Coffee Toffee
English toffee with a coffee twist!
There was a time during my twenty-something single days when I would walk down the ice cream aisle at the grocery store every week, and if my favorite flavor was on sale, I bought it. And then I would eat it late at night while binge watching Friends DVDs (this was before Netflix, kids).
Oh, to have that twenty-something metabolism back.
So what’s the flavor? It was Ben and Jerry’s Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, and it’s still a favorite. When I found a recipe for coffee flavored toffee in The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, and discovered that it was inspired by that same ice cream, I got excited.
The holiday season seemed like the perfect time to give this toffee variation a spin, and it did not disappoint. I love the subtle coffee flavor and the use of hazelnuts instead of pecans or almonds. Watch out family and friends, this just might be in your holiday goodie bags this year!
baking tip:How to prevent toffee from separating
It’s happened to me, and maybe it’s happened to you, your toffee is almost done cooking and the butter separates from the rest of the ingredients. So frustrating! Here are some tips to prevent it from happening again:
- Don’t change the heat suddenly, hot or cold. Try to keep the temperature even during the whole cooking process.
- Make sure to follow the instructions and stir as often as indicated to keep the mixture together.
- Try to use a heavy bottomed pan that will distribute the heat evenly.
If your toffee separates, there still is hope! Remove it from the heat and stir constantly until the mixture comes back together, and then gradually return it to the heat while continuing to stir. You can also add a tablespoon or two of very hot water and whisk it into the toffee to try to get it back together.
If the toffee separates after you’ve poured it out of the pan, it is unfortunately passed the point of saving.
Coffee Toffee
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (226 grams)
- ½ cup packed dark or light brown sugar (112 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 1 ½ teaspoons molasses
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons instant espresso
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate , chopped (170 grams)
- ½ cup chopped hazelnuts (or nut of your choice) (70 grams)
Instructions
- Line a small sheet pan with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- In a heavy bottomed saucepan set over medium high heat, combine the butter, sugars, molasses, salt and espresso. Stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. Insert a candy thermometer and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until it reaches 250° F. Then stir constantly until mixture reaches 300° F.
- Immediately pour the mixture out onto the prepared sheet pan and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Scatter chopped chocolate over the toffee and let sit a few minutes until melted, then use the offset spatula to spread it evenly over the toffee. Sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.
- Let sit until toffee is set, about an hour. If desired, pop it in the freezer to speed up the process, about 15 minutes Use a knife to break it into pieces.
Coffee in toffee? Now we’re talking. LOVE this!
u go girl
I’ve been craving toffee and this is just simply beautiful and I bet tasty.
Oh, coffee toffee sounds just wonderful! So does my 20s metabolism 😉
Wow – this looks fabulous! Can’t wait to share it at our holiday dessert table!
Why haven’t I seen this coffee heath bar crunch ice cream?? I need to spend more time walking down the ice cream aisle! Note to self: bring mittens the next time I go to the grocery store so I can buy 5 pints of different flavors. (Those freezer aisles always make me so cold!) But anyway… Coffee/toffee is one of my favorite flavor combos (and rhyme combos) too, so I’d eat the whole batch of this by myself! Pinned!
i love coffee toffee and it tastes so good. Thank you for posting the recipe.
Love the brown sugar suggestion. I always heard of using coffee in toffee. I have a Hawaiian Hazelnut coffee blend (with coconut and hazelnut) as well as “Highlander Grog” (bit of caramel flavor) I will try each separately. I also add the chopped nuts to the mix right before pouring – they seem to more evenly distribute that way.
We made this recipe using the gram measurement for sugar provided in this recipe, which is about half what it should actually be and it turned out poorly. Redid with correct sugar measurement and it was good