There are few flavors I love more than toffee. Elegant, creamy, warm and tasting of both vanilla and butterscotch, I love toffee in all of its forms, from the Hersey's Skor bar and Werther's hard candy to the coup' de grace of candy goodness, English Toffee. Crunchy and buttery with an interesting texture that sort of melts into your teeth, a delicious layer of chocolate sprinkled with salty nuts, English Toffee is truly a candy to fall in love with.
I attribute my love of toffee to my Grammie. As a kid, I spent a couple of weeks at her house in Iowa each summer. These were glorious times when indulgences like drinking RC Cola out of glass bottle on the front porch and cooking Totino's Pizzas in the basement because it was too hot to use the kitchen oven became special treats. We spent our days watching Grammie's soaps and The Price is Right and ended each night with a bowl of cereal during Johnny Carson. These were my first true vacations, where none of the rules from home applied and we got to eat things my Mom would never buy.
My Grammie's candy bowl was always full of Brach's mix, including those striped pink, brown and white coconut things (what are those, anyway?), Starlight mints, chewy toffees 
with flavored middles and my favorite, butterscotch disks wrapped in yellow cellophane. I also developed a taste for butterscotch pudding, it was Grammie's favorite. Never one for instant pudding, Grammie always made the stove kind, using the most unusual whisk I've ever seen. It was sort of a spring on a handle, not at all like the basket whisks I have today. Butterscotch became my flavor and back at home I remember trying to force this lovely brownish yellow dessert on my chocolate loving family, with mixed results. So out of summers spent at Grammie's, grew my love of toffee. But I don’t have it very often, so it's still special when someone offers me an irregularly shaped piece of English Toffee heaven.
I was perusing the too-narrow aisles of the liquor mega mart, known to all in the area as Applejack, when I came across a colorful bottle of something called Dooley’s. A German toffee liqueur, made with vodka, toffee caramel and other “natural ingredients”. Although I had never heard of German toffee or vodka, it sounded delicious. An idea began to take shape as I rushed home to work on my masterpiece.
Starting with vanilla ice cream, I used the Dooley’s liqueur as a sauce, and finished my sundae with some shaved dark chocolate pieces and chopped pecans. What a great combination! Smooth, creamy and buttery, a perfect mix of vanilla-y toffee flavor simplicity and intriguing bits of chocolate and nut crunch. A perfect summer way to enjoy the buttery toffee flavors I love!
English Toffee Inspiration Sundae
Premium Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Dooley's Toffee Liqueur
Shaved Dark Chocolate
Chopped Pecans
Get out a beautiful dish and add two (or more) scoops of ice cream. Drizzle the Dooley's decoratively over the top. Sprinkle the chocolate and pecans on. Serve to toffee loving friends and family often.
Cheers!
This is my contribution to Yum Sugar's celebration of National Candy Month - dishes made of or inspired by the candy we love.
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