Christmas Pecan Toffee

Line an 8 x 8" pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle the bottom with 1 cup of the whole pecans (or other nuts). If desired, you can toast these in the oven to enhance their flavour.

Into a heavy pot place the first four ingredients, leaving the vanilla for now. Attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pot as you will be cooking this caramel mixture on the stove top to the hard crack stage of 300F. Stir the ingredients, melting the butter and mixing the sugar and water together as you cook at a high-medium heat. Cook, stirring almost constantly. Prevent scorching by scraping the sides and bottom. This caramel will take about 10 minutes to reach 300F. You will know it is almost ready as the colour changes and the mixture becomes full of large bubbles. Once the temperature is reached, remove from the heat and immediately stir in the vanilla. Pour into the prepared pan, scraping with a spatula to ensure all the caramel is out of the pot. Then smooth across the nuts. Let sit 2 minutes to firm up.

As the toffee rests, quickly chop up the remaining 1/4 cup of pecan into fine pieces. Measure out 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the toffee mixture and cover the pan with a baking sheet or tin foil. Leave for 4 minutes for the chocolate chips to melt.

Using an offset spatula, smooth out the chocolate chips over the toffee layer. Sprinkles with the chopped pecans and add a few pinches of fine salt flakes if desired. Let sit 4 hours to completely harden, then remove from the pan and lift off the parchment paper. Chop into chunks and pack into a tin or gift bags for Christmas giving.