A Christmas Tradition: English Toffee

The best memory I have of the Christmas season is making english toffee with my mom and sister. This is a recipe that has been passed down to my mom from my grandma. Weeks before Christmas every year we put on Christmas music and get out my mom's le creuset grey pot and stir away. Growing up this consisted of my sister and I being the taste testers as my mom made the candy. Now I am a grown up, I'm married. I have to carry on this tradition in my own household. So, today I ventured down this path and made my first batch of toffee in my first home with my own pot. The same smell spread throughout the house, and the familiar sound of the boiling ingredients filled the kitchen. There is so much tradition and meaning in this toffee, it is so much more to me than delicious candy. It is late night conversations with my mom and sister, it is an argument over who is going to stir (it takes forever), it is my grandma's old candy thermometer, it is a tin delivered to my favorite high school teachers, it is a pot full of love, a tradition I will continue with my kids one day. A tradition I hope means as much to my kids as it does to me so that they pass it on to their kids. This is one of those LITTLE THINGS that I love so much about Christmas. I could never imagine that a piece of candy could have so much meaning. Hold so many memories, be so special.

Merry Christmas!
Annie

Lots of stirring still to go...

Ready to eat!