Grandma's Toffee

The one, the only, the Grandma's Butter Toffee recipe!

My mom has been making this toffee during the holiday season for years. She would always bring a jar to anyone's house when we visited for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. It just doesn't feel like the holidays without butter toffee! When I started getting "Guest Blog" recipes from my family I knew I had to get her toffee recipe in here, but she wouldn't make it til the holiday season, so I had to wait.
But now the wait is over!
Grandma's Toffee recipe (dictated to me while she cooks):

Ingredients:

2 sticks "I can't Believe It's Not Butter" or butter
(note, I did not have good luck using regular butter, the toffee came out too grainy and not smooth, but my sister uses it in her toffee all the time with success)

1 & 1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon each of light corn syrup and water

2/3 cup coarsely chopped toasted almonds
(not salted if using pre-roasted packaged almonds)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup (or more) semi-sweet chocolate chips or my preference:
Ghiradelli 60% cacao chips

Gather and assemble all ingredients before starting to cook:
toffee must be stirred constantly while cooking.

Chop almonds and lightly toast if not already roasted
(watch them, they can turn from toasted to charcoal very quickly!) Set aside.

Bubba helped chop some of the almonds.
(He loved the chopper! Since she has been making mulitiple batches,
every time Bubba hears the chopper, he has to help,
and yells "Bang, Bang, Bang!" while chopping)

Here's the size you are looking for

Unwrap one stick of margarine and use it to lightly grease a foil covered cookie sheet.

Put the greasing stick in a sauce pan with the other stick of margarine
and start melting over low heat

add water and corn syrup.

Add sugar gradually to the margarine.

Stir as the margarine melts.

Keep stirring as margarine melts and sugar dissolves.

Keep the mixture on low/medium-low heat stirring constantly.

The mixture will go through several changes in consistency as it cooks

  

gradually thickening until it looks like vanilla pudding.

Briefly leave the pan to prepare a small ice water bath to use for testing the temperature.

Almost....

Continue cooking and stirring the mixture until it is about the color of peanut butter.

(Peanut butter jar shown for color,
Do Not add peanut butter to the toffee)

Test the temperature by drizzling a little mixture into the ice water. It will cool very quickly and will harden. Taste it to see if it has a nice crunch.

When at the crunchy (hard crack) stage remove from heat onto a heat-proof surface and stir in 1/3 cup chopped almonds and the vanilla.
Stir quickly, the consistency will change again.

Pour mixture onto the foil covered pan.

Sprinkle the top with chocolate chips, add enough so that when melted they will cover the surface when spread.

I use an off-set knife to spread them.

Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup (or more as needed) of toasted almonds over chocolate

Allow to cool completely, to cold. It goes faster if refrigerated (or put outside in the winter)

When cold break into small pieces 

Enjoy!

Store at room temperature in a sealed container (if it lasts long enough!)