When I wanted to make a quick and easy Christmas gift for some guests, I went to the bookshelf in search of Tightwad Gazette. Alas, I had given it away. I don't expect to miss it very much aside from this one recipe, so I'm recording the recipe here for the future. If you too need a quick easy tasty frugal gift (perhaps a hostess gift for New Year's Eve?), give it a whirl.
Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and hit it with non-stick spray. Sprinkle about a cup of chopped walnuts over the bottom. Boil together a stick of butter and three-quarters of a cup of dark brown sugar (packed, although it pains me to be advising people to pack down brown sugar with a spoon here in the year of Our Lord 2019-almost-2020, when kitchen scales are cheap and easy to obtain). Stir faithfully. Do not use a plastic spoon, no matter how sturdy it may seem; I once melted a seemingly durable long-handled plastic spoon making this recipe. Stir carefully, recalling that there is a reason boiling fat was once used to deter besieging armies at the castle gates. Allow it to boil briskly until it darkens and just barely starts to smoke. Tightwad Gazette says to boil it for seven minutes, but my stove seems to have a little more oomph than hers and I would have burned it if I'd left it boiling for seven minutes.
Once it's ready, pour it over the nuts. As soon as it is slightly firm (we're talking minutes, not longer -- it's going to get really hard), lift the foil out of the pan, set it on a heatproof surface, and score it into 16 pieces with a heavy knife. Plunk back into the pan for the next step. Pour a half-cup of good quality chocolate chips over the toffee, and cover with a dinner plate for a few minutes to let them soften. Spread the melted chocolate into pretty swirls. If you want to, you can sprinkle finely minced nuts over the top of the soft chocolate. Once the chocolate has solidified, go back over your score marks with that same heavy knife. Enjoy!
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