English Toffee is a classic holiday candy that’s buttery, nutty, and rich thanks to a combination of almonds, walnuts, and milk chocolate. Make it in a brownie bite pan to get the cutest toffee bites—perfect for gifting!
I love making candy every holiday to give as gifts and serve to guests. If you’re new to candy, start with our easy rocky road fudge, homemade turtles, and peanut butter cups.
Why You’ll Love This English Toffee Recipe
Thanks to one of my besties RHONDA (hey girl!), who shared this awesome English toffee recipe with me years ago. It became a tradition for us to have a holiday candy-making day with our oldest daughters, Natasha (on the left) and my daughter Alyssa (on right).
We usually gave the girls the job of rolling Peanut Butter Buckeyes and wrapping homemade caramels…you know, the “chores”!
Here’s what makes this English toffee one of my favorites:
- English toffee is typically made in an 11×7 pan, but a few years ago I found a silicone brownie bite pan and it’s all I use now. No more slicing toffee, just pop the toffee bites out and you’re good to go—easy, neat, perfectly portioned pieces!
- If you like Heath Bars, this homemade English toffee is like that, but so much better than store-bought. It’s rich, buttery, and much more nutty.
- Not everyone is a baker! If you struggle to get your Christmas cookies looking just right, switch to candy—it’s a lot easier to make, with fewer details to manage. No more struggling with icing or cookie cutters!
Important Ingredient Notes
- Unsalted butter – There are three dominant flavors in English toffee: butter, nuts, and chocolate. Spring for a good butter!
- Margarine – You may say, “CAN I USE ALL BUTTER?” The answer is yes. However, I find I get reliable results, with no separation of butter and sugar, when I use half margarine. The flavor is still amazing!
- Kosher salt – Salt is important for adding balance to this recipe. If you’d like, you can also sprinkle flaky sea salt on top of the melted chocolate.
- Vanilla extract – Aside from the butter, toffee is also vanilla flavored. Use a high-quality pure vanilla, not imitation. Our homemade vanilla would be perfect.
- Milk chocolate – Again, high-quality is important here!
- Nuts – You’ll need both unblanched whole almonds and finely ground walnuts.
How to Make Homemade English Toffee
Prep the Almonds: On a foil lined baking dish or in a silicone brownie bite pan, arrange the almonds in a single layer.
Make the Toffee Mixture:
- In a heavy pan, combine the butter, margarine, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Cook over medium-high heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the butter melts. Bring mixture to a rolling boil.
- Continue boiling and stirring for an additional 5-7 minutes, or until the candy turns the color of almonds (or reaches about 300 degrees, if you have a candy thermometer).
- Pour the toffee mixture over the almonds. (If you’re using the brownie bite pan, I use a small metal scoop to get toffee into each bite, working quickly!)
- Cool completely.
Finish: Spread the melted chocolate over top of the cooled toffee, then sprinkle with the ground walnuts. Once the chocolate sets, remove from the brownie pan or cut the English toffee into pieces.
Recipe FAQs
Using thin lined saucepans can cause butter to separate. A heavy bottomed saucepan can manage the heat better. The second reason may be from heating the butter and margarine too quickly. Keep the pan over medium to medium-high heat. Don’t crank the heat up for the sake of bringing it to a boil faster.
The reason I like to use half butter and half margarine when I make English Toffee is that I find I get more reliable results, without any separation of the butter and sugar. The flavor is still amazing! You can use all butter if you prefer.
This is most likely due to excess butter on the toffee surface. Before adding your chocolate, be sure to wipe the top of your toffee with a dry paper towel to absorb any excess butter.
If it still feels a little “greasy”, sprinkle a small amount of cocoa powder or crushed nuts to the top before adding your chocolate. This should help!
More Holiday treats
- Chocolate Peppermint Graham Crackers
- Peppermint Meringues
- Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
- Peanut Butter Fudge
- Peppermint Bark
- Churro Toffee
- Divinity Candy
- Christmas Crack
- Sugar Cookies – perfect no-spread cut out cookies
Holiday Candy Recipes
See all Candy recipes
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English Toffee
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup margarine
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 ounce milk chocolate melted
- 1 cup unblanched whole almonds
- 1 cup finely ground walnuts
Instructions
- On a foil lined baking dish (11×7)- or in a silicone brownie bite pan (with 24 bites)- arrange almonds in a single layer. Set aside.
- In a heavy pan, combine butter, margarine, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Cook over medium-high heat with a wooden spoon until butter melts, stirring constantly. (REALLY STIRRING CONSTANTLY)! Bring mixture to a rolling boil.
- Continue boiling (AND STIRRING) an additional 5-7 minutes until candy turns the color of almonds (about 300 degrees). Pour over almonds. If using the brownie bite pan, I use a small metal scoop to get toffee into each bite, working quickly!
- Cool completely.
- When candy is cooled and set (about 2 hours), spread chocolate over top of toffee. Sprinkle generously with ground walnuts. If doing both sides, use only half of the chocolate and walnuts. Allow top to set before flipping over and doing bottom. When set, pop out of silicone pan and store in a airtight containers. OR cut into pieces. ENJOY!
Notes
- Tip- when I say stirring, I’m talking taking that wooding spoon and whipping it! haha!! I have an electric stovetop and turn my heat on 7…and it remains on 7 through the entire boiling process.
- If you choose to scoop into brownie bite pan vs. pouring into a baking pan, your butter might separate a little bit by the time you get to the 20th scoop! Don’t worry about it. I use my scooper to slightly stir as I take a scoop of toffee.
- Many will ask WHY DOES MY BUTTER SEPARATE? This can be from using cheaper, thinner lined saucepans. It could be from heating the butter and margarine too quickly.
- You may say, “CAN I USE ALL BUTTER?” The answer is yes. However, I find I get reliable results, with no separation of butter and sugar, when I use half margarine. The flavor is still amazing!
- If you’d like, you can add the chocolate and walnuts to both sides of the toffee. To do it this way, use only half of the chocolate and walnuts for the first side. Allow the top to set before flipping over and doing bottom.
- Oh, and breaking English toffee into pieces will leave you some shards on your cutting board. SAVE THESE. They are delicious on vanilla ice cream.
- See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks.
Looks delicious! I’ve pinned it for later – and plan to make it!
Excellent recipe. The first time I made it, I allowed it to get to dark and it taste burnt. 5 minutes was too long for me on high heat. It only took my stove top about 3-4 minutes on high heat for it to turn a beautiful almond color. Very crispy. I really, really am happy with this recipe. It didn’t make as much as I though it would so I doubled it. 🙂
Thanks Eden! I did add that the temperature should reach 300 degrees, I know some stovetops heat faster! I’m glad it worked out well for you! So delicious. And, I agree, it doesn’t make nearly enough! My husband and I usually make at least a dozen batches (sometimes more) over the course of the holidays to give to friends and family!
@ Mary — i had the same problem just now.
the batch i made last week were great then this morning i had the butter floating on top so i tried again and it happened again. i tried both room temp and cold butter. i wonder if it cooked too long?
Hi Sarah,
At what point did the butter separate? While stirring, you really need to be stirring quickly with a wooden spoon, if it starts to separate in the beginning before boiling, that’s okay. KEEP stirring. If it separates after it has boiled, and the color changed, you went too long. I hope this helps. I think I need to do a video on this one!!!
I’ve never made toffee so I’m unsure how much of a mess I have the potential to make here, lol! Will this work if I make this in a nonstick mini muffin pan? Or will it stick and not come out? I looked for silicone pans and they only had quite large gingerbread man molds :-/ I want them to be pretty when they’re finished.
Thanks 🙂
I wouldn’t put them in anything other than silicon or a foil-lined baking pan. Did you check out Michaels? That’s where I bought my silicone brownie bite pan (I know you can also buy it online)! Good luck!
Congratulations for getting featured at I heart nap time. So was I so I stopped over to say hi and Merry Christmas.
Wanda Ann
Merry Christmas to you too Wanda Ann!!!
I love your idea of using the silicone mold. I love to make toffee but hate having to cut it up. Thanks for sharing!
You should get a kick back from Wilton! Because I went right out and bought A) The stuff to make these yummy things and B) Two brownie bite pans! You rock! Thanks so much.
Haha. If only!! ENjoy the toffee!!!
it worked! just didn’t cook the butter & sugar long enough yesterday. mmmm delicious
I’m so glad to hear it!!! I’ve undercooked several batches through the years, and they end up chewy, so I was pretty sure that was your case too! Glad you tried again 🙂
i tried making these today…but my butter mixture didn’t harden. and when i tried it…hours later after refrigerating the bottom mixture tasted like the sugar didn’t melt…i’m not sure what i did wrong!
and it didn’t get hard/crunchy like toffee. it’s really soft.
Oops I forgot to ask how many pieces does this recipe make with the brownie bite silicone pans? Thanks!!
One pan has 24 bites…it should fill up the pan! ENJOY!
If you use the silicone pan is there a trick to pouring the mix into it? Do you spoon it in or pour? I can’t wait to make these!! 🙂
I use a small metal cookie scoop to get the toffee into each bite! ENJOY.
I see someone else asked about no juts – wondering what this tastes like? Is it hard to bite into or is it soft like fuge? Sorry I’m a novice baker as well. I’m thinking of omitting nuts for one batch & topping with mints or chocolate
It’s a crunchy candy. Hard like a piece of toffee!! No nuts works just fine too!
How do you cut the treats into perfect little squares without the toffee breaking or crumbling?
If you use the silicone brownie bite pan you don’t have to worry about cutting it and it comes out in those cute squares! Otherwise, if you pour it into an 11×7 you will get some breaking and crumbing…just comes with the territory!
I love the idea of the small bites and not having to cut them. Also, a HUGE thanks for the room temp tip for the chocolate to not separate! I feel as though I am a novice with the silicone, though. do you have to spray it or coat it with anything for the toffee to pop out?
Nope, don’t spray the silicone! Once it has hardened and set up, the toffee will pop right out!
I don’t know what I did wrong. I had at least 1/2 c of butter floating on top 🙁
Oh no Mary! Did you stir constantly? Not sure how that happened. Was it before/after the boiling process? I wish I was in your kitchen to see what happened! I know how frustrating it can be when something doesn’t work properly! Did you use a wooden spoon? Just checking some of the little things. Sorry.
This happened to me too! Is this supposed to be whipped as it is cooked? I “stirred” constantly and ended up with over 1/2 C butter floating on top. Also, it would really help if a temp was given for the toffee. I make candy often and having a specific temperature to remove from the heat really helps. Thanks!! (I am going to try these again after I get some idea of what went wrong. They look yummy!)
In the recipe above I stated cook to about 300 degrees. And yes, stir constantly while boiling. Hope this helps!
If you melt the butter to fast it causes it to separate like that. Just melt butter over a lower temp next time and it should turn out just fine.
These look fantastic! I really cant wait to try them! I bet they would make fantastic christmas gifts!
Have a question. We’re talking some boiling hot candy here.. how do you pour the candy out without making a huge mess? I’ve made something similar (not this exact recipe) and you just dump it on the pan (or crushed walnuts/chocolate).
I love the way those pretty things look from the silicon, just wondering how to do that without wasting a bunch of mix or whatever.
Thanks!
Thank you for posting this recipe. Toffee is my husband’s favorite and I cannot wait to surprise him with this!
Can you make these without the almonds? My children have nut allergies. They look delicious!
Sure thing! I make a batch or two every year with no nuts! Still delicious!
I seriously can’t stop staring at that top picture. I want to bite into the corner of that toffee piece SO badly.
Hahah, that’s how I feel about a bowl of toffee too…it’s just begging to be eaten!