Ah, Friday.

Music.

Check.

Stove is on.

Check.

Listen to some music and make some toffee.

If there is one kind of candy you should know how to make it is Toffee.

It is easy to do and everyone loves it. You can make it with nuts, or not. (Or make it with Pecans like I did here).

Toffee stores well and travels like a dream in gifts and care packages.

I adore this Toffee recipe. The crunch of the almonds, the salt against the sweet and the richness of the bittersweet chocolate make for an amazing candy.

Chocolate-Almond Toffee

Ingredients:

8 oz unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 cup salted roasted almonds—3/4 cup coarsely chopped, 1/4 cup finely chopped
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt, crumbled
1/2 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:

1. Line an 8-by-11-inch baking pan with foil. Spray the foil with vegetable oil (or use non-stick foil, which I think is fantastic).

2. In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Wash down the side of the pan with a moistened pastry brush. Cook over moderate heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until a deeply golden caramel forms and the temperature reaches 300°F on a candy thermometer, 15 minutes; if the sugar and butter separate, stir vigorously to blend. Remove from the heat and add the coarsely chopped almonds, vanilla and salt. Scrape the toffee into the prepared pan; let cool for 10 minutes.

3. Sprinkle half of the chocolate over the toffee and let stand until melted. Spread the chocolate over the toffee and sprinkle with half of the finely chopped almonds. Freeze the toffee for 10 minutes.

4. Invert the toffee onto a foil-lined baking sheet and peel off the foil backing. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the remaining chocolate. Spread the melted chocolate over the top of the toffee and sprinkle with the remaining finely chopped almonds. Let the toffee cool, then break into shards.

Note: The toffee keeps, tightly wrapped, in the freezer for a few months. So great to keep on hand for quick gifts and snacks.

Recipe from Food & Wine Magazine

It has been almost a year since I played Dan Mangan in this post at the height of my obsession with his song ‘Robots’.

I still love to put on that song and sing along at the top of my lungs.

That is but one of Dan Mangan’s excellent tunes.

How about this one, which is the title track from his latest album?
Dan Mangan-Oh Fortune

A new, and might I add very interesting, video is out for the fab song ‘About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All’. (Now that is a mouthful, especially with a mouth full of toffee).

Check out Dan Mangan on his Website. Info is up for shows tonight, tomorrow and Sunday in Oxford, Leeds and London respectively. While you are dropping by the site you can pick up a free mp3 for ‘Oh Fortune’ as well as buy all of Dan’s other stuff.

Cheers!