I’ve been a busy little candy maker lately, anticipating the desire for holiday gifting. So far, I’ve made truffles, peanut brittle, fudge and this Almond Roca.
Watch the video showing you how to make Almond Roca, then scroll to the bottom of this post to print out the recipe so you can make it at home.
Almond roca is my favorite. My TOTAL favorite. My CRAZY-ADDICTING favorite! The best part is- you will NOT need a candy thermometer for this recipe! yahoo-easy!
How to make Almond Roca:
To make homemade almond roca, sprinkle 3/4 cup chopped and toasted almonds into the bottom of a buttered 7×11-inch glass pan. I realize everyone doesn’t have a 7×11-inch pan, so you can certainly use a 9×12-inch if you need to… it will just be more spread out and thinner.
I use salted, roasted almonds (and then toasted them in a dry frying pan after chopping). You can use unsalted natural almonds if you don’t care for the salty-sweet combination in dessert.
Melt some butter in a medium saucepan.
Add brown sugar, and stir it up.
Bring the mixture to a boil. Not a wild, rolling boil… just enough of a boil where you see bubbles popping frequently.
Boil the butter/sugar mixture for 12 minutes exactly (stirring constantly). It should look all cool and golden and toffee-like when it’s done.
I make my almond roca without a candy thermometer with success, but since some readers have noted having trouble with this recipe- you might wish to stick an instant read thermometer in there just to make sure it’s about the right temperature.
Here’s a candy thermometer that has good reviews on Amazon.
Pull it off the heat when it has reached the hard-crack stage (300 degrees F) or when the mixture starts to separate (the oil starts to separate from the sugar). If it gets higher than 320, the mixture will not remain solid.
Pour it on top of the almonds in the pan– drizzling it all over and and filling in all of the spaces with the toffee.
Place four chocolate bars on top of the hot toffee.
Let them sit there for a minute or so and get all gooey and melted, then use the bottom of a spoon to spread the chocolate around.
Spread all the way to the edges.
Sprinkle more almonds on top. Press them in gently. Now’s the hard part.
You can either let the almond roca sit at room temperature overnight to set that chocolate completely, or you can refrigerate it until firm, or you can freeze it for about 20 minutes (until firm).
Once the mixture is firm and set, loosen the sides of the pan with a knife and the almond roca should pop right out of the pan in one, big hunk. Break it apart gently with your hands, or set it on a cutting board and use a large knife to cut across the slab of candy–wedges will break off and appear in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
Sample! Just to make sure everything is tasting okay and everything 😉
It’s best to get this almond roca out of your house as quickly as possible. On candy-making day at my house, this was the favorite of all of my taste testers… by far.
SO good. And SO addicting and buttery and almondy and salty-sweet and delicious.
This should keep just fine in a sealed container kept at room temperature for a couple of weeks. Happy holiday gifting!
If you enjoy candy recipes, you might also like my recipes for Key Lime Fudge, Caramels or Fantasy Fudge. Homemade Snickers and Holiday Lollipops are fun choices too!
Almond Roca
Ingredients
- 1½ cups chopped toasted almonds, divided
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter
- 4 bars milk chocolate (such as Hershey's)
Instructions
- Butter a 7x11-inch pan (or 9x12 for slightly thinner roca). Sprinkle 1 cup of toasted almonds on bottom of the pan.
- In a heavy saucepan at medium-high heat melt butter and add brown sugar. Stir until gently boiling. Reduce heat to medium or medium-low and boil 12 minutes exactly, stirring constantly. *Edited to add* I make mine without a candy thermometer with success, but since some readers have noted having trouble with this recipe- you might wish to stick an instant read thermometer in there just to make sure it's about the right temperature. Pull it off the heat when it has reached the hard-crack stage (300 degrees F)- or when the mixture starts to separate (the oil starts to separate from the sugar). If it gets higher than 320, it will not remain solid.
- Remove the mixture from heat, give it a good stir to mix up that butter and sugar one more time, and immediately pour the hot mixture into the pan over the almonds. (see *Recipe Notes below) Place the chocolate bars on top. Let them sit a minute or so until melted, then spread chocolate around carefully. Sprinkle with the remaining toasted almonds, and gently press them into the chocolate.
- Cool completely, and then break apart into chunks with a sharp knife. Store in a covered container.
Notes
- TIPS:
This recipe is gluten-free adaptable- just be sure to use a brand of chocolate that is known to be GF. - If you like the sweet-salty combination in desserts, use roasted almonds that are salted (then you can chop them and toast them lightly in a dry frying pan). If you don't care to have much salt, use unsalted natural almonds. I went for the salty kind and LOVED it.
- If you don't have a 7x11-inch pan, it's okay to use a 9x12-inch pan. You probably won't want to go all the way to the edges with the almonds, toffee and chocolate or it will be thin. Leave about an inch all the way around.
- Speed up the cooling process by placing the pan in the refrigerator.
- If you are in a place where it is very humid, you will likely have trouble getting your toffee to set. Toffee doesn't like humidity. Try it on a dry day!
- Edited to add that some people have trouble w/ the chocolate separating from the toffee. This is kind of normal in almond roca since the toffee is so buttery. I've been told that one way to avoid that is to give the toffee a light dusting of cocoa powder before placing the chocolate bars on top. The powder apparently acts as an absorbent for the butter and allows the chocolate to adhere more easily to the toffee. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm told that it works!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I got here through Pinterest. I have, for the first time ever, been reading all the comments to this recipe! Oh my, an intelligent blog with intelligent and articulate readers! I will be back! ????
My first attempt was dismal….I clearly boiled the mixture at too high heat and it separated. My next attempt was much better. I didn’t have the Hershey Bars but had a bag of Chocolate Chips instead. I’m not sure it was as rich. On my next try I will use a cookie sheet and make it thinner. Even with a 11X13 pan it was too thick.
I made this for a cookie exchange today and it was a huge hit. My husband loves it as well. I always loved Almond Roca, but they don’t sell them in Ireland where I live now. I was so happy to see this on Pinterest. I will be making these again for sure! Thank you so much for sharing a great recipe.
Greetings from France, Recipe Girl!
Just tried this recipe last night, this morning it was set, and I ate almost half of it for breakfast. It’s amazing, just like the real thing, or maybe better!
I was a bit scared when I read the comments but it’s just common sense in the end: you adjust the temperature if it seems too hot or not enough, you stir more or less depending on the consistency, and exactly 12 minutes later (as the recipe says) it’s done.
Fantastic, thank you so much!
to everyone that has a problem with the butter separating too early, she forgot to mention you have to stir this constantly i used to make this all the time, but havent for awhile till recently. i had always stirred constantly, however i now have a 2 year old who likes to “help” cook. this last time he was distracting me and when i went back to stir the roca again it started separating Way too early i vigorously started stirring it and luckily saved it. i also normally use sugar instead of brown sugar, but im looking forward to trying it with brown sugar. if you eat too much of my normal sugar roca it gets stuck in your teeth im hoping that the brown sugar makes it more like brown and haley’s.
So I’ve been making this recipe for the last year and a half with no problems, until recently the butter and sugar begins to separate at 250 degrees instead of at 300 degrees. I’ve tried lowering the temperature down to medium low to low and it’s still happening, anyone got any ideas on how to fix this ?
Holy Doodle! This stuff is good! And soooooo easy! I am definitely making this every year from here on out! Thank-you. My spirit thanks you. My thighs and hips NOT!
HERE IS THE FIX: Many of you had the same problem as me. I adjusted three times until I finally got it right on the 4th attempt. The problem I was having is getting too hot too quickly. My oven is gas and I had to have all the way to low in order for this to not burn and be able to make it to 12 minutes to the hard crack stage. Once your sugar and butter starts to boil, immediately being it down to low…this stuf does not cool off quickly and it will hold that boiling heat throughout. If it does separate, keep stirring, it will reincorporate. This stuff is amazing!
Just made 6 batches of this and every one turned out great! Thanks for the awesome and easy recipe
What size Hershey bars do you use. Could you possibly use chocolate chips.
just the regular-size. I have not tried using chocolate chips.
I used a giant bar and just chopped it up. It doesn’t matter what size the chocolate bar is when you start. And others commenting have used chocolate chips. Again, size doesn’t matter.