It's couverture chocolate. I can't remember the exact one I used, but Valrhona Caraïbe is what I most commonly use.

Hi..is this compound or couverture chocolate?

Hi Linda, thanks for the nice note! I hope you and your gift recipients enjoy it! I personally had to stop making this because I was eating too much of it😆 Might make an exception for Christmas though.

Hi Linda, if refrigerate this will keep for months. If it's kept in a cool room, it should last for a few weeks. As for packaging, leaving them whole would make for a prettier presentation, but it presents a challenge for your recipients to break it up, so it might be better to break them up into portions before you gift them. I'd recommend wrapping them in parchment paper, and then you can put them into a food-safe box, or you could put them into nice jars (with a wide lid). The one thing to watch out for with boxes is that these will start to get sticky in very humid environments, so if you're in a place that's hot and humid, you'll probably want to go with packaging that can be sealed.

Hi Kathy, that's about 15 years longer than I've been making toffee! Enstrom's is great too, but I'm with you on making it yourself to get it just the way you like it. I've done this with peanuts and macadamia nuts, but haven't tried hazelnuts yet (I was traumatized as a young chef after having to peel a large box of hazelnuts once). I do love the flavor combo though so I'll have to give it a shot.

Is your allergy with all nuts, or just tree nuts? If you can eat other types of nuts like peanuts, then that's a possibility, otherwise you could use something like roasted soy beans.

This is EXACTLY how I've made toffee for over 20 years, except I now have to make huge batches because everyone knows how delicious it is! I've never heard of Ruth's, but we used to get Enstrom's gifted from my brother in Denver; your version is just as good. I like to make my caramel on the dark side, and heavily roast the almonds. I like having control of these elements so you can customize the candy to your personal taste. Hazelnuts work well here, too; just remove the skins after roasting. Semi-sweet or milk chocolate also work fine. I usually cover the pan of chocolate-covered-toffee with a sheet pan to speed up the melting.

It's a great recipe for gift-giving or cookie exchanges. Once you try this, though, you may discover that you don't like anyone well enough to be willing to share!