Do you have a temperature reading for the crackle stage? I would love to try this with Special Dark (I think that's the type of chocolate you mean), but I'm not very good at judging candy stages.

How much does this make? I have about 8 21-26 year old guys to accomodate. I need to know if I need to double, triple or quadruple the amounts.

Hi Melissa, the recipe makes one cookie sheet full. Cookie sheets come in different sizes obviously, and the smaller ones will make a thicker roca. I haven't weighed the output, but I would guess that you might want to make two batches of the recipe for these young men, if you want to send them home with some. If this is just a snack, a single recipe should do the trick. ~Elise

Try leaving the nuts out- make the toffee- do the chocolate thing and while it is warm press sliced or ground almonds in the chocolate. Sometimes the almonds in the toffee seem to get too dark- almost burned- this also helps the pieces from sticking together ;)

I just tried to make this and I don't know what I did wrong. I followed every step exactly and after it had only been cooking for 5 minutes or so it started to get really dark and produced a lot of smoke. I took it off the burner but it already had turned to black, inedible mush. What went wrong?

Hi Bree - thanks for your advice, especially the advice on gauging the candy thermometer. I just wrecked a batch of caramels because both of the thermometers I was using were off. Particularly annoying is the CDN instaread thermometer I used; the actual probe is a full inch and a half from the tip of the thermometer, making it practically useless for candy making.

Hi Sarah - I think the temperature was probably too high. Although Myke had said put the temp on high, I've adjusted it now in the recipe to medium high. Make sure you are using a thick-bottomed pan, that will help the mixture heat evenly. Every stove is different - high on one is med high on another. I adjusted the recipe to note that it is hard (at least more me) to distinguish a crackling sound from regular boiling/bubbling. After overcooking one batch, I've gone to a visual method. Given the variability of humidity, altitude, peoples' stoves and pans, I think the best thing to do is experiment and see what works best given your set up.

Hi Annie - thanks for the link!

Hi
I made a double batch of almond roca and it turned out sticky on the bottom I did every thing the recipe said and I even used a candy thermometer. Is there any thing I can do with it besides throw it in the garbage? Someone must have a recipe for "didn't work out roca"

Jennifer

I also tried this last night and Sarah took the words out of my mouth:

> I just tried to make this and I don't know what I
> did wrong. I followed every step exactly and after
> it had only been cooking for 5 minutes or so it
> started to get really dark and produced a lot of
> smoke. I took it off the burner but it already had
> turned to black, inedible mush. What went wrong?
> Posted by: sarah at December 2, 2005 04:36 PM

Thanks for the advice, folks. Back to the drawing board. =) -j.

I tried this yesterday and it turned out a little soft, not as crunchy as I would have liked. I know now that it was because I didn't let it get enough color. I pulled it off the heat as it started to turn color because I was afraid to burn it. Now I know that I need to let it color more. Sometimes you need to try something once to learn what exactly to do next time. By the way...we practically ate the whole thing.

This is almost identical to my recipe except I as soon as I have taken the mixture off of the heat, I add the almonds. I use a glass of cold water next to my stove and after about ten minutes of constant stirring, I keep dropping bits into the water. I just reach in the water and feel the drop. If it's hard, it's perfect, if it's chewy/toffee like, it needs about five more minutes. Also, I use chocolate chips. Much easier to distribute. I make one batch with milk chocolate and one batch with dark. The key with this is to be organized. Have everything ready next to the stove, including your hot pads for under your pan as it gets very hot. You cannot stop stirring, even for a moment.
V.

I made this tonight and it was great but there was a lard type substance on the sides white in color and tasting like pretty much nothing why did this happen did I not cook long enough or perhaps too long? The candy seems just right in hardness and crunch!

I am wondering how I can ice both sides of the almond roca with the chocolate, I read the commentary from Bree, but have not been able to do it.

Ana, it's a little time-consuming but well worth the effort. Our recipe is as follows: 2 sticks butter, 1 and 1/3 c. pure cane sugar, 1 T. corn syrup and 3 T. water. Melt the butter, add the sugar, water and syrup. Stir occasionally and cook to hard crack on a good candy thermometer. Remove from heat and quickly stir in 1 c. coarsely chopped pecans. Pour on a flexible cookie sheet. Allow to cool. Ice with melted milk chocolate and sprinkle with a 1/2 c. finely chopped pecans. When the chocolate sets back up flip the candy over and repeat the chocolate and nuts. Now, to flip it -- cover the candy with waxed paper and another cookie sheet. Flip it and then flex the cookie sheet so the candy will pop off. It usually breaks up a bit. You're going to break it up anyway, broken candy tastes just as good and provides the opportunity for calorie leakage. It takes about 8-10 oz. of milk chocolate. I prefer milk chocolate for this since I ice both sides. I love dark chocolate but on both sides it would overpower the buttery toffee. I've had some problems with the chocolate setting back up this year. I know it's not humidity because we're 12" below normal and under a fire watch. Go figure. Maybe Hershey's has changed their formula.

i made a batch, then another with salt--mmmm, much tastier. i would think the purpose of adding salt would be obvious (flavor) and it did resolve the 'something's not quite right...' feeling i had about the first batch. most gourmet toffee/caramel recipes i've seen call for some.

by the way, the reason for the grittines or granular texture of some attempts is that sugar's very unstable as a liquid. if you stir and happen to knock hardened bits (crystals) in from the side, you will set of a chain reaction that results in gritty caramel/toffee. it's still good for making a sauce out of, though. add some cream/milk or water & reheat until the crystals melt.

Completely forgot to put in the corn syrup and yet it still turned out completely delicious! The dark chocolate on top was a perfect compliment to the flavor of the roca/toffee.

I did the whole "guage your thermometer" thing and luckily my mercury candy thermometer from target was right on the money. Kept it at 300 degrees, just right.

There was the occasional white streak in my chocolate topping as well, I think it is separated fats from the butter rising up or something.

The one thing I was confused about was that this sort of grease like clarified butter separated from the "main goo," the toffee stuff, but that just seemed to grease the pan. Did I do this right? Did leaving out that tablespoon of corn syrup screw things up? The stuff turned out fine and hardened nicely...yet you can crack off pieces easily as the nuts make easy break points...

Any ideas on why that grease separated?

- Matt

The first time I used this recipe I cut it in half and it turned out perfect;however, the next time I made it, I followed the recipe exactly and it didn't come out like the first batch. Then I tried it again and it still didn't turn out, so I went back to cutting the recipe in half and it turned out perfect. My husband loved it, and said just to make it the way I did the first time. Also, the half batch I can spread it pretty thin so my children can eat it. So, for those of you having problems with this recipe try it this way. Cut everything in half except for the almonds. I used the small pack of whole almonds (2/3c.), and I had my 3 year old son take a meat tenderizer hammer and smash the package until all the almonds were crushed. He had fun doing it, and the pieces came out just the right size for him to eat.

Just found this blog and recipe. In our family this is known as almond butter crunch and no family Christmas is complete without it. We actually have been known to use *unsweetened* chocolate to coat it, as even bittersweet was deemed too sweet by some (I find that a lot of U.S. candy recipes are considered too sweet for Canadian tastes). To coat both sides, just wait until the first side has completely dried and the toffee is well set, then turn it over (should be easy enough to do if you have buttered the pan well). You might have to reheat the second portion of chocolate to get it back to spreading consistancy.

I have found that warming the sugar slightly prior to cooking it helps to prevent it breaking. I have also started eyeballing for doneness as I had the same problem with candy thermometers that others describe here. I use a jelly roll pan (with sides) to prevent toffee creep.

Elise, I really have enjoyed visiting your blog, and plan to check out more of your recipes.

I have been making candy for the holidays for over 10 years, and consider myself something of an expert on toffee. While the types of candy I make each year varies, I rotate new ones in and old ones old, the toffee always stays. In fact, I'm up to 3 batches because it's so good! So I'm adding this to my repertoire for 2006. I feel I have to say, to ensure you're going to get the proper hardness, that nice "snap", inexperienced candy makers in particular should not fool around with listening for a "crackle" (which incidentally I never heard) or the looking for a subjective right color. This candy goes from "delicious" to "burned & ruined" in the blink of an eye, and so I cannot stress enough the importance of a candy thermometer - no professional would attempt toffee without it. You want medium low heat, keep stirring, and it must hit the 300 degree mark - and then whisk it off the stove. You can easily leave the nuts out of this recipe, when allergies are a concern and I recommend making a batch one time without the corn syrup - the difference is subtle but noticeable, and some may prefer to leave it out. Incidentally, this makes about 1 1/2 lbs. of toffee - and by the way, this is NOT a caramel, for anyone who thought it may be. It reaches the hard crack stage and has no cream. Caramels are delicious, and tricky too, but this is a fairly authentic English toffee.

Hello

Just read all the comments and found some good suggestions. My husbands Grandparents used to make trays and trays of Roca to give as gifts at Christmas. We got one Christmas to learn the family secret before they passed away. That was years ago. We only use a pound of butter, 2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups Almonds. For some reason lately the mixture seperates into the sugar and oil. Makes a real mess. We have tried different butters thinking the butter was changing but it doesn't seem to help. We are seriously considering giving up the making of Roca as it gets very expensive to ruin 2 or 3 batches. Do you have any suggestions as to what could be causing this? It never used to seperate and was fairly easy to make. Any help would be very much appreciated by us and all the friends who might not get their Roca this year. Thank You!

If the butter and sugar separate....just keep stirring. Don't stop stirring until they go back together (this will take about 10 minutes). When they go back together...your roca is done. Throw in the almonds and pour it in a pan.

Also, there are a lot of different recipes for roca (AKA: butter toffee).......but I follow this simple guideline...25% more sugar than butter. Nothing else....just sugar and butter.

I made a batch of toffee and placed hershey bars to melt on top of the toffee while it was still hot. I let the batch cool at room temperature for about an hour and then put it in the refrigerator overnight. This morning I tried to break it apart and the chocolate would not adhere to the toffee -- it separated. Anybody know what I should do differently?

I tried this tonight and it looked like it came out right, but when I tried a piece it took one of my crowns off! I got it to 300 degrees and it also passed the hard crack test. It set nicely and I tried it before doing the chocolate to make sure it was edible. It's hard when you first start chewing it, but them it gets extremely chewy and sticky. Did I not cook it enough?

Any suggestions as to what I can do with it other than throw it away? I would just be too worried to serve it!

I was curious if the butter seperating was during the cooking process? I thought someone was saying it was when they were frosting with the chocolate.

and to amber, you can either go up and read or follow what i do... make sure to use a large pan as said in the recipe. Mix constantly while the butter is melting and first combining with the sugar, water, corn syrup (make sure to get every drop because it prevents crystalization) mixture. Also make sure that you are using quality ingredients for butter I suggest "challenge" grade AA butter with salt so it gives it a better toffee flavor, C&H Cane sugar. when it reaches the rolling boil continue to stir in a figure 8. I suggest waiting until the mixture is totally bubbling across the surface and is turning more white to add the slivered almonds... otherwise they may start to burn when getting to the warm amber color. And once the almonds are in, stir occassionaly to prevent burning but not too often because it can cause the sugar molecules to collide and start a domino effect crystalization. continue to cook until warm amber color move out onto a jellyroll type pan and place chocolate etc... same as recipe.

But I do have to say my technique was helped by reading the above posts and taking bits out that worked for me and for the area I live in (Bay Area, CA, USA).

Also I HIGHLY suggest Silpat mats. They are SO useful especially in multiple batch situations. :D I bought one tonight for my cooking purposes and I think I'm going to hurt anyone who tries to touch it... it's my own... my precious...

My friend and I tried this today - with both of us begin first time candy cooks our batch of almond roca came out really well. Thanks Elise for putting this recipe up!

There's something I meant to be asking, but I don't see it in the comments (I may have missed it). Why shouldn't this be attempted on humid or rainy days? It worked well for us as where we live is humid and rainy all year round.

Anyway, while making the candy we didn't exactly cook it at med high heat at first. We started off with low heat and increased it slowly once it started boiling. Somehow, it gave us a greater control over the mixture. Hope this helps anyone out there wanting to try this out.

While still warm but not brittle, try taking a cookie cutter to the mixture to make fun shapes like hearts and christmas trees!

Great site! Love your recipes!!!!

I have made toffee/roca many times over the past
several years, and here is a tip that may help: if my butter starts to separate from the sugar when it is cooking, I toss a tiny bit of baking soda into the mix...(maybe a 1/4 of a teaspoon?)..this normally helps the mixture to bind together once again (without having to
stir vigorously.)

I just made this recipe tonight and it turned out great! I kept checking the temperature and was nervous about burning it. However, the color change was very clear and, probably the most helpful was checking for the "hard crack" stage by dropping a little bit into a bowl of water like Rebecca (12/10/2005) suggested: "The almond roca needs to reach 300 degrees or "hard crack" stage. Even then, you need a bowl of ice cold water, drop a teaspoonful of the goop into the cold water and form it into a ball, take it out and throw it hard into your sink. If it cracks, the stuff is done."

Well how our almond roca worked is we did every thing right and it tasted good but it was a lil chewy but hard. What should I do next time?

These comments make me feel better.....I am only 1 for 4 with my almond roca. (Misery loves company, I guess.) My recipe is a lil different...no Karo syrup and 2 tsp almond flavoring. My first batch was nearly perfect....maybe a lil chewy. But the next three have all flopped....with the the roca being grainy/crystalized. I used a candy thermometer...301 degrees. I'm thinking I heated it too fast. And I will use the ice water suggestion, the figure 8 technique and this recipe. I will report back.

Is there anything you can do when you don't cook candy (peanut brittle) long enough and it is sticky? I wondered if putting it in a oven would help.

After two failed attempts at making Almond Roca, it finally worked out. In the first two tries, the butter separated from the rest of the mix once it hit about 250 degrees and it was just grainy slop.

The two things I changed in my first batch were: 1 used salted butter (I used unsalted in my two previous attempts); and I also used my heaviest pot. I had been using a good pot, but not my heaviest one so I switched. I'm not sure if it was the pot or the salted butter that made a difference, or a combination of the two, but my third batch was absolutely delicious! Also, if you are at a higher elevation, it takes a lot longer than 10 minutes!

I followed the recipe carefully. I never saw an amber color because the syrup bubbled too much. When I took it off the heat after about 13 minutes, it separated as if the butter clarified. I used a candy thermometer and it registered 290. Any suggestions?

Robin,
If butter seperates, You can try:
1. Pull it off heat,
2. At a bit hot water to the mixture,
3. Put it back on heat, and stir stir stir, it will come back together eventually.
Bonne chance!

For those of you getting grainy toffee, your sugar is crystalizing. What you should do is leave the mixture, stir only a few times and then with a clean pastry brush and cold water, wash down the sides of the pot.If not the sugar left on the side crystalize and in turn ruin your toffee.
Also if the chocolate is getting white streaks its called fat bloom. Normally it means the chocolate is not tempered. Just try stirring it better.

In response to a comment posted by Strangette: (This tip came from one of the many fabulous candy-makers and bakers on eGullet)
To solve the problem of the toffee side being oily or greasy, simply sprinkle some cocoa powder on it, and then coat with chocolate. The cocoa powder absorbs the extra oil, and helps the chocolate adhere better.
Hope this helps in your next batch.

Great tip, thanks! ~Elise

Can someone help me? When i make my english toffee, and pour it over the cookie sheet, it comes out to thick, what can i do to make it thinner?

Thanks for this recipe! I'm a first time candy maker, and I just finished my first batch of roca. It turned out great! I used a bowl of ice water to dip a spoon of the mixture into to check for hard-crack stage and just did that untill it came out perfect! I had a candy therm. too but I hardly needed it. Thanks to everyone for all the good ideas/input on here.

I was wondering if you can use milk chocolate because I don't like dark chocolate.

You can try it and see if it works for you. Let us know how it turns out. ~Elise

Hello,

I'm looking forward to using this recipe as my husband loves almond roca. It'll be a surprise Christmas present. I'm having a bit of time trying to find lower quality dark chocolate as I can't find regular Hershey's dark chocolate up here in Canada.

I was wondering is Hershey's Premium Dark chocolate (50% cocoa) would work for this recipe. It's either that or Callebaut or Cadbury dark chocolate (not sure on cocoa concentration for these).

Which one would be better to use so it doesn't separate?

Not familiar with the brands in Canada. I doubt the premium Hershey's will work because of the high cocoa butter content. The problem is the cocoa butter, that's what separates out. If you can't find the less expensive chocolate then to avoid the separating, you'll likely have to temper the chocolate first. I don't have instructions on how to do that, but you can look it up online. ~Elise

Almond Roca is a favorite in my family too. Someone asked what to do with the toffee that doesn't come out perfectly. Try chopping it in the food processor and adding to the middle layer of a cake (sprinkle it over the buttercream). Also, I make toffee toll house cookies - follow the recipe on the toll house morsel package and halfway through baking, take the cookie sheet out and put a piece of toffee on each cookie (minus the chocolate coating) and return to the oven to finish baking.

I have never had any luck making toffee with unsalted butter, even if I add salt to the butter as it melts. I don't know why, but this leaves the toffee oily and separated.

When the toffee is completely cooled, I break it into bite sized pieces and dip it in melted chocolate using a fork. I put the coated toffee on parchment and dust with chopped toasted almonds. Some of the earlier issues discussed about chocolate bloom (or separation of cocoa butter in the chocolate are due to the toffee being too warm for the chocolate.

Callebaut or Hershey's (or any brand) will work as long as you temper the melted chocolate and coat the toffee after it is cool. Anyway, even if there is a bloom on the chocolate, the almonds cover it up.

I have tried this recipe many times and have always had much success. However, I now 'double' the recipe starting by melting (1) lb. of butter over medium heat (gas burner...sorry, electric stove tops just don't cut it for me..). Then I add (2) cups of sugar, (6) tbls. water, and (2) tbls. Karo corn syrup in a large non-stick pot. I like to use a wooden spoon to stir all of the ingredients with until it comes to a full roiling boil. I would highly recommend using a candy thermometer once in a boiling stage. I don't think you have to be continously stirring all of the time as if you were making fudge...just keep an eye on it and let it do it's thing until the thermometer hits 300 degrees, you do have to stir though...just not every second! At this point the mixture may or may not be ready! I usually take it all the way up to 325 degrees when the color is a nice brown (paper bag) color. Even though the hard crack stage on a thermometer says 300 degrees doesn't make it so...I have made a few batches where the toffee was a little 'soft' to my liking so this is where you have to rely on your eye to make sure the color is BROWN before pouring it out. Also, I use (1) cup of walnuts in the toffee mixture instead of almonds...(I use slivered almonds on top of the melted chocolate). Here's the trick that works for me: take the toffee mixture up to 325 degrees then add the nuts. I will microwave the cup of nuts for 1 min. so as not to completely 'shock' the mixture. You will notice a drop in temperature after adding the nuts and this is normal. Also, if you use walnuts you will see some separation from the oil of the nuts, this is normal too. Stir the nuts in and then watch the thermometer carefully until it reaches 325 degrees THEN pour it out on to your cookie pan (I use a smaller one so it makes a thicker toffee). I wait until the toffee starts to set up before I add a 12oz. bag of melted Hershey's milk chocolate. Using a plastic spatula spreading the melted chocolate over the toffee I sprinkle slivered almonds over the entire batch and cover with wax paper and then press the almonds in to it so it can set up in the chocolate. If prepared right your awesome almond roca should break up nicely and even more so should taste as good (if not better!) than the Big candy maker! Try this recipe out and impress yourself, friends and family!

I have to say, I tried this (a variation of) recipe today (1 lb butter, 2 cups sugar, no water, 1 tblsp of corn syrup and 1 tsp vanilla). I read every blog and have to thank all of you. First of all, the candy thermometer was worth every penny $10. I listened to all of you (except for the boiling turning to a crackling sound, as my daughters were listening to Britney Spears in the next room). I didn't panic when the butter and sugar separated. I patiently kept stirring with my wooden spoon until they congealed. I waited for the amber color, till it hit 300 degrees and tested a small amount in a cold glass of water. I made 3 perfect batches. Two with almonds, 1 with cashews. YUM! I have to say, I used different chocolate and a different method, but it all worked out great. So, thank you to ALL!

Hi Everybody, I found this blog after messing up my almond roca and I have no idea what went wrong. I've done this recipe before and it turned out fine but this time it didn't harden at all! Did i stir it too much (i stirred constantly) or did I not cook it enough (I took it off when it was the color of peanut butter. I was gonna keep it on longer but the butter started separating from the mixture and I thought that I overdid it?)
Any ideas on what went wrong would be greatly appreciated!

A few things I've learned:

If it's crumbly or soft, it hasn't been cooked long enough. If it's not brittle but extremely hard and tough, it's possible it's been cooked too long.
I've been struggling with the 'clear bitter liquid' for ages, and I've found that overcooking will get it nearly every time, and using water (early on) gives me a lot more tolerance. Adding it while you're still cooking near the end works too but you don't have long; as soon as the water cooks off it'll seperate again. Corn syrup also gave me more time to get things to the right place but I have no doubt if I'd cooked it a little longer it would have seperated.

If you pour it into the pan after it seperates, wait until it's just cooled enough to stay in the pan and pour it off into the sink (or wherever, it's incredibly bitter if you let more than a slight skin stay on there). You'll end up with less candy but it'll taste just fine.
If your candy is too crumbly, just break it up chocolate, nuts, and all, and add it to ice cream (topping or mix-in). We gave out a few canisters of the stuff this year with explicit instructions to that effect.

A friend had me over to teach me, so I stayed 3 hours and watched as well as helped make 12 batches (they had completed 8 before I got there) All batches were perfect, using just butter and sugar and a candy thermometer to 312 degrees. So I went home and tried it myself with no success. I have a gas stove, am at 5000 feet and rarely get a cloudy day. Every time I get to about 250 degrees the temp starts to fall rapidly and separate. I tried adding a little water and stirring hard till it reincorporated then back on the heat and I got it up to 280 before it plummeted again. I have ruined 6 batches now

I'm on a roll! I can't keep this candy around for more than a few days. I have made many, many batches, all successful. I make it with walnut too. I want to pass on what I think is an important variable - the humidity. First, follow the recipe, read the comments and be sure to use a large non-stick pan. Now for humidity:

50% to 60% - commercial, crisp candy that will have them begging for more.

60% to 70% - a little softer candy, harder to manage once you pour it out. Perfectly acceptable and delicious.

70% to 75% - Crumbly candy, but still tasty, A little grainy and hard to manage. You have to spread it out fast. One of my friends love 72% candy.

I wouldn't try with anything over 75%. Good luck everyone.

I have just spent a good hour reading through all the great comments, tips and recipe variations, thanks for all your inspirations. I made a great 'rocca' several years ago and do not recall having any problems - mislaid the recipe though and found this site whilst looking for suggestions. We used to make toffee to hold together our croquembouche and used 'liquid glucose' in with the sugar and water for that toffee...I'm wondering whether this may be a good substitute for the corn syrup? I will be trying this when my nephew comes to stay next week, so will post back a comment then... in the meantime does anyone have a good recipe for honeycomb?

I made this last night, my first attempt at making candy, and I was stoked that I pulled it off. I think it came out great, and so did the people at work. I'm surprised by this because things didn't go as I thought they might:

I attempted to use the candy thermometer, but in the end I had to rely on the "peanut butter test" mentioned in some of the other comments (btw, thanks everyone...very, very helpful!). The candy thermometer wasn't working for me for two reasons: 1.) I'm an idiot and didn't realize it had a clip you can use to attach it to the pan and 2.) after stirring constantly, and what seemed like forever the consistency of the mixture was more like peanut butter or oatmeal loaded with almond slivers so the thermometer wasn't really sitting in anything you could call a liquid.

Basically the mixture was breaking up into three large chunks that were not conducive to stirring. At about this point I also noticed the butter separating so I stirred as best I could to try to get it to reincorporate. The color was just about right after a minute or so of this so I decided to "pour" it onto the cookie sheet.

Mashed it down with a fork, covered it with broken up Hershey's minutures (1/2 milk chocolate and half special dark) and let it cool on the counter over night.

In the end this came out great. It's got the crunch/texture/whatever that I was hoping for. Thanks for the recipe! This helps further my nefarious plan to turn the world diabetic :)

(I do wonder why, at the end, the mixture was so dry. I did mix this up in a frying pan, on medium or slightly lower heat, on a gas range. I don't know if any of those factors are important.)