Another Tasty Treat--Almond Roca

I liked the Peppermint Bark I made, but I truly LOVE this.  Again, I apologize for the delay of this post, being after the holidays, but this was a surprise for some family.  My mom's best friend, who is no longer with us, used to make homemade Almond Roca.  It is such a treat and fairly easy to make, but unfortunately I was never able to get the recipe from her. Once again though, the internet is such a handy place and I combined a couple recipes together to come up with this one.

Almond Roca

2/3 cup slivered almonds

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water

12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
4 Tbs. cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup finely chopped pecans (traditional roca uses walnuts)

As I did with the peppermint bark, I used the Silpat baking mats (see the "I Recommend" on the right) to do this, which makes this SO easy, but if you don't have those, you can wrap foil around a cookie sheet and butter it up really well.  That works too.

Sprinkle the almonds over the prepared baking sheet and set aside.  Bring your butter, sugar, water to a boil in a heavy metal pan and stir constantly until the temperature reaches 310 degrees.  Quickly pour over the almonds and spread in an even layer.  This will firm up rather quickly, however you may also place the baking sheet in the fridge to speed up the process.

While the toffee mixture is setting, melt the chocolate chips and cream in a double boiler.  Stir until smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Pour over the toffee mixture and spread evenly.  Sprinkle the pecans over the chocolate and gently press into chocolate.  Let set until firm.  Once hardened, break into chunks and store in an air tight container in a cool place.  Again, I thought the fridge might be a little too cool and damp for an extended period, so I am just storing ours in our basement.

Enjoy!  Now I just might have to hide this from myself.....




Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Kerrygold.