Toffee Almonds

Back in the 70s, my mother used to make Mandarin Orange Salad. You may be familiar with it; it was comprised of lettuce, celery, chopped scallions, and mandarin orange segments, all tossed together in a light dressing along with toffee almonds. I loved that salad, but in my opinion, the toffee almonds were what made it. One time, she made the salad without those almonds, and it just wasn’t the same.

As a young person (and I was young once), I figured they were complicated to make. I mean, just look at them, they look like something you would find in specialty candy! But the fact of the matter is, they are very simple to make, and I wished I had asked my mother how to make them long before I actually did. There’s no need to provide you with a recipe for this, printable or otherwise, because it’s only two ingredients: sugar and almonds, at a ratio of 2:1.

Just place twice as many slivered almonds as sugar into the pan (Here I used 1/8 cup of sugar (2 tablespoons) to 1/4 cup of almonds), and set the burner to medium high.

Stir until the sugar melts and coats and toasts the almonds.

The aroma is incredible! Turn them out onto a cool plate to harden, and then break them apart.

So good! You may want to make a lot of these.You will certainly need them for tomorrow's recipe!

Candied Pecans and Vanilla Walnuts are also worth trying.

This post is linked to:

Full Plate Thursday

Thursday Favorite Things

Funtastic Friday
Best of the Weekend
Pink Saturday
Snickerdoodle Create Bake & Create

Grace at Home

Friday at the Fire Station
Create, Bake, Grow and Gather

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June is National Candy Month

Welcome to the month of June and one of the sweetest holidays of the year, National Candy Month! Do I have your mouth watering? If so, you’ll be happy to hear that you’re just minutes away from indulging in sweet, crunchy, or chocolaty deliciousness. Some of these recipes take more time and effort than others, but I’m sure you’ll find one to sink your teeth into, so to speak. Click on the name beneath the picture, and it will take to straight to the recipe and, no doubt, sweet tooth heaven. Enjoy!

Homemade Butterfinger Bars

Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Bark

Heavenly Hash

Peanut Butter Squares

Heavenly Hash Clusters

Bacon Peanut Brittle

Nipples of Venus

Chocolate Bark with Pecans & Aronia Berries

This post is linked to: Wow Us Wednesday, Work It Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Wake up Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Simple and Sweet Fridays, Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Toffee Pecan Pie

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that this woman eats a lot of desserts. Well, yes, I suppose that I do (as my thighs will attest), but it has long been a contention of mine that the meal isn't officially over until you've had dessert. I mean, how else would you know when to stop?  Simple logic.

That said, pie is not on my list of favorites.  But somehow, witchcraft I suppose, because I have no other explanation for it, I have taken a rather keen interest in pie. In the past month I have not only checked out every book on pie from the local library, but every one available at all of the branches, and have expanded to inter library loan. As a result, I have amassed a rather large collection of pie recipes.

Pecan pie is my dad's favorite, and as I was stopping by this week to drop off a variety of meals, I decided to give this recipe for Toffee Pecan Pie from Ms. American Pie: Buttery Good Pie Recipes and Bold Tales from the American Gothic House by Beth M. Howard a try. I think this is my new favorite pecan pie recipe, surpassing my love for this one, bumping it into a close second.

I did make a few adjustments to the original recipe. The original made two pies. I only wanted one, so I cut it in half, and it came out perfectly. I also used unsalted butter, and a mixture of half dark and half light corn syrup.  It kept on the counter, covered with a tea towel, quite well for two days. In fact, I do think it was far better on day two than the day it was baked, so keep this in mind come Thanksgiving (read: make ahead!). Do yourself a favor and try this recipe, it is pecan pie heaven.

Toffee Pecan Pie

Adapted from Ms. American Pie

Your favorite recipe for a single crust pie

Filling:

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup dark corn syrup

1/3 cup light corn syrup

3 extra-large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whole pecans

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup Heath Bar bits (I used Bits o Brickle)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll out your pie dough and place it into the bottom and up the sides of a 10" pie pan.  Poke bottom and around the sides with a fork. Place in freezer while you prepare the filling.

In a saucepan over medium to low heat, melt butter. Add brown sugar, salt, and corn syrups, continuing to stir until heated through.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until blended. Whisk a small amount of the hot mixture into the eggs. Continue to whisk while you add a bit more (say, a tablespoon) two more times. This tempers the eggs so they don't curdle when you pour them into the hot mixture. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan, whisking constantly, and continue to cook, stirring well, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Combine hot mixture with nuts and toffee bar bits and pour into pie shell.

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until set.

This post is linked to:

Create It Thursday 

Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

I'm very fortunate to have two sons who love cook, and two daughters-in-law who love to bake, all of whom are only too happy to share the results of their labors. Today's blog post is courtesy of daughter-in-law, Emma Brunner, who shares her version of Smitten Kitchen's adaptation of Bon Appetit's recipe for Chocolate Toffee Cookies.

These cookies are positively addictive. Emma first gave me a small bag of them, three I think, dropped off by my son during one of his weekly visits. He was hardly out the door before I was taking my first bite, and I think I downed all three before his car had backed out of the driveway.  Naturally I sent out a request for more, and the second time was given a much larger bag.  Not trusting myself, I ate a few and put the rest in the freezer. As it turns out, they are just as delicious eaten straight from the freezer at two o'clock in the morning as they are at room temperature during reasonable hours of the day.

Emma Brunner, Baker Extraordinaire

 Emma's cookies, I think, look better than those on the Smitten Kitchen blog. The reason being that Emma scooped and dropped the dough rather than rolling it into a log and slicing them off in rounds before baking.

The recipe below is the one Emma used with a few revisions. According to Emma, "I followed the recipe to the letter except I reduced the brown sugar from 1-3/4 cups to 1-1/2 cups, and chose the option of semisweet over bittersweet chocolate. Just like in the recipe I beat the eggs and sugar for 4-5 minutes until smooth and glossy. I put my dough in the freezer for 45 minutes to an hour, used a 1-ounce cookie scoop, and lined my cookie sheets with a silicon mat. I noticed that mine turned out best when baked for 12-13 minutes and left on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before removing with a spatula."   

Delicious!  Thanks, Emma!

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Bon Appetit

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) 

or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered 

English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped*

1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto sheets, spacing two inches apart. Sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt, if you’re using it. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)  Makes about 2 dozen.

This post is linked to: 

 Foodie Friday

Sweets for a Saturday

Sugar and Spice

Toffee Bars

As do many people who enjoy food, I collect a lot of recipes.  We have a three-inch, three-ring binder that we refer to as our “Agenda Book” full of these recipes.  Yesterday I decided that it was time to actually try one, and as I hadn’t made cookies in a while, chose to give the Toffee Bar recipe that I found on the Chef's Catalog website a try.  These were easy to make, and since I was watching “Team Tebow” lose in dramatic fashion – sigh -, I appreciated that it could be made in stages, and then enjoyed at the end of the game.

A shortbread base, topped with gooey toffee that is easy to make, and then crowned with melted chocolate makes these a real crowd pleaser.

Toffee Bars

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

To Make the Shortbread:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat a 9-inch square pan with a thin layer of butter or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar. Add the flour and stir until well mixed. Press the batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Set aside to cool.

To Make the Toffee:
In a small, heavy-bottom sauce pan, melt the 1/2 cup of butter. Add the brown sugar, condensed milk, and corn syrup, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring continually. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour toffee mixture over the cooled shortbread.

To Make the Topping:
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Pour over the cooled toffee and sprinkle toasted almonds across the top. Allow to cool completely before cutting. Makes approximately 16 squares.

I love the layer of gooey toffee deliciousness.

Topped with chocolate and toasted almonds makes these cookie bars a real winner!

This post is linked to:

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Tasty Tuesday

What's Cooking Wednesday

& Foodie Friday

Sunday's Best Party

Sweets for a Saturday