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Crumbled Spicy Peanut Butter Toffee is a natural ice cream topper, but why stop there? Pair it with hot fudge sauce, peanut butter sauce, and peanut butter ice cream for a ridiculous—and ridiculously good—Peanut-Chocolate Toffee Sundae.
So as you might have heard, I have a book coming out in—deep breaths—one week. I’m not quite sure how that happened! It seems like only yesterday I was squeezing into an apron and haulin’ my 30-week pregnant self and a whole trunkful of handmade candy to our photoshoots…and now those very same photos grace the pages of a book! It’s wild. Ready to rumble. Black is slimming, right?
To celebrate The Sweet Book of Candy Making, I took my own advice and made some candy. Specifically, Spicy Peanut Butter Toffee. It’s on page 74 for you rock stars who have pre-ordered and already received your copy! Love you, mean it.
This isn’t your typical toffee made with butter and sugar. The fat in the recipe comes from peanut butter, and instead of toffee’s usual hard, crunchy texture it has a light, aerated, crispy texture. In the book I describe it as “similar to the filling of a popular peanut butter candy bar,” but we all know that’s just highfalutin please-don’t-sue-me talk. Just between you and me and the rest of the internet, the crispy peanut filling reminds me of a Butterfingers bar, with better ingredients and without the scary orange color.
I added a little chipotle chili powder to the recipe. I love a hint of spice in my sweets, and the smokiness of the chipotle is wonderful paired with the richness of peanut butter and dark chocolate. If you’re sensitive to spice, you can always omit it or try adding a sweet spice, like cinnamon, instead.
The toffee recipe is printed down below, but first I wanted to share a few other ways you might enjoy this toffee—you know, if you get tired of just eating it by the fistful.
Because of the toffee’s light and crispy texture, it crumbles fairly easily, and those crumbled toffee pieces make most excellent mix-ins for chocolate clusters. Coarsely chop the toffee, stir it into a bowl of melted chocolate, then drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto waxed paper. Voila! You’ve now made two candies for the price of one. Well done you.
I’m even more excited about this next idea. Crumbled Spicy Peanut Butter Toffee is a natural ice cream topper, but why stop there? Pair it with hot fudge sauce, peanut butter sauce, and peanut butter ice cream for a ridiculous—and ridiculously good—Peanut-Chocolate Toffee Sundae.
Don’t you want to dive in? I’m afraid we ate a rather unhealthy amount of this dessert during the course of the photoshoot this afternoon. It’s just too easy! Between the rich ice cream, the crunchy toffee bits, and the warm and gooey sauces, these are seriously dangerous.
I know I’m supposed to be talking up the toffee, but can I take a moment to mention how proud I am of the peanut butter sauce recipe? It turns out making peanut butter sauce is hard! I made five batches in an attempt to get it right. In the course of my experimenting I did ungodly things to peanut butter, things that no innocent eyes should ever have to see. (Pro tip—do not microwave it with condensed milk.) I finally found a recipe I love, that’s simple to make and that produces a smooth sauce that glides over ice cream and has a lovely sweet-salty balance. Pure bliss.
🍦More Frozen Desserts
- Doughnut Ice Cream Sundaes
- No-Churn Chocolate Ice Cream
- Ice Cream Sundae Cake
- Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
- Easy Vanilla Ice Cream (No-churn recipe!)
Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
Layered Peanut Butter Brownies
Spicy Peanut Butter Toffee
Ingredients
- 2 2/3 ounces water, (1/3 cup)
- 3 2/3 ounces light corn syrup, (1/3 cup)
- 7 ounces granulated sugar, (1 cup)
- 9 3/4 ounces crunchy peanut butter, (1 cup)
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
- 4 3/4 ounces honey-roasted peanuts, (1 cup) coarsely chopped
- 6 ounces melted, tempered chocolate (can substitute chocolate candy coating if you don’t want to temper)
Instructions
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with a nonstick silicone mat or aluminum foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then wipe down the sides with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Bring the mixture to a boil, and insert a candy thermometer.
- Cook the candy, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 305° Fahrenheit (152°C) on the thermometer. Watch carefully–do not overcook! Once at the right temperature, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the peanut butter, baking soda, and chile powder. The baking soda will cause the mixture to bubble up and become very foamy. Once it bubbles up, add the chopped peanuts and stir them in as well.
- Scrap the toffee onto the prepared baking sheet and smooth it into a thin, even layer. Let the toffee set at room temperature, for about 45 minutes. Once set, spread the top of the toffee with the tempered milk chocolate and allow the chocolate to set. Break or chop the toffee into small pieces to serve it.
- Wrap Spicy Peanut Butter Toffee in plastic wrap and store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
MEASURING TIPS
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Click here to learn more about baking measurements and conversion.Nutrition
Peanut Butter Dessert Sauce
Ingredients
- 6 oz heavy cream
- 1/2 cup peanut butter chips, (3.5 oz)
- 1/3 cup peanut butter, not “natural” variety, (3.25 oz)
- 3 tbsp light corn syrup, (1.5 oz)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients together in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Heat, whisking frequently, until the peanut butter chips melt and all of the ingredients come together in a smooth sauce. It will be very thin at first.
- As the sauce cools to room temperature, it will thicken up. If it gets too thick, simply return it to the heat and whisk until it loosens up. To store, pour it into a bowl or airtight container and press a layer of plastic wrap on top. Keep the peanut butter sauce in the refrigerator.
- To reheat after chilling, gently microwave it in 20-second increments until warm and flowing.
MEASURING TIPS
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Click here to learn more about baking measurements and conversion.
Hi Elizabeth!
My favourite candy is “caramels au beurre salé”, these are French toffees made with sugar of course, but also salted butter and cream. They come from Normandy, in France, where I leave !
Congratulations for your book and your website!
Since requests for your cookbook for christmas are already pouring into my inbox I really “need” to win! Looooove!
Looks awesome! I reckon I could eat about 100 of those delicious little pieces.
i love your fudge recipes!
Really not sure if I could pick a favorite candy. Really. 😉 When I just want a bite or two of something sweet, one of my favorites (well, it’s always something chocolate), but right now is Lindt 70% Excellence chocolate bar. I do love certain candy that is “popable”–you know, small size candies you can just pop in your mouth and before you know it, you’ve eaten a whole bunch–like M&M’s and such. 😉
I have so many favorites so I’ll have to say my most favorite is anything chocolate with nuts.
I make toffee for Christmas every year and it is, hands down, my favorite candy.
Anything with chocolate,but I also love all the “old-fashioned” candies made just for Christmas!
these recipes look amazing! I drooled on my keyboard.
My fave candy is anything with mint like Peppermint Patties and Peppermint Bark
I would love homemade peanut butter fudge.Our mom used to make it and she let us lick the spoon.
Any caramel will do but add salt or spice and I love it even more.
I love the cracker toffee candy, it is easy to make and everyone loves it and asks for it at family/friend gatherings.
My favorite candy would probably be homemade buckeyes or chocolate covered coconut!
As a peanut butter superfan, my favorite candy is a classic peanut butter cup!
I’m excited to learn how to make chocolate covered cherries! My fav.
I love making candying more than eating it. Every year for the past 15 years, my father who is now 80 and I spend three weekends around Thanksgiving making 30 to 40 pounds of chocolate wrapped fondant in many flavors to give as Christmas presents. We roast nuts and coconut, we make our own cream based fondant in orange, mocha, chocolate, lemon, peppermint and hazelnut just to name a few. We make shaggy dogs and soft caramel. We temper dark and milk chocolate. It’s a lot of fun to have that time with my father. We’ve already made up our list of types and flavors for this year including cherries in kirsch wrapped in fondant covered in dark chocolate. V.-
It’s a tie…I love homemade toffee, but I just can’t imagine the world without Pear Jelly Bellys. Lol.
My mom’s chocolate fudge recipe. I grew up with it and when I started making it on my own, I realized it was the perfect palette to play with flavor combinations. Now I make them with homemade marshmallows, which makes them even more delish. My favorite flavor combo is with a little mint extract and crushed candy canes on top for Christmastime.
*YOUR* chocolate coated ‘Buttery Nut Toffee‘ recipe is my absolute favorite! I try not to make it too often because it’s one of the few things that I literally can NOT stop eating once I’ve had a taste.
( http://candy.about.com/od/toffeerecipes/r/butterytoffee.htm )
Otherwise dark chocolate with nuts, raspberries or orange will do 🙂
Almond Roca! Turns out my mom knew the family of the dude who invented that stuff. It’ll ruin your teeth though 🙁
I love homemade salted caramel truffles… but can be persuaded (who am I kidding) to buy them pretty much whenever I see them.
I love “sponge candy”. It’s a Western New York specialty–Watson’s is the best–and CANNOT be made on a humid day. Made it for the first time last winter & everyone had fun watching the “science of candy-making” after we added baking soda to the mix!
Man, this is a toughie! I sure do love me some homemade almond toffee.
kinder happy hippo’s are my favorite candy!! creamy nutella goodness inside a delicate wafer shell in the shape of a…happy hippo!! 🙂
It’s not possible to declare one favorite, but one of my many favorites are Lindt truffles, dark or extra-dark. But now you’ve got me thinking about Butterfinger, which is pretty awesome too!
vanilla caramels are definitely my favorite!
It’s not very classy but my favorite candy is Sour Skittles. I must say that I liked them a lot more when they used to have more fun flavors (watermelon, green apples) than the typical 5 flavors.
Hello. I love homemade caramel in every way, spicy chocolate, white chocolate with almonds, mints,
One of my favorites happens to be homemade cherry cordials. Store bought cherry cordials are often chalky, bland and disgusting. However, a homemade cherry cordial, you grab by the stem and slip it into your mouth, the thin shell of chocolate breaks under the pressure and out pours sweet liquid, immediately causing a smile to form and then a sweet fruity maraschino cherry mixed with the chocolate, it’s quite unique in the candy world.
I like homemade marshmallows. And caramel. Oh and toffee. And brittle. Need I go on? Best of luck on the new book!
vanilla caramels
Love your blog! I love fudge! Milk chocolate with raspberry extract. soooooo good.
Oh boy – this sundae looks delicious! I can’t wait until I’m off my pre-wedding diet and can indulge! My favorite candy is definitely chewy caramels – yummmmmy!
Licorice! But the real salty European kind.. My mouth waters just thinking about it!
Butterfingers are my favorite!
i am in love with buckeye candy! mmm, so simple to make and so delicious (im in love with the chocolate/peanut butter combo but my sis not so much even though her daughter’s name is spet like a famous peanut butter cup :D)
My favorite candies are the wintergreen Canadian mints. Sure, they’re cheap and they aren’t the highest quality candy, but they are attached a bunch of childhood memories!
Caramel anything! I am a caramel freak! It must run in the family because my mom and older sister are the same. 🙂
I love candy so much, how can I decide what my favorite candy bar is?! Twix? Snickers? Milky way? Butterfingers? One of those!
I can’t pass by Twix and Mounds without grabbing some 🙂 My all time faves! Congrats on the book! LOVE the cover!