darienne had a copy-cat recipe that she was happy with, I requested the recipe. She was kind enough to give it to me and it is fantastic. The recipe is extremely easy to make and to manage. The size of the pan is important to getting the thickness the candy should be – 11x17 inches. I had to use TWICE the amount of milk chocolate to cover both sides of the toffee – I don’t know how she managed, but I couldn’t get 6 oz. of chocolate to spread completely. My notes are in brackets [ ]. I have made this twice now and both times had a terrible time getting the chocolate to stick to the toffee. In 2016, I put chocolate only on the top and scored it before refrigerating. This helped some. I did some online research and found that most of the troubleshooting recommends a method that I finally tried in 2018 and that works perfectly. I am still only putting chocolate on the top – it works very well that way and tastes marvelous. Simply pour the molten toffee onto the prepared pan and allow it to spread. When it has SLIGHTLY firmed up, but it still screaming hot, quickly and gently blot any melted butter with a paper towel. Sprinkle with a light dusting of cocoa and top with the (12 oz.) chopped chocolate. It will melt almost immediately. Spread evenly with an offset spatula and sprinkle with the finely chopped almonds. Continue with the recipe, but keep in mind, I don’t flip it and add a bottom layer of chocolate.

List of Ingredients

1 pound salted butter
2 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup slivered almonds [I chopped mine very coarsely]
12 oz. chopped milk chocolate [I needed 24 oz. to cover both sides]
3/4 cup whole almonds, chopped very, very finely (or almond meal)
Cocoa



Recipe

Prepare an 11x17-inch baking sheet by lining it with a silicon mat or non-stick foil.

Melt the butter in a 4-5 qt. saucepan over medium-medium high heat. Add the salt.

When the butter has almost melted, add the sugar quickly. Stir slowly, using a figure 8 motion. The sugar will take a while to dissolve. When the sugar absorbs into the butter the mixture will look smooth. This takes 5-10 minutes. Then add the slivered [or chopped] almonds.

Continue to slowly stir the mixture in the saucepan for about another 10-15 minutes until the mixture reaches the hard crack stage. This is 290 ° F. The sugar mixture is now a darker more caramel color and it is almost starting to smell like burnt sugar. Do not under cook.

Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and allow it to spread out. You might have to help it spread.

After the toffee hardens, about 30 minutes, wipe the surface clean for excess buttery surface. Then dust the surface lightly with cocoa. Melt half the chocolate and spread over the toffee in a thin layer [this is where I needed a full 12 oz. per side]. Sprinkle with finely diced almonds or almond meal. This part must be done quickly before the chocolate layer cools too much. You can put it in the fridge to speed the cooling process.

When this is cooled, flip the toffee over and repeat. Spread the other half of the chocolate, melted over the toffee and sprinkle with finely chopped almonds. Keep in mind that the toffee is now fairly cool so you must work quickly to get the almonds to adhere to the chocolate. Don’t worry if the candy breaks while flipping it, just assemble the shards as best as possible and carry on.

When it’s cool, break it into pieces and store in a tightly covered container. [Momma had a great tip for breaking up messy candy – just put it in a large plastic zipper bag and seal it before breaking. This prevents all the crumbs and mini shards and nut bits from going all over the kitchen.]

Makes 2 lbs., 13 oz.