Toffee Candy (like Hershey Heath Bars)

[ali]

I made these every Christmas for years, for friends and family - makes a great gift, and this past year was very helpful during our first GF Christmas... We ended up making most of our candy from scratch because I was so paranoid about contamination/hidden gluten.

1 c. sugar
1 c. butter
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. semi-sweet or dark GF chocolate chips
1/2 c. finely chopped pecans

Have a large, non-stick jelly roll pan nearby. You do not need to grease it, just have it out.

1. In a 2 quart saucepan with a heavy bottom, heat the sugar, butter, and water to boiling while stirring constantly.

2. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 13 minutes, constantly stirring, to 300* F on a candy thermometer. (Or until a small amount of the mixture dropped into very cold water separates into hard, brittle threads.) Watch carefully so that it doesn't burn.

3. Immediately pour the hot toffee into your ungreased jelly roll pan. If it is too thick, use the back of a spoon or a spatula to spread it out to 1/4 inch thickness.

4. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the surface of the toffee. Let set for about a minute, then spread the softened chocolate chips over the toffee. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans.

5. Let set at room temp or in the fridge until the toffee has firmed up. It needs to be completely cooled. Then, break the toffee up into serving sized pieces and store in an airtight container.

NOTE: Do NOT use butter that has been frozen. For some reason (maybe one of the culinary goddesses on here knows why?) if you use previously frozen butter, the toffee mixture breaks and separates before it reaches the 300* and you end up with a sticky mess.

Also, I wouldn't suggest using light butter or maragarine.
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