Sugarpalooza (and Hazelnut Butter Toffee)
My sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew, and my mom and dad were here yesterday for our annual baking day. All 10 of us in 800 square feet with nuts toasting, sugar on the floor, and dress-up clothes carpeting the living room. It was one of those days where I intensely wished for a bigger house, but my kitchen was up to it. What a hardworking, accommodating bit of space it is. It’s where our life happens. The kitchen table is the only work surface in the house, so the afternoon found my dad working at Wyatt’s little desk, knees up to his ears.
We made English toffee, bittersweet chocolate fudge, Russian teacakes, cranberry pinwheels, thumbprints, shortbread cut-outs, spritz cookies, chocolate peppermint cookies, and pecan butter cookies. No way am I going to feature all those recipes here and induce diabetic comas across the region. Just being around all that sugar makes me want to go on a week-long celery diet.
After everyone had left, Wyatt said, “I liked today because I could always come into the kitchen and help with something.” Thank God for grandparents and aunts who seem to be infinitely more patient with supervising children “helping” than I am. While I hovered over my candy thermometer and did dishes, my sister helped the kids decorate Santa sleighs and my Dad made a “Dr. Seuss” Christmas tree with them. On days when I let my kids watch cartoons all day, remind me they had this day, too.
Here is one of my offerings–butter toffee with toasted hazelnuts and bittersweet chocolate. As I was prying it off the baking sheet and cracking it into sweet shards, all of the sudden I was surrounded by hands, big and small, sneaking bits. It keeps perfectly, and looks beautiful in a cellophane bag with a bow. As of today, it still doesn’t tempt me at all, but I aim to give it away soon. Otherwise, I’ll be up in the middle of the night, the crackling cellophane giving me away.
Hazelnut Butter Toffee
Makes one cookie sheet-full, or about 1/2 lb and enough for 3 gifts. Adapted from the Seattle PI, back when it was around and I blessedly got it on my doorstep every morning. I didn’t own a candy thermometer until last year when I bought one for $8.00 at Safeway to make this toffee. You really need one to make this, but it won’t break the bank, and it sure is cheaper than buying your Christmas gifts at the mall. I made one batch with almonds and one with hazelnuts. Both were delicious, but I liked the hazelnut better. Oh–one more thing. I buy my bittersweet chocolate at Trader Joe’s–those giant “pound plus” Belgian bars for under $4. Best deal anywhere.
1 cup (two sticks) butter, plus a little extra for buttering the saucepan and baking sheet
1 c. sugar
3 Tb. water
1 Tb. light corn syrup
1 c. chopped almonds or hazelnuts, toasted
3/4 c. finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (or semisweet chocolate chips)
Butter the sides of a heavy 2-qt. saucepan, then melt 1 c. butter in it. Butter a baking sheet with sides (jellyroll pan).
To toast hazelnuts or almonds, spread out on a baking sheet and toast at 350–about 8 minutes for hazelnuts, 10 for almonds. To skin hazelnuts, spread warm nuts in a clean dishtowel and rub them. Many (not all) of the papery skins will come off. Don’t worry about the stubborn ones.
Add sugar, water, and corn syrup, cooking and stirring over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture boils. Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture reaches 290 degrees, watching carefully after 280 degrees. (Note: The temperature will hover close to boiling, 212 degrees, for awhile as the water boils off. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can leave the pan unattended or stop watching the temperature. One the excess water is gone, the temperature will shoot up fast.)
From from heat and quickly and carefully stir in 1/2 c. of almonds.
Carefully pour the hot mixture onto the buttered baking sheet. After 3 minutes (and not a second less, as I discovered), sprinkle the surface with chocolate. When the chocolate begins to melt, spread it evenly over the candy. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top.
Chill until firm (at least 15 minutes), then break into pieces. (Note: Slip a spatula under a corner of the toffee and lift to easily remove chunks from the pan.)
OOh How fun this sounds and looks!! I have a few baking days coming up on the calender with friends, one of my favorite things to do this time of year!!
This toffee looks yum! so do the cranberry pinwheels….wonder if I could get you to pass that recipe along:)
wanted to mention to you that I made the goat cheese stuffed dates as Thanksgiving day appetizers, and made the turkey butternut squash chili after thanksgiving–yum!, and I made the cranberry/rosemary punch for a holiday open house my mom and bob had last weekend…yum! I am planning to make your sangria to have for one of the baking days mentioned above!:)
i love envisioing all of you around that kitchen working together. i can imagine the smells, the energy, the fun. love it.
OH man that toffee looks amazing! I made some with almonds last year and I bet hazelnuts would be a great addition. All those sweet treats you made sound delicious too. I need to get serious about my Christmas baking. I have lots to do!
yeah for trader joe’s and grandparents and aunties & uncles.
What great memories you and your family are creating! I baked cookies this afternoon and tried a new recipe called “Helgas.” My neighbor gave me a plate of them and attached the recipe. Her note said she always “has success with them.” They require a “thumb print” indentation, and I always have trouble with the thumb print thing! Most of the little wells closed up during baking. A dab of cream cheese frosting goes into the thumbprint, followed by a drizzle of chocolate. I guess I can’t go too wrong even if they don’t look great!
What a wonderful feeling for our whole family to come home to your little gift left on our porch. When I saw it, I said, “Ooooo, I hope it’s from Sarah!” I wish you could have seen the boys giddy with excitement as they ran it into the house and wrestled it open.
I bet Wyatt and Loretta helped with the snowflakes… please tell them they’re beautiful.
PDS and the kids aren’t home yet… so for the record, I think you forgot to put to put any of the Hazelnut Butter Toffee in there. No really, the fact that I’m a toffee freak has NOTHING to do with the lack of toffee in that box.
Thank you! We feel very blessed.
I’m with jordan…i love imagining all of you crammed in your kitchen. where did you possibly store all those cookies as they cooled???? too bad i don’t live close enough to receive a gift of cookies from you…i also have my eye on those cranberry pinwheels. can you post it? please?
We stored them in pizza boxes I got from Cash and Carry. A caterer’s secret
And don’t worry– I think we’ll do enough eating together at New Years that not getting a box of cookies will fade into distant memory…
mmmmm…i’m already contemplating the options. ps…apparently the splendid table interviewed david chang yesterday. i have yet to hear it, but i’m going to look it up.
Ok Bethany, you need to give us the secret to the spritz cookie. Yancey is the only one who could get that_ _ _ gun to work and only after much difficulty.We were ready to trash the whole thing,
Glad we didn’t, they melted in our mouths…….thanks, I have the pinwheel cranberry recipe.
Do you want me to email it to you?
Hi Mom. Maybe you could send the recipe with Papa tonight. I’ll post it for everyone to see since Bethany’s is not the first request.
hey peg. i’m glad you enjoyed the spritz, even without the fancy shaping gun thing. i actually never grew up with them made in those forms. my mom always just plopped a lump on the cookie sheet and pressed half a candied cherry in the middle. they are the rustic version.
i loved eating all around the candied cherry and saving that for the last bite. even as i type this i can taste them. i’m going to a cookie exchange thing this week (i could only hope the cookies i get back are as delicious as the ones posted here) and my contribution will be the spritz. thanks for the inspiration. oh, and what kind of fat did you use in the cookie?
P.S. The day was the most fun I’ll have all xmas season, I’m quite sure, and it will be last cookies I make as well.
Sounds like you were holiday baking superwoman!
I love making toffee and this looks amazing. I’ve always used almonds, but I love the idea of using hazelnuts (especially since they are local). I guess I should start on all my holiday gifts soon!
I wish you would share all those recipes. If you and your family make them, they must be good!
Cranberry pinwheels? Yum. Is this your creation as well?
How wonderful to have a day like this with your family. Mine only wants to eat my treats, not help me make them. Toffee is one of my very favorite things in the world. I make a peanut one and have already done it four times this month!
Yes! Cranberry pinwheels! We were down in Portland this weekend - visiting friends, going to the Nutcracker and eating lots of good food. Thought of you. It is my baking weekend coming up…going to try your toffee. Take care!
I may join you on your celery diet! Although being diabetic, I can leave the sweets well enough alone - its the cheese and crackers that are my holiday nemesis!
Hint: Do you have World Market’s by you? I routinely find AWESOME chocolates there and they are usually .99 cents each. Over the summer I made kicked up smores using sea salt dark chocolate from there and everyone raved how good it was.
Ditto on TJ choc bars. I trek all the way to Minneapolis for those babies.
i’m obsessively checking your blog for a cranberry pinwheel recipe….hint, hint.
Ditto to what Bethany just wrote!
I buy packets of something that looks very similar to this at an exhorbitant price at a local market. It is so addictive. I am not sure if discovering your blog and recipe is a good thing or a bad thing though as I am sure I am going to be making (and eating) tons of these without having to wait for the monthly market!