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.
(sorry Lori can’t seem to reply to my previous post)
What is the weight of the hershey bars, the local supermarkets in australia don’t sell hershey bars, i bought four 200gram blocks of chocolate (approx 4x7ounces) which is what i thought you used in the picture but that was WAY too much. The first batch came out perfectly, apart from the fact that the chocolate layer was about twice as thick as what you had! Also the chocolate separated from the toffee when i was cutting it but that may have been because the chocolate was too thick. Second batch didn’t turn out so well, i was worried about it burning and i think i had the heat on lower than the first time so the toffee didn’t go hard. Third batch came out perfect, did the light dusting of cocoa powder just in case, and it only took 9-10 minutes to cook. The only advice i can give other readers who are having trouble with the timing is to keep smelling the toffee as you are cooking it and as soon as you get a whiff of burning toffee take it off the stove immediatedly, this is what happened with my first and third batches and they both came out perfectly. Thanks again Lori, this recipe is a keeper ?
I made this and it cane out perfect !! Made it again and I doubled it and did it did not harden. I did everything the same. Maybe I shouldn’t have doublef????
Candy making is tricky as it is… I wouldn’t try to double it!
Great recipe with easy to follow instructions. Delicious! Thanks
I just made this and….HOLY COW….tastes EXACTY like Almond Roca! Thank you for the recipe!
What size chocolate bars did you use? I stuffed up and bought 4blocks of chocolate which was way too much, but at least i can use it for a second batch. Haven’t tasted it yet (it’s cooling in the fridge) but i licked the toffee off the spoon and that tasted delish! Didn’t use a candy thermometer, cooked it on quite a low heat, just after the 12minute mark i got a whiff of burning toffee so took it straight off the stove and poured it in the pan. The toffee on the spoon set so i’m assuming the rest of the toffee in the pan set as well. Can’t wait to try it. I’m in australia so use metric measurements, think i may have messed up the conversions because i didn’t have as many almonds in the pan as in the picture but that’s an easy fix. Recipe was easy to follow and easy to make. Thank you. Going to fridge now to see if it’s ready!!!
Just regular sized Hershey’s bars. How did it turn out?
I made this recipe last year and it was a hit! I made two batches yesterday and they both turned out chewy. I cannot figure out what went wrong. Any suggestions to ensure it turns out crunchy?
The weather (moisture in the air) is usually the culprit if it turns out anything other than crunchy.
If I wanted to double this recipe would it turn out right? If it would, what size pan would you recommend?
I’m hesitant to recommend or give advice when I haven’t tried it. Sorry!
My toffee went to 300° F in about 9 minutes (used a thermometer), it it had been separating for a few mins before that. It waas dark and oily when I poured it over the almonds not light brown and creamy. What did i do wrong?
It’s really tough to pinpoint what went wrong. It can be tricky… maybe heated up too quickly? I’m so sorry you had trouble with this recipe!
These right here are straight up dangerous. My problem is I’d eat this entire thing in one sitting no joke. Awesome recipe Lori!
Almond Roca is definitely a fave around here, and your recipe is awesome. Thanks for writing it in a way that makes it so easy to follow. Yum!