Toffee

From the kitchen of: Becky Flinders
Serves: 1 (if you like it as much as I do)
Rating: ***

2 C sugar
1 C water
1 lb butter (4 cubes)
4 large chocolate Hershey's bars
almonds (optional)

Heat sugar and water in a heavy saucepan on high heat until it boils and reaches the thread stage on your candy thermometer. Do not even stir it during this stage. Just let it do it's thing. While it's getting there, get a cookie sheet with raised edges ready by rubbing the entire thing with butter to grease it up. Get a bowl of ice water close by to test your candy, and fill a near by bathtub with a few inches of cold water. Strange, I know. You might want to get a cold drink and short sleeves on too because it gets really hot standing there stirring.

Once it gets to the thread stage, add the 4 cubes of butter (don't think about it, just do it!) one at a time, stirring constantly in a figure 8 motion with a wooden spoon until each cube is completely melted before adding another. You don't want the temperature to get low while doing this part. Stir constantly until it reaches the hard crack stage, or 300 degrees, on your thermometer. Drop some candy into the bowl of ice water and bite into it when cool to make sure you get the right crack from your toffee.

When it's gotten to where you like it, pour the candy into your prepared cookie sheet and using hot pads, shake the cookie sheet to spread the candy as you walk to the bathtub. Don't forget to shake as you go. (that is a little joke for my mom. She would tell us that as we followed her to the bathroom every time she makes it.) Put the cookie pan in the bathtub to float on top of the water. Let sit for about 10 minutes until completely cooled and removed from bathtub. Honestly, that whole bathtub step is probably not totally necessary, but that is how my mom has always done it and her toffee always comes out perfect!

Loosen the toffee from the pan so you can pick it up all in once piece. Frost one side with 2 melted Hershey's bars and frost the other with the remaining 2 when the first side has hardened. My mom likes to add whole almonds to the candy before it hardens and then crushed almonds on top of the chocolate, but I'm a no nut kind of girl, so I leave that out. It's an option for you though.