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 just got through making the toffee. Did exactly like you said and it turned out perfect. Now to keep me from eating on it all day. Mercy it’s so good.
Spent a FORTUNE, Made this three times and every time, the caramel was grainy and soft. I make caramel all the time with regular sugar and a little water, comes out perfect every single time. This doesn’t. I took it to 300 and the oil was separating and I dropped a drop in ice water and it was the hard candy stage. When it cooled and refrigerated, caramel is too soft and still granular. I won’t try again. 3 times, I’m done. I’m a baker too.
Hi Sandra,
I’m sorry- candy making can be tricky, and this recipe too! Did you read through the comments? There are some people who had great success and some who had trouble. I make this every year- am making it again today. The humidity in the air can have an effect- if that’s an issue. It’s hard to pinpoint where things went wrong. But sorry you had so much difficulty 🙁
I’ve made this recipe for several years now and it always comes out delicious! Thank you
Made this recipe last night. Taste is excellent, but the chocolate separated from the toffee as soon as I did the first cut. I did not read the Edit until after I had made it, so I am disappointed I didn’t try that. Has anyone else had this problem that was fixed by adding the cocoa powder before placing chocolate bars on caramel? LOL….it’s pieces of hardened caramel, and pieces of hardened chocolate that don’t adhere, so my husband is happy that now we don’t have to share with anyone.
Why does my butter alway separate when it never used to
I’m not sure– maybe Google that?
Great recipe! I live in a higher elevation and took 8 minutes to reach 300 degrees. I also used Ghiradelli chocolate chips instead of Hershey’s. It was so good and hit at our staff potluck!
Looks amazing but what if you can’t get Hershey bars.
Is there something similar you have access to?
This turned out perfectly for me! The recipe was very easy to follow, and the extra comments about getting the caramel to the perfect hard crack stage are good, I used a candy thermometer but found the 12 min mark was exactly on par – but depending on the exact heat you have it at, it could be a minute or two more or less. The candy thermometer is always helpful when dealing with any type of candy or chocolate. I used milk and white chocolate bars, then swirled them together and put most of the almonds on the chocolate, as I prefer it that way.. This broke apart wonderfully and I have a nice big batch to share around, definitely worth making this recipe!!!
I have made this recipe dozens of times. I’ve used peanuts, cashews, almonds, as well without nuts. I’ve used a thermometer and not used to thermometer turns out excellent every time thank you so much for the recipe
Great to hear, thank you!
What size Hershey bars should be used?
standard sized