This delicious salted caramel toffee is topped with a layer of chocolate and sprinkled with fleur de sel. It is hard but crumbly and has great flavor thanks to lots of butter!
Recipe ingredients and notes:
- Please be sure to use baking chocolate bars and not chocolate chips or chocolate morsels for this recipe. Chocolate chips and morsels are often designed to keep their shape when heated and therefore have stabilizers in them. Because of that they don't melt as well as well as chopped bar chocolate.
How to make it:
See full ingredient amounts and instructions in the recipe card below!
Step 1. Start by lining a 7 inch by 11 inch glass or metal baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
Step 2. Add butter, brown sugar, white sugar and cream to a saucepan.
Step 3. Heat the mix, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the butter is melted and the sugars are fully dissolved.
Step 4. Stop stirring and stick a candy thermometer into the saucepan. Let the mix go all the way into the hard crack stage (300 to 310 degrees Fahrenheit).
NOTE: Hot caramel is very dangerous so do be very careful. Do not, under any circumstances, touch the caramel OR the pot!
Step 5. Take off the heat, then carefully stir in vanilla extract. Pour the hot caramel into the baking pan and let sit for a minute.
Step 6. Mix bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate in a bowl. Spoon the chocolate on top of the still hot toffee.
Step 7. Once the chocolate is melted, evenly spread it around. You can use an offset spatula, a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon for that.
Step 8. Sprinkle with fleur de sel, then let the chocolate solidify.
How to serve it:
Using a large knife, cut the toffee up into small pieces. Serve this toffee as a sweet snack or package it up nicely and give as a homemade gift.
Recipe notes & tips:
- It will take a while to get the caramel to 300 degrees F. Don't be alarmed if the thermometer doesn't seem to move. The mix will heat up to around 200 degrees F. quickly and then very slowly move to 300 degrees.
- A tip for cleaning the saucepan after you've made the toffee: Let the saucepan cool, then fill it with hot tap water and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. After that it will clean up very easily.
Toffee vs. caramel:
Toffee is basically a hard version of caramel. Both toffee and caramel are made from sugar, along with either cream or butter or both. And both have the characteristic (and delicious) flavor you get from heating and lightly burning sugar. But while caramel is soft and chewy, toffee is hard and crumbly.
Do caramel and toffee taste the same?
Caramel and toffee taste very similar. Both are made by cooking sugar and therefore have the rich and sweet flavor of caramelized sugar.
More delicious caramel desserts:
- Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Rosemary Caramel7 Hours 50 Minutes
Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how you liked it in the comments below! Thank you!
Full Printable Recipe
Salted Caramel Toffee
Equipment:
- measuring cups and spoons
- large knife and cutting board
- 7 inch by 11 inch glass or metal baking pan
- parchment paper
- heavy-bottom saucepan
- wooden spoon
- candy thermometer
- offset spatula or rubber spatula
Ingredients:
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped*
- 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped*
- fleur de sel
Instructions:
- Line a 7 inch by 11 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and cream to a saucepan. Heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the sugar is fully dissolved.**
- Stop stirring and stick a candy thermometer into the saucepan. Boil the mix, untouched, until it reaches the hard crack stage (300 to 310 degrees F.)*** (Be careful, 300 degrees F. is extremely hot and dangerous. Do not, under any circumstances, touch the caramel OR the pot.)
- Take off the heat and, very carefully, standing back, stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the hot mix into the baking pan and let sit for a minute.
- Mix the chopped chocolate, then sprinkle it over the hot toffee. Let sit until it starts to melt.
- Evenly spread the chocolate over the toffee using an offset spatula or a rubber spatula.
- Sprinkle with fleur de sel.
- Once the chocolate has solidified, cut the toffee into pieces.
Notes:
- When you stop hearing it crunch.
- When you can't feel any grittiness in the saucepan any more as you're stirring with the wooden spoon.
Hayden
Everyone absolutely loved this. The first toffee I have made that doesn't stick into your teeth or break your jaw when you bite it. Melts in your mouth and the salty kick is perfect.
Thank you for the recipe, will make every Christmas!
Nicole B.
Hi there! Thanks so much for trying out this recipe and for leaving such great feedback, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Shanon H.
I just made this recipe and it turned out PERFECT! Its so yummy ! Thank you!!
Nicole B.
Thank you SO much for letting me know, Shanon! That is wonderful to hear! :)