My 272nd recipe, "M&M's® Chocolate Toffee Bark", a perfect gift for the upcoming Easter holiday using M&M’s® Easter Sundae. What are holidays and festivals for ? To me, festivals are always time for get-together and celebrating with family, friends, neighbors. Also, any festival to me would not be complete without an array of food, gifts and sharing.
During Indian festivals like Diwali, Pongal I would always be busy with the Pooja activities and also making traditional Indian sweets and snacks like murukku, burfi, etc. Since I don't have such activities during times like Christmas, Valentine's day, Easter, etc. I tend to spend time making something fun and creative. RK always love handmade gifts and that too if it is something which I make, he would go crazy for it. So, whenever I plan to make something special, it would always be something handmade for RK, which he would love.
While I make treats and bakes regularly , this time around I wanted to treat RK with a complete Easter Basket. I know that RK has a big sweet tooth and would be more than happy to receive a Easter basket loaded with lots of sweets and goodies. Since I did not want to spend a lot of time sitting and preparing goodies for the basket, I instead threw the ball onto Walmart's court.
When I visited Walmart during the past weekend, I was happy to see a whole section (in fact more than a few aisles) dedicated for Easter stuff. I picked myself a beautiful basket and 2 cute little bunnies. And when it came to goodies to fill up the basket, I was totally left spellbound with the huge selection. After a little deliberation, I finally picked up a 8oz M&M’s® Easter Sundae, 12oz Starburst® Original Jellybeans, 12oz DOVE® Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny, 4.5oz DOVE® Solid Milk Chocolate Bunny, 11oz Easter M&M’s® Milk Chocolate, Hubba Bubba® $1 Bubble Tape, Skittles® $1 tube. All these were just the right choices for filling up the Easter basket. RK especially loved the Chocolate Bunnies, with the chance he got to be a kid again 🙂 Also, the 23.5oz Easter Mixed Brand Chocolates and Skittles® $1 egg were really eye catching, but I held myself back and decided not to over stuff RK 😉
In addition to all those lovely goodies I had purchased, I also wanted to prepare something at home which was easy to make. My mind immediately settled onto making a chocolate toffee bark. We had tasted chocolate toffee bark once from a store and immediately it became a favorite for myself and RK. Since the store is a little far off from where we live, we do not get a chance to buy that often. Hence, making one at home will truly come as a surprise for RK and something which he would love.
The M&M's® Chocolate Toffee Bark itself turned out perfect and super delicious. The toffee layer is hard yet perfectly brittle to bite into. The pinch of salt added goes a long way in enhancing the flavor of the bark. And the M&M’s® Easter Sundae was really the surprise element which added so much more extra elegance and deliciousness into each bit. Until now the soft chewy caramel which I make at home were one among my favorite candies. However I think I have a new favorite now 🙂
Chocolate Toffee Bark
Chocolate Toffee Bark
Ingredients
- ½ Cups Butter (unsalted, cut into smaller pieces)
- 1 ¼ Cups Light Brown Sugar (tightly packed)
- 1 Tbsp Corn syrup
- 2 Tbsp Water
- a small pinch Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
- 1 heaping Cup Chocolate chips
- M&M’s® Easter Sundae - as needed
Special Equipment
- Candy Thermometer
Instructions
- First, line a 8X8 baking pan with butter paper and keep it aside. Also, measure and keep the vanilla extract and baking soda, ready.
- Take a tall heavy bottomed pan. Add the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Mix well and heat it in medium flame.
- Keep stirring continuously until everything is melted, combined together and the mixture starts to boil. If sugar crystals are formed in the sides of the pan, dip a brush in water and brush the sides of the pan clean.
- Once the mixture starts to boil, insert the candy thermometer into the mixture and stop stirring. You should not stir or disturb the mixture after this stage. Let the mixture continue to boil until it reaches the soft crack stage. The candy thermometer should read 280 - 285 F temperature. This is the correct temperature for soft crack consistency.
- Immediately, remove the pan from the flame and add the vanilla extract and baking soda. Stir well until combined and transfer the mixture quickly to the baking pan. Gently tap the pan to level off the mixture.
- While the mixture is still hot, add the chocolate chips evenly on top. Wait for a couple of mins until the choco chips melt.
- Use a spatula or back of a spoon to spread the chocolate layer evenly over the top of the toffee layer. Add the M&M’s® Easter Sundae on top of the chocolate layer. Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm. Pull the bark out of the refrigerator and cut into pieces using a sharp knife.
- Enjoy or store in an airtight container.
Notes
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SweeterEaster #CollectiveBias