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.
Can you tell me how many brownie bites this will make? How man brownie bite pans would you need to have for one batch?
One batch is approximately two dozen bites (my silicone pan has 24 squares)
Has anyone tried to adapt butter for vegan?
This toffee is amazing!!!
Tried it 2x and both times it did not even reach 300 degrees and the sugar crystallized after it melted. Totally did not work 🙁
Many times when it crystallizes or the butter separates, it’s cooking TOO fast. This can be from having the temperature too high, or using cheaper cookware that doesn’t distribute the heat evenly. Sorry you’re having issues with the recipe 🙁
Hello! So I’ve tried making this batch twice with no success. Both times my butter curdled and there was quite a bit of butter floating around as well. I used a digital candy thermometer and waited till 300 like you suggested. I also stirred like crazy did not stop at all so I’m not sure why it curdled and the butter separated. I tried the first time on medium-high Heat and the second time I lowered it just to medium Heat. Please help me!! I’m confused and would love to make these!!
Thank you,
Jacquelyn
Honestly I’m not sure. There’s a video in the blog post so you can see how I made it and how it looks. Sorry!
This is a stupid question, but I do have the brownie bites silicon pan – can you pour the mixture over the entire pan and scrape the top rather than dropping them from the cookie scoop or will I still experience butter separation?
Hm, I’m not sure, I haven’t ever done that!
I am assuming you mix the milk with the rest of the ingredients. It was omitted from the recipe.
Looks good.
How long so these keep?
HA HA HA HA…NICE WORK.
I know this is an old post, but have a question for you. How do you keep your toffee soft enough to put all of it in individual squares. It looks beautiful. I do make mine a little different.
You have to work quickly scooping into the silicone pan 🙂
wooza, saw it, pinned it, made it, love it. this was soooo easy to make. i heeded your advise and whipped the snickerdoodlez out of the butter sugar mixture. i did chop up the almonds a bit and the chocolate didn’t turn out quite as smooth as i’d hoped. however i love the crunch and flavor and the nuts. this was a success!!! thanks for sharing.
oh, and i NEEEED one of them silicone brownie bite pans, cutting up the whole lot was a bit offa mess, as was advertised.
Karin
I used to cut them for years until I invested in the silicone pan. The nice thing about cutting them is all the “slivers” that are great on ice cream 🙂
Okay what’s wrong with me I can’t find the recipe for thet toffee bites anywhere!
If you’re on a mobile device you need to click the “read more” tab above!
I just made these last night using the brownie bits silicone pans, which worked perfectly!! I followed the directions and also had some separation issues, but I just kept stirring even when I poured the toffee into the pans. They set perfectly, though. There was no separation once they set. My husband and I sampled them this morning and they were SO DELICIOUS!!! They brought me back to my childhood when a special candy we liked was Almond Roca! These English toffee candies are easy to make, delicious, and will become part of my annual Christmas treats! Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe with all of us!
I have followed your directions to a T…down to the brownie bite silicone trays, wooden spoon etc…I never left the pot, stirred like a crazy woman on speed and still it all separated. I went through the comments to see if others had that problem and alas they have. I saw some posts that said melt butter and sugar on low then turn up the heat…did that, still separated, did your way, heat on 7 for the duration, still separated, tried it again following your directions (maybe I missed something the first time?) still separated. I give up after 3 cups of sugar and 6 sticks of butter…I must not be able to make toffee! Now what to do with all the brownie bite silicone trays I purchased, lol?!
I have followed your directions to a T…down to the brownie bite silicone trays, wooden spoon etc…I never left the pot, stirred like a crazy woman on speed and still it all separated. I went through the comments to see if others had that problem and alas they have. I saw some posts that said melt butter and sugar on low then turn up the heat…did that, still separated, did your way, heat on 7 for the duration, still separated, tried it again following your directions (maybe I missed something the first time?) still separated. I give up after 3 cups of sugar and 6 sticks of butter…I must not be able to make toffee! Now what to do with all the brownie bite silicone trays I purchased, lol?!
I have followed your directions to a T…down to the brownie bite silicone trays, wooden spoon etc…I never left the pot, stirred like a crazy woman on speed and still it all separated. I went through the comments to see if others had that problem and alas they have. I saw some posts that said melt butter and sugar on low then turn up the heat…did that, still separated, did your way, heat on 7 for the duration, still separated, tried it again following your directions (maybe I missed something the first time?) still separated. I give up after 3 cups of sugar and 6 sticks of butter…I must not be able to make toffee! Now what to do with all the brownie bite silicone trays I purchased, lol?!
After 4 attempts with the butter separating each time, I think I figured it out! The last 2 attempt’s turned out perfect! Here’s what I changed… On my electric stovetop, I turned the temperature up to HIGH, never turned it down from start to finish, (the 4 failed attempts were cooked at medium to medium high heat). I wish I had a gas range but I don’t 🙁 I stirred it as vigorously as prior attempts, the butter separation I’m certain is a temperature issue! The mixture should look whitish and frothy. If it seems to be separating turn up the heat asap. Worth the effort, so delicious and NOW I can see why some people say this recipe is “easy.”
I made these yesterday. The recipe is super easy and they are delicious. The only thing would not do is lauer the bottom with whole almonds. It was much harder to cut and I think contributes to them falling apart somewhat. Maybe Ill try finely crushed next time. I really enjoy your recipes!
My butter separated on the first attempt, I set my mistake aside and tried again, cooked the second batch for less time and same results (but I didn’t reach the almond color). I returned both attempts to a larger pan and re-cooked it longer, probably 10 minutes longer, stirring it constantly and vigorously. The butter still separated but at least I didn’t have to throw it all in the trash and I did end up with a hard toffee that tastes delicious except for the excess butter that I poured off the top and that pooled to the corners of the silicone dish. Are you certain the receipe needs this much butter? 2 sticks=1 cup, maybe you meant 1stick? Maybe it should be 2 cups sugar? I have about a 3/4 excess.
I’ve made this recipe multiple times (as in, probably 100 batches over the years). The measurements are definitely correct. Every once in a while (maybe 1 in ever 25 batches) the butter separates and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. The only thing I’ve concluded is you have to vigorously stir it, and it has to reach the almond color in order to achieve the correct texture! Did you see my video?