Crunchy, buttery toffee topped with melted chocolate, this delicious Homemade English Toffee is so easy to make and incredibly delicious. The perfect Christmas candy.

Closeup on a red plate filled with Homemade English Toffee.

While Laurie will try to make the argument that nothing says Christmas like my mom’s Sherry Cake.  I say that Homemade English Toffee is Christmas.  For as far back as I can remember, I helped my mom make this buttery chocolatey bit of candy goodness.  It’s a very simple recipe that I guarantee everyone will love.  The best part is you can make a couple of batches and give out tins of English Toffee as Christmas gifts.  Just make sure you keep some for yourself.

How to Make the Toffee Mixture

Collage image showing how to make the toffee mixure.

Step 1: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on Medium-High heat.  We use Salted Sweet Cream butter for Homemade English Toffee.  You can use margarine if you prefer but the Toffee will taste a little bit differently.
Step 2:  Add the sugar to the melted butter and stir until it is fully incorporated with the butter.

Collage image showing the toffee mixture at various stages in the cookie process to show that it will become of the color of peanut butter when it is finished cooking.

Step 3:  Now the fun part begins.  You need to bring the mixture up to a boil while continuously stirring so you don’t burn the candy mixture.  The good news is that you don’t need a candy thermometer to make this toffee.  You just need to cook the sugar and butter mixture until it turns the color of peanut butter.  It should take about 10-15 minutes depending on your stove.  So start stirring!  First, the candy mixture will reach a boil.  We keep the burner on Medium-High.  If you have the burner too high, you can burn the mixture.  Keep stirring! Next, the mixture will start thickening up.  Keep stirring!  About halfway through the cooking process, the mixture will start darkening up.   But it’s still not the color of peanut butter.  Keep stirring!  Now is a good time to get out a can of peanut butter.  We’ve been cooking and stirring for about 10 minutes at this point. Still not done.  Keep stirring!  This is what the mixture should look like – a medium tan color very similar to peanut butter.  Stop stirring and take the candy off the heat.

Assembling the English Toffee

Collage image showing how to pour the warm toffee mixture into a cookie sheet lined with chopped nuts.

Step 4: Distribute the chopped nuts evenly in a large cookie sheet.  You do not need to prepare the cookie sheet in any way. There is plenty of butter in the candy mixture, it will not stick to the pan once it is cooled. We used Pecans for this batch.  But we have used walnuts.  And we have made it without nuts at all.  It still tastes amazing whichever way you would rather where nuts are concerned.  The same thing goes for how finely or rough to chop the nuts.   We usually go somewhere in the middle between finely chopped and a rough chop. 
Step 5: Immediately pour the candy mixture into the cookie sheet with the nuts.  Try to pour it evenly over the whole cookie sheet. Here is what it will look like.  The candy mixture doesn’t have to go all the way to the edges.  Let it set up for a few minutes – about 5 should do it.

Collage image showing the steps for adding the Chocolate topping to the English Toffee.

Step 6: Sprinkle the semi-sweet chocolate chips onto the top of the still-hot candy.  The chocolate chips will start to melt. Wait until the chocolate chips are mostly melted. They will look like this.
Step 7: Now you can use a knife to spread the chocolate over the toffee mixture.

Collage image showing how to break the English Toffee into bite-sized pieces after it has cooled.

Step 8: If you like nuts, you can also sprinkle some finely chopped nuts on top of the melted chocolate. Or you can decorate the Toffee with Christmas sprinkles, as we did here.
Step 9: Let the Homemade English Toffee cool and harden for a couple of hours.  Then you can break it up into pieces.  Use the tip of a knife (as shown above) to start breaking up the candy into pieces. The pieces don’t have to be uniform.  In fact, it looks best on a plate when they are not.

Closeup on a batch of Homemade English Toffee sitting on a red plate surrounded by Christmas decorations.

Other Candy Recipes You Will Love

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Homemade English Toffee

Yield 30-40 pieces
Cook Time 15 minutes
Additional Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

Crunchy, buttery toffee topped with melted chocolate, this delicious Homemade English Toffee is so easy to make and incredibly delicious. The perfect Christmas candy.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Butter (Sweet Cream, Salted)
  • 2 cups Granulated Sugar
  • 1 cup Chopped Nuts (Optional - Can be walnuts or Pecans)
  • 1 package Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (12 oz.)

Instructions

  1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on Medium heat.  We use Salted Sweet Cream butter for Homemade English Toffee.  You can use margarine if you prefer but the Toffee will taste a little bit differently.
  2. Add the sugar to the melted butter and stir until it is fully incorporated with the butter.
  3. Bring the mixture up to a boil while continuously stirring so you don’t burn the candy mixture.  The good news is that you don’t need a candy thermometer to make this toffee.  You just need to cook the sugar and butter mixture until it turns the color of peanut butter.  It should take about 10-15 minutes depending on your stove.  First, the candy mixture will reach a boil.  We keep the burner on Medium. Just hot enough for a boil.  If you have the burner too high, you can burn the mixture.  Next, the mixture will start thickening up. About halfway through the cooking process, the mixture will start darkening up.  Now is a good time to get out a can of peanut butter.  When it is ready, the mixture will be a medium tan color very similar to peanut butter.  Stop stirring and take the candy off the heat.
  4. Distribute the chopped nuts evenly on a large cookie sheet.  You do not need to prepare the cookie sheet in any way. There is plenty of butter in the candy mixture, it will not stick to the pan once it is cooled. Both Pecans and Walnuts are good choices.
  5. Immediately pour the candy mixture into the cookie sheet with the nuts.  Try to pour it evenly over the whole cookie sheet. The candy mixture doesn’t have to go all the way to the edges.  Let it set up for approximately 5 minutes.
  6. Sprinkle the semi-sweet chocolate chips onto the top of the still-hot candy.  The chocolate chips will start to melt. Wait until the chocolate chips are mostly melted and then use a knife or an offset spatula to spread the chocolate over the toffee mixture.
  7. If you like nuts, you can also sprinkle some finely chopped nuts on top of the melted chocolate. Or you can decorate the Toffee with Christmas sprinkles.
  8. Let the Homemade English Toffee cool and harden for a couple of hours and then you can break it up into pieces.  Use the tip of a knife to start breaking up the candy into pieces. The pieces don’t have to be uniform.  In fact, it looks best on a plate when they are not.

Did you Make this Recipe? Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @twosisterscrafting on Instagram so we can see it!