Coffee-Walnut Toffee
Submitted by dubby-do
Coffee-walnut toffee cooked to 290F with espresso, molasses, and cinnamon, then topped with swirled bittersweet chocolate and more toasted walnuts. A two-week make-ahead candy.
YIELD
2 servingsPREP
40 minCOOK
20 minREADY
60 minThis toffee goes well beyond basic butter crunch. Instant espresso, dark molasses, and cinnamon cooked into the sugar mixture add layers of bitterness, warmth, and spice that you won’t find in a standard English toffee recipe.
The candy cooks to 290°F (143°C), which puts it right at the soft crack stage. That temperature gives you toffee that snaps cleanly but isn’t tooth-shatteringly hard. A candy thermometer is non-negotiable here. Twenty degrees too high and you’ve got burnt sugar. Twenty degrees too low and it stays chewy.
Toasted walnuts go in two places: stirred into the hot toffee right off the heat, and sprinkled over the melted chocolate topping. The double-walnut approach means every bite has crunch inside and on top.
The chocolate finish is where it gets fancy. Chopped bittersweet chocolate gets scattered over the hot toffee, melts on contact, then gets swirled with the back of a spoon into a marbled pattern before the final walnut topping goes on.
Chef Tips
- Stir constantly and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula. Toffee sticks and burns on the bottom faster than you’d expect
- Don’t scrape the saucepan when pouring. Any sugar crystals clinging to the sides can cause the whole batch to crystallize
- Tilt the cookie sheet immediately after pouring to spread the toffee to ¼ inch thickness. It sets fast
- This keeps for two weeks in an airtight container in the fridge, making it ideal for holiday gifting
Variations
- Use pecans or almonds instead of walnuts
- Skip the espresso for a more traditional butter toffee flavor
- Add a pinch of flaky sea salt over the chocolate before it sets for a salted toffee version
Ingredients
Directions
Butter small cookie sheet.
Melt butter in heavy 2½ quart saucepan over low heat.
Add both sugars, water, molasses, espresso, cinnamon and salt; stir until sugar dissolves.
Attach clip-on candy thermometer to pan.
Increase heat to medium; cook until thermometer registers 290 degrees F, stirring slowly but constantly and scraping bottom of pan with wooden spatula, about 20 minutes.
Remove pan from heat.
Mix in 1½ cups nuts.
Immediately pour mixture onto prepared sheet; do not scrape pan.
Tilt sheet so that toffee spreads to ¼ inch thickness.
Sprinkle chocolate by generous tablespoons atop toffee, alternating bittersweet and white chocolates.
Let stand 1 minute.
Using back of spoon, swirl chocolates to spread slightly.
Shake sheet to form even chocolate layer.
Using tip of knife, swirl chocolates to create marble pattern.
Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup nuts.
Refrigerate until toffee is firm, about 1 hour.
Break toffee into pieces.
Can be made 2 weeks ahead. Chill in airtight container.
Serve cold or at room temperature.
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