Candies – FoodWatcher

Chocolate Almond Buttercrunch Toffee

While Paris is always beautiful, when winter comes, the city gets rather cold and gray – called la grisaille. In fact, it’s so cold that I refuse to go outside until spring. Believe me, all those romantic photos of Paris you see are taken during the spring and fall are very deceptive. And although it’s very pretty, it would take a mighty big levier (crowbar)…

chocolate almond buttercrunch candy recipe

While Paris is always beautiful, when winter comes, the city gets rather cold and gray – called la grisaille. In fact, it’s so cold that I refuse to go outside until spring. Believe me, all those romantic photos of Paris you see are taken during the spring and fall are very deceptive. And although it’s very pretty, it would take a mighty big levier (crowbar) to get me outdoors some of these days.

Nevertheless, it’s candy season – although isn’t it always? There’s something festival about boiling up a batch of toffee, then pouring it over toasted nuts then slathering on the chocolate which makes me feel all warm and cozy inside.

chocolate almond buttercrunch candy recipe

If you’ve never made candy, this one is really simple and incredibly delicious, so there’s no reason not to try a batch. You chop nuts, make a syrup, and then you pour the syrup over the nuts. Sprinkle some chocolate over it, spread it out, and finish it with more nuts. That’s it. There are no fancy techniques and the only special equipment you’ll need is a candy thermometer; they’re easily found online, and in most supermarkets.

chocolate almond buttercrunch candy recipe

I like to add a sprinkle of fleur de sel, French salt, which gives it a pleasant salty edge which is divine with the dark chocolate and toasty nuts (any coarse salt can be used). Although you can use chips, you can also chop up a block of dark chocolate, instead. In the end, you’ll have a scrumptious batch of chocolate almond buttercrunch toffee, which makes for great gift-giving around the holidays, or just to snack on with friends and family. Enjoy!

chocolate almond buttercrunch candy recipe

Chocolate-Almond Buttercrunch Toffee

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop Be sure to read the recipe completely through before starting so you know all the steps. And keep an eye on the toffee while it’s cooking. The temperature will climb fairly rapidly as it gets close to reaching the right temperature.

Ingredients

2 cups (8 ounces, 225 g) toasted almonds or hazelnuts chopped between 'fine' and 'coarse'
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup salted or unsalted butter cut into pieces
a big pinch of salt
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (45g) packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces (140g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped, or 1 cup chocolate chips
optional Roasted cocoa nibs and fleur de sel or flaky sea salt

Instructions

Form half the nuts into a rectangle about 8″ x 10″ (20 x 25 cm) on an ungreased baking sheet.
In a medium, heavy-duty saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer, heat the water, butter, salt, and white and brown sugars. Cook, stirring gently if necessary, until the thermometer reads 300ºF (150ºC) degrees. Have the vanilla and baking soda handy.
Immediately remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.
Quickly pour the mixture over the nuts on the baking sheet. Using a small offset spatula, or similar utensil, spread the warm mixture over the nuts. (If you want to sprinkle some cocoa nibs or some flaky sea salt over the buttercrunch mixture, do it at this point.)
Strew the chocolate chips or pieces over the top and let stand 2 minutes, then spread the chocolate in an even layer.
Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the chocolate and gently press them in with your hands.
Cool completely and break into pieces to serve. Store in an airtight container, for up to ten days.

Related Recipes and Links

Candy Thermometers

Chocolate FAQs

Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzoh Crunch

Triple Chocolate Scotcheroos

Chocolate-Covered Salted Peanut Caramel Cups

The Great Book of Chocolate

Salted Dark Chocolate Count Chocula Candy Bars

The post Salted Dark Chocolate Count Chocula Candy Bars appeared first on Baking Bites.

Salted Dark Chocolate Count Chocula Candy Bars

I always get nostalgic when I see Halloween cereals hitting the shelves. I remember the ads for Count Chocola, Booberry and Frankenberry from my Saturday morning cartoon days all too well, so they really are part of the season – even if I don’t eat as much of them now as I did back then! Still, I have a hard time resisting the temptation to pick up a couple of boxes when the season rolls around. I want to play with them just as much as I want to eat them and, fortunately, they are actually great ingredients to work with. In the past, I’ve made Frankenberry Cereal Bars and Count Chocula Cereal Milk Ice Cream, but these delicious Salted Dark Chocolate Count Chocula Candy Bars are sure to be a hit even if you’re not already a fan of the cereals.

These bars actually fall somewhere between a chocolate bar and a granola bar, though they are definitely a bit closer to the decadent side of the spectrum because they have use a lot of chocolate and have a very deep chocolate flavor. They may look like cereal bars at first glance, but the only marshmallows you’ll find in these are the ones that come in the cereal! The chocolate cereal gives them a great crunch – helped along by the addition of toasted almonds – and a light texture that is reminiscent of chocolate bars that use puffed rice for texture. Of course, I used Count Chocula, however you can use another puffed chocolate cereal to get similar results when the spooky seasonal cereal isn’t available.

I used both unsweetened chocolate and white chocolate in these bars, rather than using only dark chocolate, as the name might suggest. The unsweetened chocolate brings in a strong bittersweet cocoa note, while the white chocolate contributes a creamy sweetness and a hint of vanilla. White chocolate alone might be too sweet, but it really blends nicely with the unsweetened chocolate. The resulting chocolate coating has a hint of the creaminess of milk chocolate, but all the strong flavor of dark chocolate. Be sure to use high quality white chocolate that only contains real cocoa butter, nothing with other vegetable fats added. The finishing touch is a sprinkle of sea salt that makes all the flavors pop – and will have you coming back for another bite.

Salted Dark Chocolate Count Chocula Candy Bars

These bars keep very well when stored in an airtight container and should last for up to a week, if they don’t get eaten up first. I like to eat them as bars, however you can cut them into bite sized squares or even crumble up the mixture into small pieces for addition to a trail mix. It is important to let the bars sit out and cool/set completely at room temperature before they are stored, so leave time to prepare them in advance.

Salted Dark Chocolate Count Chocula Bars
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 oz white chocolate, chopped
3 oz toasted, slivered almonds
1 oz coarsely chopped graham crackers
1 oz Count Chocula Cereal (or other chocolate cereal)
coarse salt, for topping

Line a 9-inch pan with lightly greased aluminum foil or parchment paper.
In a small saucepan, combing butter and corn syrup and bring just to a boil. Stir in salt.
Place chopped chocolate in a large bowl and pour hot butter mixture over it. Allow mixture to stand for 1 minute, then stir until very smooth. Add in almonds, graham crackers and cereal, stirring with a spatula until completely coated. Transfer mixture to prepared pan and spread into an even layer, pressing the layer down very firmly to ensure that the bars stick together once they have set. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of coarse salt.
Allow bars to sit, uncovered, at room temperature until they have completely set, at least 1-2 hours. When firm and set, use a sharp knife to cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.

Makes 12-15 bars.

The post Salted Dark Chocolate Count Chocula Candy Bars appeared first on Baking Bites.

Halvah

A few years ago, tahini took its place in the spotlight. People discovered the sesame paste, usually used in hummus, could be used in cookies, cakes, salad dressings, sauces as well as in other places. Soon halvah also had its day, becoming a star ingredient in tart doughs and rugelach. But halvah is a wonderful treat on its own. During my childhood, I’d only been…

During my childhood, I’d only been exposed to halvah sold in bars by the cash register in delis, but when I went to Jerusalem, I was wowed at the market to see towering rounds of halvah at places like Halvah Kingdom, which were topped (and studded or swirled) with various ingredients like dried fruit, nuts, rose petals, cocoa, coffee beans, and chocolate amongst the reported one hundred varieties that they make. The halvah was like nothing I’d ever put in my mouth; you could taste the quality of the sesame seeds used in every crumbly bite. (If you want a taste of outstanding halvah in the U.S., check out Seed & Mill.)

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Chocolate Marshmallows

Marshmallows are one (or some) of my favorite things. We don’t often use ‘marshmallow’ in the singular and we certainly don’t make them one at a time. When we talk about marshmallows, it’s generally in the plural since it’s hard to imagine just one, lone, solitary marshmallow. That would be triste, as you’d say in French, or sad. Except, of course, when it’s floating on top of a warm cup of hot chocolate. That makes me happy. And what makes me even happier is when the marshmallow is made of chocolate. In that case, I’m absolutely delighted.

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Salt-Roasted Candied Peanuts

I’ll have to admit that I love peanuts, especially when they are candied with a touch of sea salt added. For years I’ve been making all sorts of candied nuts, including these candied peanuts, but this was one of the first candied nut recip…

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Candied Grapefruit Peel

As you get older, you tend to forget things. Often it’s blamed it on age, or an allusion to an early onset of a memory-loss disorder. I forget things all the time, but I blame it on a full brain. Think about it; every ten years, our brains have so much more information to remember than they did a decade ago. Think about all you’ve done in the last ten years, then multiply it by four, or five, or six, or seven. That’s a lot to remember. And unlike computers, we can’t empty our trash or upgrade our memory. We’re stuck with what we’ve got

You name it; names, dates, places, birthdays, and even recipes I’ve written, I’ve forgotten about. That goes for Candied Grapefruit Peel, which I made the other day after I’d made a batch of Pink Grapefruit Marmalade. I was diligent about jotting down what I did, photographing the steps, writing up the recipe to share, and taking more pictures of the results. They were so pretty, how could I not?

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