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This maple toffee has a hint of sweet maple flavor and is chockfull of pecans. It makes a bunch of toffee – enough to share and keep some for yourself!
Maple Toffee With Pecans
Today’s post is a guest post from Lindsey Johnson who blogs over at Cafe Johnsonia.
Every year during the holidays, I would watch my mother and grandmother make homemade candy. Eventually when I was old enough, I got to help. When I grew up and left home, I started making candy on my own, and now I make it with my kids. Over the years I’ve tried new recipes and even come up with a few of my own. I’m excited to share this delicious Maple Toffee with you today.
Toffee Making Equipment
- Candy Thermometer
- Heavy Duty Pan
You don’t have to make the toffee with a candy thermometer, but it’s a lot easier to get it right when you don’t have to guess if the toffee has cooked enough, or too much.
Maple Toffee Ingredients
- Maple Syrup -Grade B
- Butter
- Sugar
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Pecans
What’s the difference between Grade A and Grade B maple syrup?
Grade A syrup is produced early on in the season and is characterized by its light amber color. Lighter color, less minerals. Grade B is produced later in the season and has a darker, grittier color, thicker viscosity, more robust maple flavor and more minerals.
Toffee Making Tips
- The maple syrup makes this a little darker than normal, too, so you can’t go by color alone like other toffee recipes. It’s important for it to come to temperature so it has that characteristic “snap” once it cools.
- The heavy-duty pan is important because you don’t want the toffee to cook unevenly. The bottom can cook quite a bit faster than the rest, or there may be hot spots. One burnt spot can ruin the whole batch. If you don’t have a heavy-duty pan, you can set a saucepan in a skillet for an extra layer.
- I like to pour the cooked toffee out onto a baking sheet lined with silicone baking mat or parchment paper. It makes for much easier removal than oiling the pan, but you can that instead. The toffee will need to cool sufficiently before being broken into pieces.
- You can also spread chocolate onto one or both sides, too, but we decided we like this variation sans chocolate.
- We like to package up the homemade butter toffee to give away. With the onslaught of sugar during the holidays, I still find people love a piece of really good homemade candy. And this is definitely one I’ll be making over and over again all season long!
Check out more maple flavored recipes:
Be sure and follow me over on You Tube for weekly cooking demos.
Maple Toffee with Pecans
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup maple syrup grade B
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt*
- 1 1/3 cups pecan halves
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Set aside.
- In a heavy-duty 4-quart saucepan, melt butter.
- Add the sugar, maple syrup, water, vanilla, and sea salt.
- While stirring constantly, bring the mixture just to a boil. Lower heat to medium.
- Brush down sides of pan with a brush dipped in hot water to prevent the sugar from crystallizing on the pan sides.
- Stop stirring and clip a candy thermometer to the pan.
- Cook for about 20 minutes, keeping a close eye on the temperature. If the toffee starts to darken in certain places and not others, gently swirl the pan. This will prevent hot spots and burning.
- Once the toffee has reached the hard crack stage (at sea level, 300°F), remove pan from heat.
- Quickly stir in the pecans and pour out onto the prepared baking sheet. Do not scrape the pan. Gently press the top of the toffee with a silicone spatula to spread it into a thin, even layer.
- Let cool completely for 2-3 hours, or preferably overnight before breaking into pieces.
- Once cooled, break into pieces and transfer to an airtight container or package up to give as gifts.
Tips & Notes:
-Chopped pecans can be used in place of halves.
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Nutrition Facts:
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