Chocolate Nutty Buttercrunch

I think most people don't recognize there is a difference between buttercrunch and toffee. I blame See's. See's Victoria Toffee is actually buttercrunch, at least, according to Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner, which says that toffee has to have milk proteins in it. As a result, "real" toffee sticks to your teeth, which is why I love buttercrunch. It's crunchy, sweet, and rich, but doesn't hurt my old lady sensitive teeth. I started with a recipe from the book, scaled it back a bit, and then added nuts to the buttercrunch portion. The book recipe says to put the nuts on the chocolate, but I thought it would give the nuts a better chance at staying crunchy if they were inside the candy.

Stacey's Chocolate Nutty Buttercrunch Ingredients:

2 sticks (8 oz) salted butter, organic

1c sugar, organic

1.5 oz water

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

~1.5c mix of raw (untoasted) peanuts and pepitos (pumpkin seeds)

Guittard 64% dark chocolate

Guittard 38% milk chocolate

Candy Thermometer

Temperature Gun

Cookie sheet with silicone mat on top

I put the butter, sugar, water and vanilla bean paste into a 4-qt. sauce pan and began heating it over medium flame. Once it started to bubble, I stuck in the candy thermometer (it was probably around 212F) and put the nuts in. This way the nuts get a chance to toast inside the candy.

I stirred gently and constantly until it got to 298F, at which point I poured the candy out onto the silicone mat on the cookie sheet. I let this cool to room temperature.

I tempered the milk chocolate for the first side. It doesn't really matter - you can choose either chocolate to go first. I spread it out with a spatula on the top side. After it set, I peeled the buttercrunch off of the silicone mat, and turned it over. I tempered dark chocolate for the opposite side.

Once the chocolate set, I was able to break it into delicious crunchy pieces.

Take that See's. :)

Comments

Throwing some shade

Ombre Flowers So I wanted to try that new ombre cake frosting trend. I used whip cream here on an eggless chocolate cake I made for a potluck at work (for those egg-free individuals on my team). Everyone was sufficiently impressed. I was a little disappointed at the messiness of the blue/purple end, and I kinda ran out of cream, but it tasted good. Anyway... Eggless Chocolate Cake 2 c sugar 1 3/4 c flour 3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder 1.5 tsp baking powder 1.5 tsp baking soda 1/2 c sunflower oil, organic 1 c whole milk, organic 1 c boiling water 1 tsp salt 3 tbs flax seeds Roses 2 c heavy cream 1/4c sour cream 1 tsp vanilla ½ c powdered sugar food coloring (if desired) Pre-heat oven to 350F. Soak flax seeds in milk for an hour or overnight (or use flax meal). Blend (I used a stick blender). Mix dry ingredients. Mix in wet ingredients, with boiling water being last. Pour into cake pan (9x13). Bake for 30 min, rotating once. Let cake

Chocolate Banana Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

I made these for a potluck. Three people asked me for the recipe. Now you can be part of the three! Ingredients: 3 large ripe bananas, mashed 3 tbs butter 3 tbs oil 2 eggs 1/3 c buttermilk 1 tsp vanilla 3/4 c sugar 1/2 tsp salt 2 c flour 3/4 c baking soda 1/2 c cocoa powder 2 tbs butter 1/2 c milk chocolate chips (but you can use any kind) Chocolate dipped banana chips and decorating sugar (optional) Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all the first set of ingredients together (all the wet + sugar and salt). Mix in the flour and baking soda. Split the batter in half and add the cocoa powder, 2 tbs butter, and chocolate chips to 1 half. You might have to use a mixer because the cocoa powder gets clumpy. Fill muffin cups with half of each kind of batter. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Makes about 18 muffins. Cream cheese frosting ingredients: 1 – 8oz pkg cream cheese 5 tbs butter 1 tbs sour cream 1 tsp vanilla (I used vanilla bean paste) 1 c p

Chocolate Chunk Cranberry Cookies

I'd been wanting to try out a recipe with chocolate chunks instead of regular chips and thought I'd give this one a shot. Result: rave reviews from the BBQ I went to at my friend's house. Ingredients (weight not volume) 10.1 oz flour 0.5 oz cornstarch 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 12 tbs (1.5 sticks) butter 7 oz light brown sugar 3 oz granulated sugar 1 egg 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (you can use regular vanilla extract if you want) 9 oz dark and white chocolate chunks (I chopped up a 70% bar and used white chocolate disks 6oz:3oz dark:white - you can use whatever mixture you like, or use chocolate chips) 1/3 c dried cranberries Preheat oven to 350F. Soften butter in the microwave. Beat sugar, egg, vanilla, and butter until fluffy. Add dry ingredients and mix. Drop about 2 tbs of dough at a time on the cookie sheets, about 2" apart (I used a 1 oz scooper). Bake for 10-12 min, rotating the pan once after 6 minutes until edges are starting to bro

Stacey Makes It

Search This Blog