Almond Roca
current situation: almond roca
Butter toffee, chocolate, almonds. Three layers, one tray, and the whole thing is finished in half an hour.
Toffee is simpler than fudge because you want it to set hard — there is no crystal problem to avoid. But it does split: get it too hot too fast and the butter separates out into a greasy pool. The fix is medium heat and constant stirring, which is the opposite of the fudge rule and catches people who have just made fudge.
Chocolate goes on the hot toffee, no double boiler needed. It melts on contact, you spread it, and the almonds go on while it is still wet.
- Makes
- About 2 lb
- Hands-on
- 25 minutes
- Target
- 300°F, hard crack
- Set
- 2 hours
What you need
The toffee
- 2 sticks butter — real butter, nothing else works
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla, at the end
The layers
- 12 oz dark or milk chocolate, chopped
- 2 cups almonds, toasted and chopped
- Flaky salt
How it goes
1 — Toast and chop the almonds first
350°F for eight minutes, cooled, then chopped. Have them ready in a bowl — once the toffee is poured, everything happens in about ninety seconds.
2 — Medium heat and STIR constantly
Butter, sugar, water, syrup and salt in a heavy pan, stirred without stopping. Toffee is the opposite of fudge: left alone over high heat the butter splits out and you get an oily mess.
3 — Cook to 300°F, the hard crack stage
It goes from pale, to golden, to the colour of a brown paper bag. From 280°F it moves fast, so stand there.
4 — Vanilla in off the heat, then pour immediately
It will hiss. Straight out onto a parchment-lined tray and tilted to spread — do not try to smooth it with a spatula, it is already setting.
5 — Chocolate onto the hot toffee, wait a minute
Chopped chocolate scattered over the surface and left for sixty seconds. The residual heat melts it completely. No double boiler, no microwave.
pro tip — If the toffee has cooled too much and the chocolate will not melt, put the whole tray in a 200°F oven for two minutes.
6 — Spread, then almonds on thick
Spread with the back of a spoon to the edges, then the chopped almonds thrown over and pressed in gently with your palm. A complete blanket — no chocolate showing, which is the look in the picture.
7 — Flaky salt, then two hours to set
Salt over while the chocolate is wet. Room temperature, not the fridge — cold sets the chocolate dull and it can bloom grey.
8 — Break it, do not cut it
Lift the sheet and snap it with your hands into irregular shards. Cutting it just shatters it unpredictably anyway.
Current situation. Three sheets, and one of them is already gone. LFG.