{"id":567,"date":"2020-05-19T15:51:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T15:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/?p=567"},"modified":"2020-07-12T11:21:32","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T11:21:32","slug":"chocolate-almond-toffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/2020\/05\/19\/chocolate-almond-toffee\/","title":{"rendered":"Schmidt Family Christmas Chocolate Almond Toffee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Name: Barbara Schmidt<br \/>\nClass Year: 1969<br \/>\nCountry of Residence: Ireland<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: This recipe is not being entered in the competition, it is simply being shared for you all to enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n<h5>Why is this recipe great? What\u2019s its backstory?&nbsp;<\/h5>\n<p>This is an old family recipe which for decades the family has made the weekend after Thanksgiving and gives as gifts for Christmas.&nbsp; It could of course be made any time.&nbsp; My 96-year-old father used to be the chief stirrer, then, like Jack Nicklaus, progressed to giving the first ceremonial stir, but now he sits and gets to taste the first piece.&nbsp; For the last number of years I have been in Iowa for Thanksgiving and have been in charge of the project.&nbsp; It is a labour of love.&nbsp; We traditionally make 6 double batches which takes an entire day to make with many people helping out.&nbsp; It takes another day to pack the toffee into lined Christmas tins.&nbsp; And then there is the delivery.&nbsp; I am giving the recipe for one double batch with US measurements and temperatures.&nbsp; It is easiest if there are two people making it &#8211; and a lot more fun.&nbsp; It is a crunchy &#8220;hard crack&#8221; toffee, delicious but making it is not for the faint-hearted.&nbsp;<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Schmidt Family Christmas Chocolate Almond Toffee<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>One double batch will make 3 cookie sheets (baking trays) of toffee.&nbsp; When finished, it is broken into pieces.&nbsp; How many tins will depend on the size of the tins.&nbsp; Preparation &#8211; 30 minutes?&nbsp; Boiling the toffee &#8211; 30 minutes?&nbsp; Spreading &#8211; 5 minutes.&nbsp; Cooling &#8211; a couple of hours, depends where you are cooling it and how cool it is.&nbsp; We have never cooled it in a refrigerator, but in a cool room.&nbsp; If it&#8217;s safe you can cool it on the surface of snow.&nbsp; While it is cooling you can melt the chocolate then that has to cool and is repeated.&nbsp; Leave a good couple of hours!&nbsp; You may need a break between some of the sections.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Ingredients:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Prepare and weigh all ingredients in advance of preparation and have them all easily to hand.&nbsp; Start with all ingredients at room temperature.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2 lbs butter<\/li>\n<li>2 lbs sugar<\/li>\n<li>1 lb coarse ground blanched almonds &#8211; no skin (You can buy whole blanched almonds now which saves a step)<\/li>\n<li>1 lb fine ground natural almonds &#8211; (skin on)<\/li>\n<li>2 teaspoons (or one tablespoon) of vanilla<\/li>\n<li>2 lbs chocolate (dark or milk as preferred)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Equipment:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A heavy-bottomed saucepan (about 10 inches wide), not too deep, preferably with heat-proof handles<\/li>\n<li>Good oven gloves<\/li>\n<li>Wooden spoons<\/li>\n<li>Measuring spoon for vanilla<\/li>\n<li>3 flat cookie sheets (baking trays), lightly buttered<\/li>\n<li>1 cookie sheet for turning toffee<\/li>\n<li>Several spatulas<\/li>\n<li>Candy thermometer<\/li>\n<li>Ladle<\/li>\n<li>It helps to cover the table \/ work surface with a clean sheet to catch the toffee and chocolate spatters<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Instructions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Melt butter slowly.&nbsp; Do not fry.<\/li>\n<li>Add sugar and cook to 200 degrees, stirring constantly<\/li>\n<li>Add coarse ground almonds and stir constantly until 300+ degrees is reached (hard crack).&nbsp; This takes quite a long time and a lot of stirring and is tiring.&nbsp; Mixture will be boiling.&nbsp; Be careful not to burn.<\/li>\n<li>Add one tablespoon of vanilla and STIR!&nbsp; (It will sizzle.)<\/li>\n<li>Divide and spread thin on 3 cookie sheets (baking trays).&nbsp; This must be done QUICKLY before the toffee cools.&nbsp; Lightly buttering the spatulas or spreaders helps.&nbsp; Try to spread to all the corners.<\/li>\n<li>Cool until hard.&nbsp; (This can take a couple of hours depending on temperature of where you are cooling.&nbsp; See above.)<\/li>\n<li>Melt chocolate in a double boiler.<\/li>\n<li>Ladle chocolate onto toffee and spread thin.&nbsp; Sprinkle with half of the fine-ground almonds and pat into the melted chocolate.<\/li>\n<li>Allow to cool until the chocolate is dry \/ hard.&nbsp; (Again, the time depends on how cool your space is.)<\/li>\n<li>Take 4th cookie sheet, lay over the toffee and carefully turn so the toffee is now &#8220;upside down&#8221; on the 4th cookie sheet. Repeat until the 3 toffee sheets are smooth toffee side up.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Ladle on melted chocolate and spread, sprinkle with fine-ground almonds and pat in.<\/li>\n<li>Allow this to cool.<\/li>\n<li>Break into pieces and package and\/or eat!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-568\" src=\"http:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-2.jpg\" alt=\"Schmidt family toffee\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-2.jpg 640w, https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-2-31x23.jpg 31w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-569\" src=\"http:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Schmidt family toffee\" width=\"604\" height=\"805\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-20x27.jpg 20w, https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/files\/2020\/05\/Schmidt-family-toffee-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Source:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Family Recipe<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Name: Barbara Schmidt Class Year: 1969 Country of Residence: Ireland Note: This recipe is not being entered in the competition, it is simply being shared for you all to enjoy! &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/2020\/05\/19\/chocolate-almond-toffee\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Schmidt Family Christmas Chocolate Almond Toffee<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33045],"tags":[9356,33256,33230,4203,4296,33229,33254],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haute-cuisine","tag-baking","tag-baking-dessert","tag-candy","tag-christmas","tag-dessert","tag-sweets","tag-toffee"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}