EASY TOFFEE AND A CHRISTMAS TOUR LINK PARTY

I intended to post this yesterday, but I know you all are just as busy as I am, and I chose to finish up some shopping rather than working on the computer. I spent Thursday evening cooking up a big batch of toffee to include with our teacher and neighbor gifts.  Years ago when I was teaching, one of my co-teachers would make us this amazing toffee each Christmas, and she was kind enough to share the recipe.  I've been making it almost every Christmas since!

Ingredients:

2 cups butter (I used a mix of salted & unsalted, I don't know that it matters.)
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. water
8-10 Hershey bars, or one bag chocolate chips
chopped pecans

Speaking of pecans, have I ever showed you my cheater way to "chop" pecans?  I pour them in a plastic bag and pound them with something heavy, usually a ladle.  Works like a charm, it's fast, and there's no mess to clean up!

You will also need a candy thermometer.  I just picked a new one up at Target for $10, so they're relatively easy to find and a good kitchen gadget to have on hand.

Mix the butter, sugar, and water together and heat to boiling.  With the candy thermometer attached to the pot, heat until the mixture reaches 300 degrees.  I was working with a triple recipe and it took about 30 minutes to reach that temperature.  Stir often and be careful...it likes to splatter a bit and it's hot!

Here you can see the progression of the coloring-

when it reaches that caramel color it's ready!

Right when it gets to 300 degrees, remove from heat and pour directly onto cookie sheets that have been buttered or sprayed with cooking spray.  Allow to harden and cool, which took about an hour.

When toffee is cool, melt chocolate and spread on top.  Sprinkle pecans on top if desired, and I like to press them down a bit so they'll stick well once the chocolate hardens.  Allow chocolate to cool and harden.  If I'm in a hurry I stick the pans in the freezer for an hour or so to speed up the process.

When chocolate has hardened, use the tip of a knife or spatula to pop the toffee off of the pan, and break it up into smaller pieces.  That's it!  The printed recipe above is for a single batch, but I've tripled the recipe in these photos.  Just for reference, the triple recipe ended up covering 4 cookie sheets and a 9x13 pan.  So, a single recipe would make about a sheet and a half.   Fair warning - it's hard to stop eating!

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The 12 Days of Christmas Tour of Homes has come to an end, but now is your chance to link up your own Christmas home!  I was so honored to be included with this fabulous group of ladies.  Here's the full list of tour links if there were any you missed!

Evolution of Style
Shine Your Light
Dixie Delights
The Creativity Exchange
Dimples and Tangles
Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Driven by Decor
Simple Details
The Little Black Door
Oak Ridge Revival
Steward of Design

And, head over to Evolution of Style here to link up your own home.  Many thanks to Jenny for organizing the entire tour, and to Lisa at Shine Your Light for making all of the darling chalkboard graphics to keep us all organized.

Happy Weekend, friends!  We're iced in again, so I'm planning more baking and crafting and hanging out with the fam.  Oh, I guess I'd better get to wrapping all of that stuff I shopped for all week, too.  Are YOU ready?