Almond Crunch Candy

I don’t use a lot of “specialty” kitchen items because I think you can make a TON of great desserts and treats with very very simple tools.

However, one that’s helpful is a candy thermometer. If you ever want to make candy, it’s important to get it at the right temperature, and unfortunately it’s not a situation where you can just stick your finger in to test it out. Please do not do that – it will not end well.

That said, candy thermometers are pretty inexpensive and they help you make delicious candies like these tasty and very buttery treats.

Difficulty: easy
Print

Ingredients

2 cups chopped almonds, divided
24 T butter (yeah, that’s really 3 whole sticks)
1 t vanilla
1 ¼ cups sugar
½ cup brown sugar
3 T corn syrup
3 T water
1 ½ cups semisweet chips

Directions

Line a 9” x 13” pan with tin foil. Spray it with non-stick spray and set it aside.

Take your almonds and spread them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 until they’re a nice golden brown (maybe 5-8 minutes). Take them out and put the cookie sheet on a wire rack to start cooling.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add in the vanilla, sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup and water and turn the heat to medium. Stir regularly until the sugars are melted. Keep stirring until the temperature of the mixture reaches 285 according to a candy thermometer.

Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in 1 ½ cups of the almonds (it’s absolutely fine if they’re not completely cool yet). Then immediately pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Distribute the chips and the remaining half cup of almonds along the top.

Move the pan to a wire rack and let it cool completely. When it has, lift the whole piece up by the foil, peel the foil off the bottom and break the candy into, well, candy-sized pieces.

If you don’t eat it all right away (and you really shouldn’t – it’s a lot), store in an airtight plastic bag or tin.