Ingredients

Scale

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup dark or semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips, melted
3/4 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped

Instructions

First, line a large baking sheet with a silicon baking mat and set it close to the stove. (You CAN use foil like Ghirardelli recommends, but I think the baking mat is much easier–and it’s reusable/better for the planet.)
Now, put the butter, sugar, water and salt in a heavy duty saucepan and heat over medium heat. As the butter melts, stir the mixture together well. Stir several times until the mixture comes to a full, rolling boil.
Now that it’s boiling, STOP stirring and just watch the yellow bubbles cook over medium heat for about 10 – 11 minutes. A couple times (no more than three) during this time, you can run a rubber scraper over the bottom of the pan (a very gentle stir) to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom.
Once it starts to turn brown, don’t touch it. Just watch until all the yellowness turns to brown–this will happen quite quickly. As soon as it looks like it’s all a proper toffee colored brown (when the candy thermometer says 305, if you’re using a thermometer), that’s when you remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla. (Be careful, it might sputter a bit!)
Pour the hot brown candy mixture out onto your prepared pan. It will spread a bit. Let it set for a while until it’s cool and hardened.
Melt the chocolate and spread over the hard toffee, then sprinkle with the toasted nuts and gently press them into the chocolate. Let cool until the chocolate is set, then break the toffee into chunks.

Notes

Total time does not include the time it takes for the candy to cool and the chocolate to set.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

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