English Toffee

This recipe is Paula Deen's. It's very easy and yummy. (Not kid friendly to make though. I got burned by some butter that splashed out while stirring.) It's not something you would make every week, but difinitely good for a treat!

English Toffee
14 tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 6 tablespoons)
1 cup sugar
2T cold water
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 t pure vanilla extract
dash salt
1 (6 oz.) bag choc. chips

Generously butter a cookie sheet.
Put butter, sugar and water in a heavy pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a bubbling boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon aprox. 10 min. (It is very important to stir constantly...keep stirring!) Remove spoon from pan, and cook to a very brittle stage (300 degrees to 310 on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat and add nuts to mixture. Add vanilla and salt. Pour onto prepared cookie sheet and spread to 1/4 inch thickness. Cool slightly, top with chocolate chips and spread once they melt. Cool completely and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

PS. I learned that if you don't have a thermometer, you can use this trick and it worked for us. Bring to a boil and continue stirring until it turns to the color of peanut butter. Then spread into a pan. It took less than the 10 minutes and it turned out great. (It got thicker than I thought it would and the butter started separating, but I kept stirring and it mixed back in.)

Sean gave me a double thumbs up on this one!