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Chocolate Covered Butter Toffees arranged in a checkerboard pattern on a long plate. In the. Background is a second plate with more toffees.

Chocolate Covered Butter Toffee Squares

Sweet, buttery, chocolate covered toffee squares are a treat the entire family will enjoy.  These toffee squares are simple to make and a real crowd pleaser.  They can be served at room temperature, or frozen and served with your favorite ice cream or gelato to create a decadent dessert.

Chocolate Covered Butter Toffee Squares are a delicious confection that you can enjoy as a snack or a dessert.  Living in Japan, I find that many Japanese cookies, pies and pastries are not as sweet as what you find in the US.  Toffee is certainly the exception.  Made with butter and sugar, toffee is a sweet Candy treat and will satisfy any sweet tooth.

Traditionally, toffee is made with butter and sugar which is heated to the “hard crack” stage – over 300 degrees F.  This makes the toffee brittle and hard.  For this recipe you have the option to make the coffee just a bit softer and cook it to only the “soft crack” stage, where the toffees come out a little more chewy although they still can be cut into bars or squares.

Toffee is delicious with or without nuts.  You can sprinkle almonds, pistachios, cashews, walnuts, pecans, chestnuts, or even macadamias on top or sprinkle them on the bottom of the pan before pouring in the toffee to harden, as I do in this recipe.

My recipe for Chocolate Covered Butter Toffee Squares uses unsalted butter.  Salt is an important flavor in toffee but too much can overpower the taste, so if you would prefer to use salted butter you can – just omit adding the extra salt into the toffee mixture while heating.

Toffee squares taste exactly like Heath or Skor Candy Bars, but the texture is quite different depending on how hot you heat the sugar.  Hard toffees are brittle and need to be scored before cooling to cut into squares, whereas toffees cooked to the soft crack stage a chewy and can be cut after cooking.  The taste is almost the same- the difference is in the texture.

When I cook up of batch of these I make plenty so I can freeze them.  These bars are delicious fresh from the freezer and they are crispy and crunchy.  Store them in an airtight container and they will keep in the freezer for up to six months!

And if these are too sweet for you, try topping them with dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate to eliminate some of the sugar.

Try these amazing toffees and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Chocolate Covered Butter Toffee Squares

Butter Toffee is basically a one to one mix of sugar and butter heated up until the sugar melts and begins to caramelize.  Unlike caramels, toffees do not use cream and they come out much more buttery and crisp than caramels.  Toffee is basically the same thing as butterscotch, but heated to a much hotter temperature so it hardens.

Vanilla is a nice ingredient to use to enhance the flavor.  You can use only vanilla extract, but I highly recommend using a vanilla bean pods and scraping out some of the beans to mix in as well.  This adds additional flavoring to the toffee.

These toffee squares keep for about three days stored at room temperature in an airtight container.  You can also refrigerate them for two weeks or freeze them for up to six months.

PREP COOKING YIELD
2 1/2 hours 20 minutes Makes 24 squares
PREP 2 1/2 hours
COOKING 20 minutes
YIELD Makes 24 squares
Chocolate Covered Butter Toffees arranged in a checkerboard pattern on a long plate. In the. Background is a second plate with more toffees.

Ingredients:

  • 7 Oz (200g) granulated white sugar
  • 7 Oz (200g) unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup crushed almonds
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 of a vanilla bean (optional)
  • 1/3 lb meltable milk chocolate wafers (or milk chocolate chips)

Ingredients for Toffee lined up on a wood board with green leaves in the background.

Instructions:

  • Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with parchment paper.  Use some oil or cooking spray on the pan before inserting the parchment paper so the paper will stick the the pan.
  • Scrape the vanilla beans out of the pod and mix into your vanilla extract.
  • Sprinkle the crushed almond on the parchment paper in the pan.

Crushed Almonds on Parchment Paper which is lining a foil pan

  • Using a large skillet or sauce pan, add the sugar and butter.
  • Turn the heat to medium and gradually melt the butter in with the sugar.

Sugar and butter in a pan. The butter is melting and being stirred in with the sugar.

  • Continually stir until the sugar is dissolved in the butter and the sugar and butter are completely.  The mixture should be thickly bubbling.  For soft crack toffees, continue to stir for another 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture darkens to an dark yellow color (if using a thermometer, this is about 275-280 degrees F).  For hard toffee heat, stir until it reaches an amber/light brown color.  (If using a thermometer, stir until the mixture reaches 305-310 degrees F.)
Stirring the toffee mixture as it gradually darkens
Toffee at the Soft Crack stage (275 degs F).
  • Add the salt and vanilla extract.  The mixture will bubble up a bit.  Stir for another one to two minutes to ensure the ingredients are well combined.
  • Pour into the pan over the almonds.  Spread the mixture evenly in the pan.
  • Top with the milk chocolate.  Cover and let sit for 10 minutes to melt the chocolate.

Sprinkling chocolate ships onto the hot offer batter, which is in the foil pan

  • Spread the Chocolate evenly over the toffee.

Spreading melted chocolate over the toffee with a flat spatula

  • Refrigerate for two hours.
  • Remove from the pan and place the parchment with the toffee onto a cutting surface.
  • Using a large knife, cut the toffee into 24 squares.

Cutting the toffee into bars with a large knife

  • The toffee is ready to eat.

Chocolate Covered Butter Toffee Squares On a white tray in a checkerboard pattern.

Notes:

  • You can use a candy thermometer to adjust the texture of the toffee.  For soft and chewy toffee, heat the sugar and butter to at least the soft crack stage (275 degrees F).  To make hard toffee, heat the butter and sugar to the hard crack stage (305 degrees F).  Make sure the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan when taking measurements.  Be careful not to burn the sugar.
  • Eat them after two hours, or you can refrigerate or freeze these toffee bars and eat them later.  (I love to eat these right out of the freezer).
  • If you heat them to the hard crack stage, they are more difficult to cut once they have cooled. To cut bars, score them after spreading the chocolate.  Another option – Instead of cutting squares, you can break them into pieces once they have cooled in the refrigerator.

 

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