Chocolate Almond Toffee

And on the tenth day, I learned that you should always make sure new equipment is in working condition before you dive right into treat making.

Or the making of anything for that matter.

For a while now I have been hesitant to attempt any recipe that required a candy thermometer. We didn’t have one at the house and I naturally  assumed that like many cooking tools it would be a little pricy.

But as I was cruising the baking tools aisle at the store for a new baking sheet I stumbled upon one that was five bucks.

Stoked.

So I took that bad boy home and found a toffee recipe. I LOVE toffee. I don’t eat many sweets, but if toffee is around I can’t resist. I am obsessed (sorry mom, I know you think I over use this word) with the buttery, nutty crunch that you get from a great bite of toffee.

Last night, I set up everything I would need for my toffee and got rolling. But, once the candy mixture really got boiling I started panicking. My thermometer was new. Could I put it in the pot and leave it? Would it melt? Would it crack?

So I came up with a totally logical solution. Hold it by the red plastic tip until it got to the right temperature. 

Right?

Wrong.

That thing got freaking hot. So I solved that problem by using and oven mitt to hold it. Which worked great. Until the red plastic thing slid right off. WTF?????

Now my thermometer was in the boiling mixture and I panicked.

I didn’t want to ruin the toffee, but alas, I did.

Fearing that I would burn the candy mixture, I took it out prematurely.

Nothing is good premature.

Even though my toffee did not set up, I am confident in this recipe (I have done something very similar before) and I would encourage those toffee lovers who have a thermometer they are comfortable with to go ahead and make this tasty treat.

No reason someone else shouldn’t enjoy this recipe.

You will need…

1 cup chopped toasted almonds

1 cup butter

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

3 tablespoons water

¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Start by lining a rimmed baking sheet with tin foil and sprinkle half of the toasted almonds on the foil.

In a heavy saucepan, add the butter, salt, sugar, corn syrup and water and cook the mixture over medium-high heat.

Cook the mixture until it reaches 290 F degrees using a candy thermometer.

Be really careful here because it goes really fast when it gets to 280 degrees F. It is easy to burn so be prepared.

Pour the mixture immediately over the almonds.

Yours should be more caramel in color.

Let it stand for five minutes, until it is firm and still hot.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the toffee and let it stand until the chocolate starts to melt.

Using a knife spread the chocolate over the top of the toffee and sprinkle the top with the remaining nuts. Things I didn’t really get to do because mine was a flop.

Pop it in the fridge until it is completely hard. Then break it into pieces and enjoy.

I wish you luck.

Let me know how yours turns out.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Mac N Cheese...

Boxed mac and cheese. The ultimate no brainer meal. Anyone can make it. That might be a stretch, but anyone that can read directions and reach the stove top can make it. Impossible to mess up... right? Wrong.

One of the major downsides of spending half my time in Orange County and half my time at my place in Los Angeles is that perishable food items are hard to come by. I'm never in one place long enough to keep vegetables, eggs or meat. Tonight Eric and I decided to go simple and make some boxed mac n cheese with some sausage. Halfway into cooking the mac we realized we were missing a key ingredient. Milk. But... it only needed two tablespoons. So the chef in me decided to come up with a great alternative. Creamer. French vanilla creamer. Smart right? Wrong. Again.

So while this might look like a great meal... in reality it is cheesy... french vanillay... mac n cheese. Highly recommend NOT trying this recipe. If you don't have have milk. Please, please, for heaven's sake... use WATER.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

look what I found?

As if the teenie tiny kitchen isn't bad enough, we have the most sensitive smoke alarm ever. EVER. This thing doesn't detect smoke, it smells yummy things cooking and decides it wants a taste. It screams and wails until we stand under it flapping a towel in front of it like a maniac. And it usually does this more than once.

Now in the past 9 months I've lived in our playa villa, I've had multiple problems with the stove setting off the smoke alarm. But more recently, every time we open the oven it goes bonkers. It was driving me insane since there was no logical reason for this to be happening.

Well ladies and gentleman, last night when I pulled the fish out of the oven, I found the culprit.

Introducing the roll that got left behind about a month ago when Eric made turkey and soyrizo sliders. I know it looks like charcoal, but I swear it was a roll at some point.