This is a variation of the King Arthur Dark Chocolate Buttercrunch. Tastes very much like a Heath Bar, but because you make it yourself, you know it’s full of wonderful ingredients!
Chocolate Buttercrunch
This is a variation of the King Arthur Dark Chocolate Buttercrunch recipe. Tastes very much like a Heath Bar, but because you make it yourself, you know it's full of wonderful ingredients!
Equipment
- candy thermometer (or other cooking thermometer)
- cookie sheet
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 c unsalted butter (4 sticks)
- 1 ½ c super fine or regular sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp espresso powder (optional)
- 3 tbsp room temp water
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 tsp baking soda (optional, for a more airy buttercrunch)
- 2 c chopped pecans (or walnuts)
- 10 1.4 oz dark and/or milk chocolate candy bars from Aldi (14 oz total) (or 14 oz chocolate/chips of your choice)
- colored cookie sprinkles (for the kids who don't like a nut topping)
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread pecans on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Bake pecans for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. (It is important to toast the pecans/walnuts first otherwise they will be too chewy and your candy might taste stale.)
- Unwrap all of the candy bars and break in half. Stack and set aside.
- Chop pecans and pour into wire strainer over a bowl as you go along. The fine pecan dust will drop into the bowl and be used later (optional). Keep pieces and dust separated, and set aside. (Removing the dust from your chopped pecans will make it easier for your pecan pieces to stick to the melted chocolate at the end.)
Buttercrunch
- In a large, deep saucepan, melt the butter on low heat.
- Stir in the sugar, salt, espresso powder, water and corn syrup and mix until smoothly combined. On medium heat, bring to a gentle boil without stirring. Using your candy thermometer, boil until the mixture reaches the "hard-crack" stage (300°F on the thermometer). If you don't get your buttercrunch to hard-crack stage, it will be like grainy caramel instead of buttercrunch (and it won't taste very good).
- Optional: Right before you remove the buttercrunch mixture from the stovetop, stir in about ¼-½ cup of the pecan dust until thoroughly mixed and fully heated. Then, for a more airy buttercrunch, stir in the baking soda. Be careful, because the soda will make the mixture foam and rise.
Assembly, Cooling & Finishing
- On a parchment covered cookie sheet (you can use the same parchment sheet you used for roasting the pecans), gently pour out the hot buttercrunch mixture onto the parchment trying to create an even layer. Immediately lay your chocolate bar pieces evenly over the buttercrunch. Let sit for about 5 minutes and then gently spread with a rubber scraper until the buttercrunch mixture is completely covered. Sprinkle with nuts or cookie sprinkles, or both. (I use dark chocolate on one end and milk chocolate on the other, and reserve a small section for sprinkles.) Gently press the nuts/sprinkles into the chocolate so they adhere.
- Put the entire cookie sheet in the refrigerator for at least one hour until completely cold.
- After cold, the chocolate buttercrunch can be broken by hand into uneven chunks (try not to eat too much during this step!), and bag to give as gifts or put in an airtight container to keep in the fridge. Will keep for weeks in the fridge or can be frozen for long-term storage.
Original recipe from King Arthur can be found here, with tips for doneness of crack stage if you don’t have a thermometer: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/dark-chocolate-buttercrunch-recipe.
Also, this KA blog entry has some great tips for step-by-step success: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/12/10/tips-for-making-english-toffee
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