Hazelnut-Chocolate Toffee

This is the classic break-it-with-a-mallet holiday toffee. Brown sugar gives the candy its molasses-deep flavor, butter and honey keep it from going brittle in the wrong way, and toasted hazelnuts folded in at the end add the textural crunch that makes every shard interesting.

The chocolate-chip trick at the end is brilliant. Sprinkle chips over the just-cooled toffee, wait ten minutes for residual heat to melt them, then spread the soft chocolate into a thin layer. No tempering, no double boiler, no fuss.

Watch the temperature like it’s the only thing that matters, because it is. Toffee cooked too low stays soft and chewy, too high and it scorches into bitterness. A clip-on candy thermometer on a heavy saucepan is the only reliable way to land on 290°F (143°C).

Pro Tips

• Toast and skin the hazelnuts before chopping, raw nuts taste flat in candy and the skins go bitter when cooked into hot sugar.
• Use a heavy-bottomed pan, thin pans create hot spots and burn the bottom layer of sugar before the rest catches up.
• Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, the wood doesn’t conduct heat and won’t shock the sugar mixture.
• Pour the hot toffee in a thin even layer, thicker pours stay chewy in the center and never set up properly.

Variations

• Swap hazelnuts for chopped toasted almonds or pecans depending on what’s in the pantry.
• Use dark chocolate (60-70 percent) chips instead of semi-sweet for a less sugary, more chocolate-forward bark.
• Sprinkle flaky sea salt over the still-warm chocolate layer for a sweet-salty edge.