Dark Chocolate Peppermint Toffee

Hello and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Despite the cold, November through January is my favorite time of year. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving, American New Years, Ramadan (depending on the year), anything else, or nothing at all, there's never a lack of holiday spirit and joy! 

                                

My floor at Emory is undeniably the MOST full of holiday spirit on the entire campus. Finals or not, we have a fully decorated lounge complete with Christmas Tree and Menorah, Santa letters on the walls, a Secret Santa exchange, and overall glee is at an all time high. 

Back home, this is the time of year I would normally spend practice baking for the week of Christmas through New Years. In high school, I used to bake a different treat for all my AP classes during the last week of school, and we had classic high school parties during the school day with treats and movies and almost no students in each room. There was something about December that always made me dress up in red and green and paint my nails with a new Christmas theme every day. Finals put a slight damper on this time for me, because studying > baking, nail painting, and dressing up. I wasn't my usual super happy holiday self, and it really worried me for a while that I didn't feel at home. 

Then finals ended and I was able to make up for lost time with some holiday favorites. For the rest of my time at Emory, Turman Hall smelled remarkably like home.

Thank you Emmy, for making this with me!!

Thank you Adrienne, for the original recipe using walnuts and milk chocolate!

The Recipe: Dark Chocolate Peppermint Toffee

• 60 Saltine Crackers
• 1 cup Brown Sugar 
• 1 cup Butter (2 sticks, 16 tbsp)
• 1 cup Dark Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 cup Crushed Candy Canes (Optional)

The Process: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Line baking sheet with tin foil. 
3. Lay saltines on baking sheet.
4. Melt butter and brown sugar in a pot, stirring constantly, until it reaches the color and consistency of the below photo. 
5. Pour butter/brown sugar over the crackers. 
6. Bake for 5 minutes. 
7. Spread dark chocolate chips over the toffee base and cover the pan with aluminum foil for about 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt. 
8. Put candy canes in a bag. 
9. Crush against a hard surface with pot. (as desired)
10. Use a spatula to spread chocolate chips into a layer of chocolate. 
11. Top with crushed candy canes (and sprinkles!) 
12. Allow to freeze for 30-45 minutes. 
13. Break and share to spread holiday cheer!!

The Calories: don't matter at the holidays. But if you're really that curious...

Crackers: 758 calories

Butter: 200 calories

Brown Sugar: 839 calories

Chocolate: 860 calories

Candy Canes: 50 calories

________________________________

TOTAL: 2707 calories

Mind you, this is for an entire PAN of toffee. If we assume a pan makes 60 servings, each serving is a mere 45 calories! So indulge away ;)

What went right: 

         I baked with a friend, it was super quick and easy as usual, and everyone who ate it LOVED it. In fact, it was so easy that we made another pan later and added some dark chocolate covered cherries to part of the recipe. Game changer. Once again beloved! It's really one of those recipes you can do in almost no time with very little necessary technique and few ingredients, but it never ceases to please! 

What went wrong: 

         There's always that one recipe that tends to go a little TOO fast...

What would I do next time: 

          Make two pans ;) Otherwise, it would be nice to try with a pretzel base, though that might be a bit more sticky, and with different types of toppings like dried fruit, white chocolate or nuts. 

Overall, this is a perfect college treats recipe that everyone can participate in and enjoy :) 

Keep looking out for more fun holiday baking!!