By Liz Vaillancourt
My mom, Betsy Hurley Ramaker, used to make batch after batch of this English toffee, so much so that she used to fill one of those old, huge potato chip tins. The house would smell buttery for a month. She passed suddently 10 years ago, and I am now making it with my 3-year-old daughter, Liza.
Ingredients
2 cups slivered almonds
1 pound (4 sticks) butter, divided use
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons white corn syrup
6 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 packages Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate
Directions
Brown almonds in oven with 1 tablespoon butter at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (stir a few times).
Melt remaining butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add sugar, syrup and water. Stir with wooden spoon until sugar melts. Lower to medium-low, stirring constantly until thermometer reads hard crack (or drop into ice-cold water to test hardness). Add vanilla and 1 cup cooked almonds. Pour into jelly roll pan. Let harden.
Melt chocolate and spread over toffee. Grind or chop remaining cup nuts and sprinkle over soft chocolate. When hard, crack with small, sturdy knife into pieces.
