Old Fashioned English Toffee – A Rich And Creamy Hard Candy

An Old Fashioned English Toffee recipe that features a rich, buttery homemade toffee layer topped with melted chocolate and a few toasted slivered almonds, perfect for the holidays or any type of gathering.

This hard candy treat is another one of my late Grandma’s handwritten recipes. These recipes are something I absolutely cherish, even though they might not be written quite as step-by-step as I’d like!

Sometimes, the recipes turn out amazing just as they are written. Other times, I need to make a few alterations and adjustments to get them up to my family’s personal preferences.

Aside from a few small changes (one thanks to shrinkflation!), this English Toffee recipe is exactly how my grandmother wrote it ingredient-wise. It combines the rich flavors of butter and brown sugar to create a decadent toffee layer. I could literally eat this layer just as-is, even without the chocolate on top.

Combine the toffee with a few bars of melted Hershey’s chocolate, throw in a few toasted slivered almonds, and you have the perfect holiday treat (or treat for any time, for that matter)! Just don’t forget to keep a few pieces back for you to enjoy!

Comparing Toffee Vs Caramel

Toffee and caramel have similar flavor profiles; however, they differ slightly. Toffee is created by heating together butter and sugar until it has reached the soft or hard crack stage, depending on the recipe. This gives toffee its iconic hard, brittle consistency.

Caramel, on the other hand, is softer and creamier and is usually made as a sauce or a chewy candy. For caramel candies, you only heat it until the firm-ball stage (around 245º F). Caramel includes the addition of milk or cream along with the butter and sugar.

So both the ingredients used as well as the cooling time differ between toffee and caramel. With both items, you need to keep a watchful eye on the cooking to ensure the product doesn’t burn.

Ingredient Variations In Toffee

In my late Grandma’s Old Fashioned English toffee recipe, she calls for “oleo” instead of “butter”. Oleo is an older term that is used to refer to margarine. This was a popular ingredient during World War times.

As you probably know, margarine is a butter substitute that is made using vegetable oils and water. However, we are not fans of margarine in this household and prefer to use real butter. If you can’t have butter or prefer oleo, use that instead at a rate of 1 to 1.

In addition to the butter/oleo swap, you can also swap the type of sugar used. My Grandma’s English Toffee recipe calls for brown sugar. The end result is similar in flavor and texture to a Heath Bar.

Brown sugar is used in the traditional English toffee version. Brown sugar contains molasses, which helps to produce a richer, deeper caramel-like flavor profile. White sugar is more of an American version. It has a cleaner, sweeter flavor profile. Experiment for yourself and see which one you prefer.

How To Make Old Fashioned English Toffee

*Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full recipe, including exact measurements and amounts. You can also print out the instructions. I go into a bit more detail about the recipe here first, just in case you need it.

Ingredients

• Slivered Almonds – Save yourself the time and purchase the already slivered almonds.
• Butter – As mentioned above, the original recipe calls for Oleo, but I swap that out for real butter. You can use whichever product your family prefers. Use salted butter to provide a bit of balance to the sweetness in the rest of the ingredients. If you use unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt to the mixture.
• Brown Sugar – Traditional English toffee calls for the use of brown sugar, while American toffee uses white granulated sugar. I will be using brown sugar to follow my Grandma’s recipe, but feel free to experiment. The ratio is 1 to 1 if you decide to swap sugars.
• Hershey Chocolate Bars – Even though we can no longer get $0.10 Hershey bars like written in my Grandma’s recipe, you can use regular Hershey Bars (at whatever price they are now; definitely not $0.10). Due to shrinkflation, I upped the amount from my Grandma’s 4 bars to today’s smaller 6 bars. As an alternative, you can use around 2.5 to 3 cups of milk chocolate chips. Don’t use semi-sweet because you want that bit of extra sweetness added to the milk chocolate.

Instructions For Old Fashioned English Toffee

Make The Toffee

Start by preheating your oven to 350º Fahrhenheit (F). Once it is up to temperature, place the slivered almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer. Toast them for about 5 minutes, stirring about halfway through the cooking time. Check the almonds often to prevent them from burning.

Arrange half of the almonds on a baking sheet or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. This will act as the first “layer” of the English toffee. Chop the remaining almonds until they are fine in texture. Set both aside for now.

In a 1 ½ to 2-quart saucepan, melt the two sticks of butter and brown sugar over medium-low heat. Don’t use too small a saucepan because the mixture will rise and bubble as it boils.

Stir continually until the mixture starts to boil. Allow the sugar and butter to boil over medium-low heat for 11 minutes, or until the temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 285º F (or soft crack stage).

While you don’t have to use a candy thermometer, I HIGHLY suggest using one. It just takes the guesswork out of the candy-making process. If you ever want to make other goodies like caramel or divinity, you will also need to use one. (I have an older one, but this is the same style as mine – Product Link: Taylor Stainless Steel Candy and Deep Fry Thermometer.)

Prepare The Toffee Bars

Once the toffee mixture has reached temperature, carefully pour it over the almonds on the prepared baking sheet. This is where you can make the toffee portion as thick or as thin as you like. However, it isn’t the easiest to spread out once you pour it, so take this process slowly and don’t mess with it too much after pouring.

While the toffee is still hot, arrange the chocolate bars around the top. Allow the bars to sit for a minute or two until they start to melt, then use a spatula to spread the chocolate over the toffee. (This is kind of a satisfying process!)

Lastly, while the chocolate is still soft, generously sprinkle the rest of the chopped almonds on top. Place the English Toffee bars into the refrigerator for a few hours to harden the chocolate. (The toffee will likely already be hardened.) Once the chocolate is hard, break it into pieces.

Store the Old Fashioned English Toffee in an enclosed container at room temperature for up to two weeks. You can also freeze the toffee bars for around three months. Just make sure to thaw it out in the refrigerator before trying to bite through it! Enjoy!

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
– Chelsea

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