Melt in Your Mouth Homemade Toffee — Irresistible, buttery, ADDICTIVE, and just melts in your mouth!! EASY and perfect for holiday parties, gift-giving, or cookie exchanges!!

pile of homemade toffee on a white plate

The Easiest Toffee Recipe

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love toffee, and this hard toffee is irresistible, addictive, and it melts in your mouth, hence the recipe title.

The homemade toffee is easy but with any kind of candy-making, being precise while you’re making it is essential to a successful result.

It’s perfect for the holiday season to give at cookie exchanges, as a hostess gift, or to set it out at parties you’re hosting. People won’t be able to keep their hands off of it.

It’s a gentle adaptation of an Allrecipes recipe and made with just a handful of ingredients that I got delivered directly to my door courtesy of AmazonFresh. 

homemade toffee ingredients by an Amazon fresh bag

What Is Toffee Made Of? 

For this easy toffee recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients: 

  • Unsalted butter
  • Granulated sugar
  • Light brown sugar
  • Kosher salt
  • Vanilla extract
  • Chocolate chips
  • Chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
  • Sea salt (optional) 
  • Holiday sprinkles (optional)

plate of hard toffee next to an Amazon Fresh bag

How to Make Toffee

I’ve given very detailed instructions on how to make homemade toffee in the recipe card below. Here’s an overview of the process: 

  1. Add the butter, sugars, and salt to a saucepan and heat over medium-low heat. 
  2. Boil the mixture until the ‘hard crack’ stage (290-300F). 
  3. Stir in the vanilla extract. 
  4. Pour mixture into a parchment paper-lined 9×13-inch baking dish. 
  5. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, then spread them smooth once melted. 
  6. Optionally sprinkle with chopped nuts, sea salt, sprinkles, etc. 
  7. Let cool until set, then break! 

overhead view of pile of toffee on a white plate

Do I Have to Use a Candy Thermometer? 

Yes, you will need a candy thermometer. I prefer a clip-on digital style available on Amazon, but any kind will do.

I have other toffee recipes that don’t require a thermometer and if you’re looking for one of those – try this one or this one.

holiday sprinkled toffee piled high on a white plate

How to Store Toffee

Store the homemade hard toffee at cool room temperature. It will last for weeks! 

overhead view of sliced homemade toffee. Different sections are sprinkled with walnuts, sprinkles, or sea salt.

Tips for Making the BEST Toffee

After the butter, sugars, and salt have come to a boil, don’t stir. I know it’s tempting but displaced sugar molecules due to stirring can stick to the sides of the pan and cause graininess or crystallization in the finished toffee.

It’s best to let the mixture come up to the 290-300F range over medium-low heat so that the bottom doesn’t scorch. Don’t rush it, it’ll take about 20 to 25 minutes, maybe longer.

At 290F, the homemade toffee is not as hard as it is at 300F when you’re officially in the ‘hard crack’ range of candy making. I prefer it more towards the 290F range but if you like some snappier toffee, then go to 300F.

If it’s a humid day, i.e. snowing or raining especially, don’t make it and wait until it’s a dry day. Candy makers know that humidity and candy-making don’t mix and the toffee may not turn out properly.

I made 4 different versions of homemade toffee from one batch: 1) pecans and flaked sea salt, 2) flaked sea salt, 3) holiday sprinkles, and 4) plain. For parties it’s nice to be able to give the “I don’t like nuts” people something without nuts, the “I love salt with my chocolate” people (me!) some sea salt, and holiday sprinkles are a universal day-brightener.

Melt in Your Mouth Homemade Toffee — Irresistible, buttery, ADDICTIVE, and just melts in your mouth!! EASY and perfect for holiday parties, gift-giving, or cookie exchanges!!

Chocolate Tips

I prefer semi-sweet chocolate rather to milk chocolate, but use your favorite.

If your chocolate chips are resistant to melting — which can happen with some brands because of the stabilizers in them (or if you wait too long before adding them to the toffee) — place the baking sheet in a 300F oven for a couple of minutes until the chocolate chips can be spread smooth.

Some people have asked about the chocolate lifting off the top after they cut or break the toffee. From time to time, this does happen to me as well. If I don’t add too thick of a layer of chocolate, that seems to help it keep better adhered but sometimes, for whatever reason, it does seem to separate in some pieces, which I don’t worry too much about.

Melt In Your Mouth Homemade Toffee - Irresistible, buttery, ADDICTIVE, and just melts in your mouth!! EASY and perfect for holiday parties, gift-giving, or cookie exchanges!!

Melt In Your Mouth Toffee
Yield: 48

Melt In Your Mouth Toffee

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Irresistible, buttery, ADDICTIVE, and just melts in your mouth!! EASY and perfect for holiday parties, gift-giving, or cookie exchanges!!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound unsalted butter (4 sticks)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, use milk chocolate if preferred)
  • 1/2 to 1+ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional and to taste
  • sea salt flakes, optional for sprinkling
  • holiday sprinkles, optional

Instructions

  1. Line a 9x13-inch pan with parchment paper; set aside.
  2. If you have a clip-on candy thermometer, attach it to a heavy, high-sided saucepan. (If your thermometer doesn't clip, that's okay.)
  3. Add the butter, sugars, salt, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils. After it boils, don't stir.
  4. Boil mixture until the 'hard crack' stage, 290-300F, without stirring (stirring can cause the finished toffee to become grainy or crystallize). It will probably take 20-25-ish minutes to come up to temperature if you're cooking over a true medium-low. At 290-300F, remove the pan from the heat.
  5. Cautiously stir in the vanilla (it will bubble up).
  6. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and let it sit for about 5 minutes before evenly sprinkling the chocolate chips over the toffee. Tip - Add one chip and if it sinks into the toffee, wait another few minutes before adding the chips.
  7. Cover the pan with foil for about 5 minutes, remove the foil, and spread the chocolate chips smooth with a spatula or off-set knife. Tip - If you chips have not melted (some brands are more resistant to others to melting and/or your toffee may have taken awhile to set up), put the pan in a 300F oven for a few minutes, or just until chips can be spread smooth.
  8. Optionally sprinkle with nuts, sea salt, sprinkles, etc., to taste. For this batch, I used pecans with sea salt, sea salt, holiday sprinkles, and plain.
  9. Let the toffee cool completely before in the fridge for about 30+ minutes, or until set. Break toffee apart with your hands or cut it with a sharp knife.

Notes

Storage: Toffee will keep airtight at cool room temp for many weeks.

Adapted from Allrecipes.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

48

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 143Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 59mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 1g
© Averie Sunshine
Cuisine: American / Category: Candy & Treats

More Easy Christmas Desserts: 

ALL OF MY CHRISTMAS RECIPES! 

Graham Cracker Toffee (aka Graham Cracker CRACK) — Sweet, buttery, caramely, perfectly chocolaty, topped with toffee bits for extra crunch! Lives up to its name and extremely addictive! An easy holiday and party favorite!

Graham Cracker Toffee (aka Graham Cracker CRACK) - Sweet, buttery, caramely, perfectly chocolaty, topped with toffee bits for extra crunch!! Lives up to its name and extremely ADDICTIVE!! An EASY holiday and party FAVORITE!!

Chocolate Saltine Toffee (aka Christmas Crack) – This stuff lives up to its name and is extremely addictive! Salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy and a holiday favorite everyone loves! Easy recipe!

Toffee Almond Bars — An ultra buttery base made with almond extract and topped with chocolate and toffee bits! An easy dessert that’s ready in 15 minutes but tastes like you slaved over it!

Toffee Almond Bars - An ultra BUTTERY base made with almond extract and topped with CHOCOLATE and TOFFEE BITS!! An easy dessert that's ready in 15 minutes but tastes like you slaved over it!!

The Easiest Foolproof Fudge Recipe — Look no further than this recipe for the EASIEST and most FOOLPROOF fudge that takes less than 3 minutes to make!!

Holiday Special K Bars — Super chewy, gooey, FAST, easy, no-bake cereal bars loaded with peanut butter, chocolate, and sprinkles!! Like scotcheroos but with Special K!

Holiday Seven Layer Bars — Soft, ultra chewy, and loaded with chocolate chips, shredded coconut, sprinkles, and more!! A FAST and EASY holiday recipe that’s great for hostess gifts or cookie exchanges!!

Holiday White Chocolate Fudge — This EASY foolproof white chocolate fudge recipe is perfect for Christmas and holiday parties!! A double dose of white chocolate with an Oreo Cookie crust for the WIN!!

Post is brought to you by AmazonFresh. The recipe, text, images, and opinions expressed are my own. @Amazonfresh @Allrecipes #AmazonFresh

Originally posted December 13, 2017 and reposted December 11, 2020 with updated text.

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