Easy 7 Minute Toffee
By: Minda, Posted: 12/14/2023
If you need an easy recipe for Toffee, it doesn’t get any easier than our Easy 7 Minute Toffee. With just 4 ingredients you can have toffee any time you want.
Need some more quick and easy desserts. Try our Red Velvet Holiday Cookies or our Double Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies.
Our Easy 7 Minute Toffee
Every year, around the holidays, my mom and I make toffee. It being just two ingredients and 7 minutes of cooking makes it one of the easiest and cheapest things to make to bring to potlucks, give as gifts, or just enjoy with the family. The best part of this recipe is, we don’t use a candy thermometer. They always seem to get in our way, so we just time exactly 7 minutes from when we first see it start to bubble in our pot. Turns out perfect each time.
Back Story…
Since I was young, one of my things I prided myself on was making toffee. I loved making it. I loved eating it. And it was an easy gift I could give to all my coworkers without breaking the bank. I remember I would make my mom help me every year and we would take turns stirring batches and batches of toffee.
After our move last year we have both tried and tried to repeat the process only to have our toffee separate every time. I swear we tried 20 times and each time was a flop. Just couldn’t figure out what the problem was. We thought maybe it was the altitude. Maybe it was the weather. Maybe it was the AC blowing on the stove top. We tried using the dreaded candy thermometer…but each time the butter and sugar would separate.
My mom and I have only ever made toffee with two ingredients. Butter and Brown Sugar, that’s it. It wasn’t until just a couple weeks ago that I had an epiphany. Salted Butter. That’s it. That was the key. I immediately sent Mike to the store to buy salted butter just so I could make toffee. You see, we don’t keep Salted Butter on hand. So every time we tried…and tried…and tried, to make toffee it was with unsalted butter.
Well now, I’m making up for all the time I spent separating my toffee and I’m here to share it with everyone.
Ingredients, Substitutions, and Additions
Brown Sugar – I’ve always used Brown Sugar in my toffee. In other recipes I’ve seen everyone seems to use regular Sugar. I’m not sure there is much of a difference other than a slightly different flavor. But I’m going to stick with my Brown Sugar.
Salted Butter – Salted Butter is the key. Don’t try unsalted butter with this recipe. You will just be wasting your time and cause yourself much heartache.
Toppings – Now, the toffee itself is just two ingredients but more than likely you will want some sort of topping on there to make it look fancy. Our old tried and true is semi-sweet chocolate and chopped pecans. Because I’m going on a toffee rampage I’m going to do some with coconut, some with pretzels, and some with crushed Oreos.
Chocolate – Chocolate Chips work really well on top of the toffee. If you use melting wafers, cut them in to smaller pieces. I find the wafers are quite heavy if left whole and leave divots in the toffee.
Toffee Tips
- I can’t stress this enough…use salted butter. I won’t pretend to know all the science around it but something about the salt in the butter balances the ingredients and holds everything together.
- Have a timer ready for 7 minutes. Once you see that first bubble form you want to start your timer and you don’t need the added pressure of trying to get it setup.
- Stir slowly. As long as your temperature is low, there is no need to vigorously stir the toffee. We use to do this and wear ourselves out by the third minute.
- Once you start seeing bubbles form in your toffee, slowly turn your temperature down to low. You don’t need a fast boil, this will only burn your toffee. A low temperature will keep the toffee hot enough to maintain some of the bubbles you want without burning the toffee.
- Keep your finished toffee in an airtight container. Toffee doesn’t like moisture. So if it’s exposed to any kind of humidity, even after it’s completely cooked, it will turn grainy and soft.
- Try not to make toffee on a rainy day. I find it’s way to humid every time I try to make toffee on a rainy day and even through it initially sets in my cookie sheet. It soon turns soft and grainy before I can even cut it.
Doubling the Recipe
If you decide to double the recipe be warned, it will take longer than 7 minutes. When I double the recipe, I usually end up cooking the toffee for an additional 20 minutes and base its doneness on the way it looks.
I know it’s finished when the toffee starts to pull with my spatula, almost like I am cutting it and then pushing the toffee to the other side of the pot rather than stirring. It will look slightly foamy and the edges are a little rough, not smooth.
Because it takes so much longer, I would suggest using a larger pot or just making two batches.
Ingredients for Easy 7 Minute Toffee
Toffee
- 1/2 cup Salted Butter
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
Toppings
- 1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1/4 cup Pecans, chopped
Directions
Prep cookie sheet: Line cookie sheet with foil and set aside.
Melt butter and brown sugar in sauce pan: In a medium sauce pan, melt Salted Butter on low. Add Brown Sugar and stir with a rubber spatula until the butter and sugar have completely melted together.
Cook for 7 minutes: Increase heat to medium-low, stirring slowly and constantly. As soon as bubbles start forming, slowly decrease heat to low and set timer for 7 minutes.
Pour toffee into cookie sheet: Once 7 minutes have past, turn off heat and pour toffee onto lined cookie sheet.
Top with chocolate chips and pecans: Sprinkle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips on top of toffee and lay a second cookie sheet on top of toffee to trap heat inside and allow chocolate chips to melt. After 3 minutes have passed, remove top cookie sheet and use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate to cover the toffee. Sprinkle chopped Pecans on top of chocolate and set toffee aside to set.
Cool toffee until hard, cut into pieces and serve: Once toffee has cooled and chocolate has hardened, use a knife to cut toffee into 2-3 inch chunks. Serve and enjoy!
Hi, We are Mike and Minda. Thank you for stopping to take a look at our Kick’n Kitchen! We are a husband and wife team that have a love for food and cooking. Come with us on our journey of rediscovering recipes from our youth and find new recipes to fall in love with.
Kick'n Kitchen Catalog
Recent Posts
Easy 7 Minute Toffee
5
servings5
minutes10
minutesIf you need an easy recipe for Toffee, it doesn't get any easier than our Easy 7 Minute Toffee. With just 4 ingredients you can have toffee any time you want.
Ingredients
1/2 cup Salted Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- Topping
1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup Pecans, chopped
Directions
- Prep cookie sheet: Line cookie sheet with foil and set aside.
- Melt butter and brown sugar in sauce pan: In a medium sauce pan, melt Salted Butter on low. Add Brown Sugar and stir with a rubber spatula until the butter and sugar have completely melted together.
- Cook for 7 minutes: Increase heat to medium-low, stirring slowly and constantly. As soon as bubbles start forming, slowly decrease heat to low and set timer for 7 minutes.
- Pour toffee into cookie sheet: Once 7 minutes have past, turn off heat and pour toffee onto lined cookie sheet.
- Top with chocolate chips and pecans: Sprinkle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips on top of toffee and lay a second cookie sheet on top of toffee to trap heat inside and allow chocolate chips to melt. After 3 minutes have passed, remove top cookie sheet and use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate to cover the toffee. Sprinkle chopped Pecans on top of chocolate and set toffee aside to set.
- Cool toffee until hard, cut into pieces and serve: Once toffee has cooled and chocolate has hardened, use a knife to cut toffee into 2-3 inch chunks. Serve and enjoy!
