25 Days of Baking: Day 20

Today was a little crazy, we started out our day taking our daughter to the doctor to be diagnosed with croup. Just what the holiday needs. She is a trooper and it hasn't slowed her down any. This evening we did our little families Christmas, complete with a drive through the park with lights. In the midst of all that I did find time to make today's treat, toffee.

I found the recipe at damndelicious.net. I don't think I have ever had toffee with almonds in it, so I did find this a little strange, but upon further research, a lot of recipes include almonds. Who knew. 

Toffee 

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup pecans, chopped

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Spread almonds in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake until toasted, about 10 minutes; set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, sugar vanilla and salt over medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until butter has melted and mixture is almond brown in color, about 10-15 minutes.
4. Immediately spread the hot caramel mixture evenly over the almonds. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. After 1-2 minutes, spread the chocolate chips in an even layer until smooth. Sprinkle with pecans.
5. Let cool completely, about 2 hours. Break into pieces.

I chose to not put the pecans on top, and unfortunately I don't think I cooked the caramel mixture long enough. Even after a visit to the fridge it is still gooey. Plus the color seems a little off. I guess you live and learn right. I will be trying another recipe I found again sometime soon, as I do LOVE toffee, so it's a little disappointing that this isn't really what it should be.

25 Days of Baking: Day 4

You may want to grab a glass of milk while you read this post. These cupcakes are amazing and so rich. This was another recipe that I had pinned on Pinterest for sometime and every time I looked at it screamed at me to make it. I love chocolate and I love toffee so win win! Here is the original link to the recipe.

There were a few things in the original recipe that I found to be a little confusing and my frosting didn't turn out like it should have. But never the less the cupcakes were wonderful and I would happily make them again.

Toffee Crunch Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcake

• 1 cup (4.5 ounces) all purpose flour
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7.3 ounces) sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and warm
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoon instant coffee (recommended: Starbucks Via)
• 1/2 cup chocolate covered toffee bits

Caramel Frosting

• 5 large egg whites
• 11/2 cup sugar
• 4 sticks unsalted butter, diced and softened
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup caramel sauce (click here for a homemade caramel recipe)

Chocolate Dipping Sauce

• 2/3 cups dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
• 5-8 tablespoons water, warm

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Directions:

Preparation

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cupcake

Add flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a blow and mix thoroughly to combine. Add the butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for one minute. Add the butter and egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the hot coffee (use the Starbucks Via to make this). Add the toffee bits to the batter. Beat for 20-30 seconds until the batter is smooth. The batter will be thin enough to pour. Divide it evenly among the lined cups. Bake 18-22 minutes just until a toothpick inserted into a few of the cupcakes comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack to cool. Frost the cupcakes when they are completely cool. Store and serve at room temperature.

TIP: For light tender cupcakes, spoon flour and cocoa lightly into measuring cups (instead of dipping the cups into the flour or cocoa) and then sweep the measures level without tapping or shaking them.

Caramel Frosting

1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a bowl placed over simmering water. Bring mixture to 150 degrees F while whisking constantly.
2. Transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl, fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until mixture cools and doubles in volume.
3. Add butter in one piece at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition. The mixture may appear clumpy and almost curdled looking-this is normal. Keep mixing and it will become even and smooth again. Add salt and vanilla and mix to combine. Add caramel sauce and mix to combine.

Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Place chocolate and heavy cream in a bowl over simmering water. Let chocolate and cream sit for 2-3 minutes to melt without stirring. Then slowly stir mixture to combine. Add powdered sugar and mix to combine. Add water one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition until pouring consistency is reached. Set aside and let sauce cool to warm.

To assemble cupcake

To frost the cupcakes: Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and start piping from the outside working in to the center to create one even layer. Freeze cupcakes for 20 minutes before dipping in warm chocolate sauce, so that the frosting does not melt. Remove cupcakes and dip in warm chocolate sauce, and then rim with chocolate covered toffee bits.  Return cupcakes to freezer for five minutes for chocolate to set. Remove from freezer and finish piping frosting on top.

In the original recipe she stats -1/2 cup hot coffee in the cupcake ingredients, which is confusing as she also has the Starbucks via which you mix to get the 1/2 cup hot coffee. So I took that off. There are also 1/2 cup chocolate covered toffee bits in the cupcake ingredients, although the recipe doesn't state anything about these. It's in her side notes that she mentions that she added these to the batter. I added them to the recipe to decrease confusion!

My frosting didn't set up like it should have. I also don't have a candy thermometer and I'm sure that may have helped with this. I used a meat thermometer instead. It was very runny and so I ended up adding about 2 cups (give or take a little) of powdered sugar to get it to set up and then refrigerated it so it would harden a little. I did keep them refrigerated until we were going to eat them so the frosting didn't melt on me.

All said and done these are a great treat and even my kids liked them. Miss Belle just liked the frosting. Take note of the small hand trying to grab one while I was taking photos!