Today is my birthday. I am a woman of a certain age and I think it is worthy of celebrating, so I made one of my favorite candies, chocolate-covered toffee, with a hit of coffee. I never buy Health Heath Bars, but every year I manage to convince my boys to give me them from their Halloween bags. This year was no different. Then on my travels for the book tour I ended up with the ultimate version, which has completely ruined me to the Hershey’s product. Not so sweet, a powerful kick of coffee and really lovely bittersweet chocolate. The maker is Poco Dolce and Samantha at Omnivore Books in San Fran turned me onto them after our book signing there. I love her and hate her for that! I bought several varieties and all of them were delicious, but the little bag of coffee toffee was like a bag of chips, you can’t eat just one. I brought them home and considered not sharing with my husband, but after leaving him at home for 9 days with the boys I figured it was the least I could do to share my candies. Big mistake. He ate them all. Well not really, but they were gone. I had only one choice, make my own. It is surprisingly easy and perfect for wrapping up as holiday gifts or just hiding in your desk drawer, or both.
Every year my husband and my boys set off on the loving task of baking my birthday cake. This year my husband outdid himself and made a devil’s food cake with cream cheese icing and a fresh raspberry filling. You can see his lovely work at the end of the post.
Below you can see me make the recipe step by step and you’ll find the recipe at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!
How to Make Chocolate Covered Coffee Toffee
Prepare a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment or wax paper
In a medium-sized heavy-bottomed saucepan, with a Candy Thermometer
Continue to cook and stir the mixture until it reads 275 on the candy thermometer.
The mixture will be much thicker. Stir constantly until it reaches 315 degrees, which will happen pretty quickly. Remove it from the heat and stir until very smooth, just a few seconds.
Pour the toffee onto the prepared cookie sheet.
Using a spatula spread the toffee out into a 1/16-inch thick rectangle. try to keep it as even as possible. Work quickly because the toffee will set fast.
Using a Pastry Wheel
You should get about 60 pieces. Again work quickly so the toffee doesn’t set before you are done.
Allow the toffee to sit until it is room temperature and then break apart the pieces.
Melt the chocolate over a double boiler until perfectly smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to just above room temperature. If the chocolate is too hot it will run off the toffee and not give you a nice coating, if it is too cold it will be too thick to work with.
Set up a second cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment or wax paper.
Drop a piece of the toffee into the chocolate. If the chocolate is a touch warm the toffees may crackle a bit, but that is fine.
Using a fork flip the toffee over to coat the other side.
lift the covered toffee from the chocolate and shake gently to allow the excess to fall away and any large air bubbles to come to the surface. As the chocolate cools down the air bubbles may have to be popped by hand. once this starts to happen, just return the chocolate to the double boiler and reheat for a minute to soften the chocolate slightly.
In order to get a nice smooth bottom, without a bunch of excess chocolate (otherwise known as a “foot”) you want to scrape the bottom of the fork on the edge of the bowl before laying it to set on the parchment.
Lay them on the parchment until they set up.
Continue dipping until they are all covered in chocolate. Allow them to sit out in a cool spot to set up. Because we are not tempering the chocolate (that is another post) you may want to set them in the refrigerator for a few minutes until they are firm.
You will have a bit of chocolate left over so you can add some decoration to the tops if you wish with a parchment bag. Allow the decorations to set up and then serve or
Fill decorative Treat Bag
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound 2 sticks/226g unsalted butter
- 1 cup 200g granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons 75g brown sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons 90ml water
- 1 tablespoon 15ml molasses
- 3 teaspoons instant coffee powder I like Starbucks VIA
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate melted and cooled to just above room temperature
Instructions
- Prepare a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment or wax paper.
- In a medium sized heavy-bottomed sauce pan, with a Candy Thermometer attached, bring all the ingredients, except for the chocolate, to a boil over medium-low heat. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until it reads 275 degrees F on the candy thermometer.
- The mixture will be much thicker. Stir constantly until it reaches 315 degrees, which will happen pretty quickly. Remove it from the heat and stir until very smooth, just a few seconds.
- Pour the toffee onto the prepared cookie sheet.
- Using a spatula spread the toffee out into a 1/16-inch thick rectangle. try to keep it as even as possible. Work quickly because the toffee will set fast.
- Using a Pastry Wheel or pizza cutter, VERY GENTLY (you don't want to cut so deep that it actually reaches the bottom or you may destroy your silpat) score the toffee into bite sized pieces.
You should get about 60 pieces. Again work quickly so the toffee doesn't set before you are done. Allow the toffee to sit until it is room temperature and then break apart the pieces. - Melt the chocolate over a double boiler until perfectly smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to just above room temperature. If the chocolate is too hot it will run off the toffee and not give you a nice coating, if it is too cold it will be too thick to work with.
- Set up a second cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Drop a piece of the toffee into the chocolate. If the chocolate is a touch warm the toffees may crackle a bit, but that is fine. Using a fork flip the toffee over to coat the other side.
- Lift the covered toffee from the chocolate and shake gently to allow the excess to fall away and any large air bubbles to come to the surface. As the chocolate cools down the air bubbles may have to be popped by hand. Once this starts to happen, just return the chocolate to the double boiler and reheat for a minute to soften the chocolate slightly.
- In order to get a nice smooth bottom, without a bunch of excess chocolate (otherwise known as a "foot") you want to scrape the bottom of the fork on the edge of the bowl before laying it to set on the parchment. Lay them on the parchment until they set up.
- Continue dipping until they are all covered in chocolate. Allow them to sit out in a cool spot to set up. Because we are not tempering the chocolate you may want to set them in the refrigerator for a few minutes until they are firm.
- You will have a bit of chocolate left over so you can add some decoration to the tops if you wish with a parchment bag. Allow the decorations to set up and then serve.
Thanks Graham, it is the best cake ever. I love you!
Your toffee-coffee candy sounds amazing!
Happy 27th Birthday!!!
Whoops. Guess I should put on my glasses. I mis-read EXcluding. Sorry.
Hi Suzette,
Glad you figured it out, let me know if you have any other questions! Enjoy the toffee!
Cheers, Zoë
I am confused. You say to put all ingred. in the pot including the chocolate but then tell us to melt the chocolate to cover the toffee. Which is it?
Hello Zoë,
Great looking sweets! The toffee recipe I’ve been enjoying (from david lebovitz) uses half the butter for equiv. sugar — if I’m not missing something. So a burning question for my engineering mind is whether you have insight on the ratio of butter/fat to sugars and how it relates to the finished product, assuming all other variables remain the same? Is it just more decadent with extra butter or will the texture and/or brittleness change?
I contemplate the same questions with caramels…
Hi Wayne,
Like many things in baking, there is not just one way to get there. The more butter in the candy the richer the flavor and texture will be. It will have a slightly softer bite (still brittle, but a touch creamier) to it than one made with less butter. The only way to determine the ratio you like best is to try many recipes. This will be the same issue with caramels.
Enjoy the research! Zoë
Zoe, I drooled over these toffees when you posted them last year and vowed to make them — and I finally did! They are so easy and were a big hit. I bagged them up and gave them out to teachers and friends. I only wish I had a few more left over for me! This is going to be my new holiday tradition.
Hi Laura,
That is fantastic! Thanks for trying them, so glad the recipe worked out for you!
Happy holidays! Zoë
Maybe he made the cakes in loaf pans, so he could get the rectangle shape?
Hi Elizabeth,
My husband did use a loaf pan to bake the cake. If I remember correctly he mixed raspberry jam with part of the cream cheese icing as the filling. As I get older I forget details like this! 😉
Thanks, Zoë
Can’t wait to try the devil’s food cake with cream cheese icing and a fresh raspberry filling. Thank you! What kind of pans did your husband use to get a cake this shape? Also, how did he make the raspberry filling?
I tried making it.. and they burned. pretty bad too. I even got a candy thermometer and sat there and watched it, and before ya know it, the place was smokey and i had to open a window! yikes. I guess next time I should just let it get to 275 and then just take it off because it started when I was waiting for it to go up to 315. 🙁 waaaaah!
AMAZING!!!!!! I love the way you placed Z’s on them! 🙂
Hi Emilie,
Sorry I missed your question before. It will work beautifully with coffee or espresso powder. Happy Belated Birthday!
Hi Janet,
My pan is a 2 1/2 quart Calphalon. I love it and use it for all kinds of things.
Hi Dawn,
I warned you about the addictive nature of this candy! 😉
Thanks, Zoë
I made this 6 times in December – divine!
Thanks so much for the recipe,Zoe; it looks gorgeous!
What size and brand of saucepan is that which you used? I must invest in a heavy bottomed pot for candy making………always nearly scorch my mixtures. Any info or suggestions on the saucepan is appreciated!
Hi DebB,
Going to 315 may make them a bit harder than ones cooked to 300 degrees. Are the toffees you made very brittle? I’d have to try it to know for sure? Sounds like a tasty experiment!
Thanks, Zoë
Hi Zoe,
I noticed in your recipe you cook the candy to 315 and all of the other toffee recipes I have seen only cook until 300.
Is there an difference in the final texture of toffee cooked to 315 vs 300?
Thanks!
Hi Zoe! Once again you’ve made something that I just had to try! These Coffee Toffees are delicious and I’ve made a whole bunch to send to family members for Christmas. Mine were not nearly as pretty as yours, but I’m more concerned about flavor. Thank you!
This looks delish!!!!
The toffee looks nothing short of fabulous! Love the “Z”! I make toffee for my neighbors at Christmas each year, I think I’ll change it up this year and do it your way- very beautiful.
Happy Belated Birthday, dear Zoe. This Toffee is to die for! I make toffee ever year for Christmas gifts. The recipe was from a fabulous friend, who not only shared her recipe, but had us over for a “let’s make them” party. It is your recipe minus the coffee and molasses (and a candy thermometer) I use a small iron skillet and when the consistency is right, I pour it onto the Silipat. I tried your recipe and I am a convert. Thanks so much. First your fabulous bread book and now this. By the way I love your blog tag: “Eat dessert first”. It goes with my life philosophy which is: “Think of all those people on the Titanic who passed on the dessert cart”. Have a beautiful holiday season.
Happy Birthday! It all looks delicious! As a Heath bar junky I must try your toffee recipe-yum!
happy birthday zoe! your birthday cake looks delish!
This is a combination of all my favorite things! Happy Belated!
Hope your birthday was wonderful! I’m a new follower of your blog, and I have to tell you, I love what I see! So sweet that your husband and kids baked you a birthday cake. I also have 2 sons – a 3-year-old and an 11-month-old, and the big one loves to bake.
If you do a book tour in the northern Illinois area, I’d love to bring him to meet a real chef in person. He’d get a real kick out of that. 🙂
How wonderful!
Happy belated birthday and yum!
I’ll plan to make these and maybe share…
happy belated bday zoe! my daughter was actually also born on nov 16th. i love it!