Butter Toffee

I’m not dead. I have, however, lost a couple of pounds because of the stomach flu; no, not from morning sickness. (Could I be so fortunate?)

Happily I will spare you from the details. Let’s be honest, though. While taking a mini blog break I continued to cook and eat, and sometimes even take pictures of the goods. So considering the meagerness of the January posts thus far, I have some ground to make up. I will post recipes I both liked and took pictures of while I was away, starting with a lovely butter toffee recipe and then a chocolate truffle recipe.  The toffee was easy breezy and delicious.  The truffles were also delicious but they were a little more time consuming.

Butter Toffee
recipe from "Better Homes and Gardens"
printable version of this recipe
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted and divided
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
¾ cup semisweet chocolate pieces

Line a 9x13 pan with foil, extending the foil over the edges of the pan. Sprinkle ½ cup of toasted pecans in the pan and spread them evenly across it. Set the pan aside.

Melt butter in a heavy 2-quart saucepan; tilt the pan to coat the sides of with melted butter. Add sugar, water and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium high heat until the mixture boils. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, reduce the heat to medium. Continue cooking at a moderate, steady rate, stirring frequently until thermometer reaches 290, soft-crack stage. Remove saucepan from heat, remove candy thermometer and pour candy into prepared pan.

Let candy stand for about 5 minutes or until firm. Sprinkle with chocolate and let stand for 1 to 2 minutes. When chocolate has softened, spread it over candy. Sprinkle with ½ cup toasted pecans. Chill until firm. When the candy is firm, use the foil to lift it out of the pan; break into pieces. Store tightly covered. Makes about 1 ½ pounds.