Easy Pecan Toffee (Corn Syrup Free)
Making your own candy at home may seem daunting, but you might be surprised that it’s simpler than you might think! Give it a try with our Easy Pecan Toffee that’s corn syrup-free, requires only a few ingredients, and a little bit of time, for an uncomplicated candy making experience!
It’s Candy Season! Not only for Halloween this week, but also this is the perfect time to get ready for the upcoming Holiday season and start thinking about some delicious homemade holiday gifts. Our latest homemade candy recipe is one that my whole family loves, and we thoroughly enjoyed the recipe testing process because this Easy Pecan Toffee is a good one, friends! Like most of our candy, this one is corn syrup-free and is delicious with the crunch and flavor you want from a toffee, and it’s easier than you might think to make!
Ingredients Needed
- Butter – The base of the toffee. We use salted butter, but you can, of course, use unsalted, too.
- White Sugar – The other key ingredient for the toffee base.
- Chocolate Chips – Or your other favorite chocolate melt. We opted for Milk Chocolate Chips, but a semi-sweet or even dark chocolate would also be delicious.
- Pecans – While this may be called a Pecan Toffee, it can also be an Almond, Walnut, Hazelnut… whatever nut is your favorite, Toffee!
- Water – Just a touch.
- Vanilla Extract – Optional, but adds great flavor. Another extract would be fun too, like almond or hazelnut.
- Baking Soda – A key ingredient to this toffee that helps add tiny air bubbles to the sugar and butter to create a crispier, less dense texture.
- Ginger and Cinnamon – Just a little to tie all of the flavors together.
Helpful Tools
(Amazon affiliate links)- You can find all of my kitchen essentials here!
Kitchen Scale – One of the best ways to ensure accurate and consistent results is to weigh ingredients. That’s why our kitchen scale is one of my most used kitchen tools and it’s been worth every penny (which wasn’t a lot since they’re so affordable!)
Thermometer – A super important tool for all candy making. This will help you ensure that you’ve reached the hard crack stage of the candy making process (more on that below). You don’t have to have one (see recipe notes), although it will definitely make this (and future candy making!) a lot easier.
Baking Tray – Lined with either parchment paper or a silicone mat, this is what you’ll layer your toffee on. For this recipe, I use a small 13 1/2 X 11 tray.
Saucepan – A 3-quart saucepan will allow plenty of room for when the sugar and butter cook and foam. You’ll also want a smaller saucepan for the double boiler to melt the chocolate, that is, unless you have an actual double boiler, which would be even more helpful!
Spatula – To help spread that melted chocolate on top of the toffee.
Whisk – Or a fork, whichever you have/prefer.
Mixing Bowls – We love these glass mixing bowls and use them for everything!
Easier Than You Think to Make
Toast Pecans
While candy can be daunting, this recipe is a great homemade candy to start with because the steps are fairly simple. The first step, toasting the pecans to enhance their flavor! Not a pecan fan? No problem, swap ’em out for your favorite nut!
Make the Candy
The candy part of the toffee is the most technical part of the recipe, but as long as you follow our step-by-step instructions and read through our Recipe Tips, you’ll be ready to go! For this step, you will need to heat the candy to the hard crack stage to get that perfect toffee crunch!
Hard Crack Candy Stage
This is the stage where the candy heats to 300°F – 310°F. This is the stage where most of the water has been cooked off, and therefore it forms brittle threads when it is cooled, resulting in a nice crispy snap of the candy.
Cool
Once the butter and sugar have been heated to the right temperature, baking soda is added (to add those necessary little air bubbles), then it can be poured out onto a parchment paper-lined baking tray to cool.
Temper Chocoltae and Add Pecans
Once cool, your melted chocolate is ready to be layered on top, and the chopped pecans added ASAP to stick to the chocolate before it sets.
Let Cool
Let it cool in the fridge for it all to set together into a delicious Easy Pecan Toffee – that’s corn syrup free!
Once it’s cool and fully set, break that beautiful slab of toffee goodness into fun shapes!
The right amount of crunch (that isn’t too hard) with a delightful chocolate pecan layer on top. This homemade candy’ll be on our holiday gift-giving list this year!
You Also Might Like
- Homemade Pralines
- Homemade Peppermint Patties
- Homemade Andes Mints
- Chocolate Crunch Bars
- Coryn Syrup Peanut Brittle
- Copycat Butterfinger Candy Bites
Recipe Tips
The first step to this recipe is to get everything in place. Gather the ingredients and set out the tools and equipment that are needed. That way, it’s all ready to go when it’s needed. Because candy making is dependent upon specific temperatures, having everything ready to go when you start will make the whole process much easier.
This is a really important step to ensure that your butter and sugar melt together and heat well. If the heat is too high, the butter will burn. If the heat is uneven, you run the risk of the butterfat separating from the sugar and water (this will happen if the heat starts at one temperature and then is adjusted one way or the other). In our recipe testing, we also found that heating it too low will cause separation as well. Keep the temp at a nice consistent medium/medium low.
This will ensure that the candy has enough room to foam as it cooks. Also, because this is hot candy, be very careful (especially when kiddos are helping) because the hot candy can be dangerous on unprotected skin.
This is a key ingredient to help add some air bubbles to the candy that will “lighten” the crunch, so to speak.
When you put your thermometer into your pan, be sure that it’s not touching the bottom of the pan, as this will read higher than the liquid itself.
No problem! Just use the Cold Water Test as outlined in the Recipe Notes.
Have those pecans ready once that chocolate layer is added and smoothed over the candy. This will ensure that it all sticks in the chocolate as it sets.
Our Easy Pecan Toffee is another candy we can take off of our store-bought list and make at home so that we know exactly what’s in it, and what’s not!
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
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Easy Pecan Toffee
Equipment
- saucepans
- glass bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup sugar 200 g
- 12 oz chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Mise En Place: Prep the ingredients and equipment needed and have them all ready to go.
- Toast Pecans: Preheat oven to 350℉ and add pecans to a baking tray and toast in the oven for 5-6 minutes on the center rack. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before finely chopping. Set aside in a bowl.
- Prep Tray: Add parchment paper to the baking tray and set aside.
- Create Candy: Add the butter, sugar, 1 tablespoon of cold water, cinnamon, and ginger to a 3 quart saucepan and heat on medium-low. (with it a tad more to the medium) Whisk as the butter melts so the sugar mixes with the butter, and the spices are all mixed in. Heat at a consistent heat, stirring occasionally as it bubbles. Heat until 300℉ and then remove from the heat and quickly add the baking soda and mix and then add the vanilla extract and mix. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
- Let Cool: Quickly pour the hot candy onto the parchment paper lined tray. Give the tray a gentle shake to let the candy settle into an even layer. Let cool at room temperature.
- Melt Chocolate: After about 15 minutes of the candy cooling, start to melt the chocolate. Heat a small saucepan of water on high and place a medium-sized glass bowl on top (or use a double boiler). Bring the water to a boil and then add the chocolate chips to the bowl. Mix and stir to allow the chocolate to melt.
- Layer Chocolate and Nuts: Remove from the heat once there are just a few lumps left to prevent overheating. Give another couple of mixes for the final melt, and then use a pot holder to move the bowl to the candy and use a spatula to pour chocolate on top of the candy and spread it over the candy in an even layer. Quickly add the chopped pecans to the chocolate. Very gently press the top of the nuts to ensure they stick and set within the chocolate.
- Let Cool: Add the tray to the fridge and let cool and set for at least 15-20 minutes.
- Crack: Once fully cool, crack the toffee into (whatever size desired) pieces and enjoy!
We are having a 5th of November party (Guy Fawks night in the UK) and wanted a sweet treat to give out to guests. I remember, as a kid, when my parents would have 5th of November parties they would make treacle toffee wrapped in baking paper. I wanted something similar but not treacle toffee as I was never a fan.
So I made this pecan toffee today and it is perfect. Just the right sweetness, just the right crunch and so easy to make! Cant wait for my guest to try it!
I’ve put it in the fridge just to be sure it won’t go sticky, but it is very cold here now so I am sure it will be fine.
Pinned for next year
I love to hear that, Claire! Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to leave a review. What a great trip down memory lane for a party!
This toffee was so good! The exact instructions and tools needed made it super easy to follow.
So glad you enjoyed it, Jen! Thanks so much for sharing!