Chocolate Pecan Toffee

What to do with those left over nuts from your Thanksgiving baking frenzy.... I think this says it all.

I had left over pecans after making a sinful little pecan pie cakelet  for Thanksgiving, from Teenie Cakes
So, decided to do what every good co-worker baker does and make some pecan toffee to share for the beginning of the holidays.

Hot sugar and butter.... a beautiful sight.

    Gooey bliss!

And it only gets better with some chocolate.

Chocolate Pecan Toffee

Adapted from Tartine

The Tartine cookbook is my baking good luck charm. I would sleep with it under my pillow if I believed in all that stuff. 

This recipe is super easy. If you have never experimented with heating sugar, just be super careful the stuff is molten hot. Have a bowl of cold water just in case you burn yourself. Read through the recipe before you start and make sure to have all your ingredients premeasured and ready to go. Once the sugar starts cooking you don't have a lot of time to read or to stop to measure.

Warning this is a very addictive confection!

2 cups chopped Pecans toasted

1 and 3/4 cups sugar

3 tablespoons water

1/2 cup butter 

1 tsp dark molasses

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

5 oz of Bittersweet chocolate, chopped (you could also use chocolate chips)

Preheat the Oven to 325 and toast the pecans until they are golden brown, about 7 minutes

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the pecans over the bottom of the prepared pan. You can reserve some pecans for topping, I omitted this step simply because I forgot.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, water, butter, molasses and salt. Place over medium high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches about 295 F on a thermometer. (My candy thermometer is inaccurate at best so I  let mine get to about 300 F)

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. The mixture will bubble up a bit so be careful. Remember hot sugar is hot!

Pour the hot mixture evenly over the pecans. Work quickly as it will begin to set. If you need to spread the mixture out, use a lightly oiled spatula

When the toffee has cooled a bit, spread the chocolate over the warm toffee and let the heat of the toffee melt the chocolate. Smooth it out with a spatula. You can then sprinkle the remaining pecans over the top. Let it cool completely.

Break the cooled sheet of toffee into pieces. It will keep in an airtight container for several weeks, if it lasts that long.