Butter Pecan Crunch Recipes

Steps:

• Cook sugar, syrup and water until mixture thickens and bubbles (about 230 degrees). Add butter and pecans. Stir continuously and continue cooking until nuts begin to brown or start popping (290 degrees). Remove from heat. Add vanilla and soda and stir thoroughly. Pour quickly in several pieces on large buttered surface. Do not spread with knife or spoon. Allow to cool slightly. Stretch and pull with hands until very thin. (The thinner it is stretched, the more brittle it will be.) When cooled and hardened, break into small pieces. Store in airtight container.

Steps:

• Cook sugar, syrup and water until mixture thickens and bubbles (about 230 degrees). Add butter and pecans. Stir continuously and continue cooking until nuts begin to brown or start popping (290 degrees). Remove from heat. Add vanilla and soda and stir thoroughly. Pour quickly in several pieces on large buttered surface. Do not spread with knife or spoon. Allow to cool slightly. Stretch and pull with hands until very thin. (The thinner it is stretched, the more brittle it will be.) When cooled and hardened, break into small pieces. Store in airtight container.

Steps:

• To make the butter crunch mixture, melt the butter in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat, stir in almonds, and pour out into prepared pan, spreading the mixture with the back of a spoon to fill the pan. Before the butter crunch hardens, but when it is firm enough to handle, turn it out onto a large parchment-covered cutting board and peel away the foil. Allow the butter crunch to cool completely. To finish the butter crunch, wipe the top surface of the candy with a damp paper towel to remove excess butter and allow to dry a few minutes. Have another cutting board or the back of a jelly-roll pan ready to turn the candy over onto. Use a small offset metal icing spatula to spread half the tempered chocolate quickly over the butter crunch. Scatter half the chopped almonds over the chocolate. Cover this finished surface with a piece of parchment paper or foil and place another cutting board or the back of a large jelly-roll pan. Remove top board and paper and quickly spread with remaining tempered chocolate and scatter on remaining almonds (it isn't necessary to wipe the second side because it wasn't against a buttered surface). Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set chocolate. Break the butter crunch into 2-inch pieces. Store candy in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting cover and keep at a cool room temperature for up to a week.

Steps:

• Butter a 9-inch square baking pan, and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper that extends up and over two sides. Butter the parchment, and set the pan aside.
• Place the butter and water in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugar, and stir constantly until dissolved and the mixture comes to a boil. Using a pastry brush dipped in water, brush away any sugar crystals on the side of the pan to prevent recrystallization. Cook until the mixture is dark amber in color. Remove from heat, and stir in the pecans. Pour into the prepared baking pan, and let stand at room temperature to cool completely.
• Place the chocolate and corn syrup, if using, in a small heat-proof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until combined and completely melted. Let cool slightly, and spread over the top of the cooled toffee. Arrange the pecan halves on top, and let sit at room temperature until the chocolate has cooled completely and set, at least 2 hours or overnight. Carefully unmold by lifting out the parchment paper. Break or cut into pieces, and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

Steps:

• Mix crumbs and butter; press into bottom of 9x13 pan.
• Chill.
• Beat pudding mixes and milk until well blended.
• Fold in ice-cream and Cool Whip.
• Spoon over crust.
• Sprinkle with crushed Heath bars.
• Freeze.
• Thaw about 20 minutes before cutting.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a half-sheet (13 by 18-inch) pan with aluminum foil. Arrange graham crackers side by side and end to end to cover the pan in a single layer. Sprinkle pecans evenly over the crackers and cover with toffee bits. In a heavy skillet or saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the butter and sugar to a boil; continue boiling for 2 1/2 minutes. Immediately pour over the cracker-pecan-toffee layers. Bake for about 12 minutes. While still hot, use a pizza cutter to cut the bars into squares or diagonally into diamonds. Cool in the pan, then lift the foil lining out and stack the squares on a serving platter.
• These can be made up to 3 days in advance and kept in an airtight container at room temperature. Well wrapped, they can be frozen for up to 3 weeks. Do not leave them out for too long in humid weather, or they lose their crunch and become sticky. If the weather is terribly humid, keep them in the refrigerator until serving.
• I've substituted crushed chocolate-covered toffee bars for the toffee bits with great results. I used six 1.4-ounce bars-as close as I could come to matching the recipe's 8-ounce package of toffee bits. Whatever size toffee bars you use, just do the math-most candy bars list weight in ounces on the package-to determine how many you'll need. To crush, smack them, fully wrapped, with a pestle, heavy mallet, or rolling pin.