Sugar Free Toffee Candy
Homemade keto toffee is so easy but so satisfying. It looks and tastes like the expensive bark in fancy chocolate shops. My buttery walnut sugar free toffee candy has only 5 ingredients plus salt and takes minutes. Even if you’ve never made candy before you can make this.
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99% of the time I make a recipe because there is something I want to eat. I love food. Since I don’t have any healthy candy in the house I had to make something yummy (before I cave into the Snickers bars in the grocery check out).
When I first shared this back in 2016, I had my Facebook followers vote on which post I should share immediately and this one won by a landslide. I’m not surprised because it is so good I hid this homemade low carb English toffee recipe in the back of the fridge. And made another dessert for a party so I didn’t have to share these.
Ingredients
Sweetener – I use a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my recipes. Using either xylitol or erythritol on their own should work as well but I don’t test all the possible combinations. Candies can be tricky so I do recommend using the sweetener listed in this.
Cream – Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream are needed for this recipe.
Butter – I use salted butter. The bit of salt in the butter helps balance the sweetness of the candy.
Nuts – Walnuts are the nut I use most often in this recipe but any nut will work.
Chocolate – Choose a sugar-free milk, semisweet, or dark chocolate that melts easily. 85% dark chocolate can also be used.
How to Make Keto Toffee
Toffee is fairly easy to make. If you’ve ever made any kind of cooked candy before you can make this!
First Step: You cook the sweetener, cream, and butter until it is thickened and golden brown. I add the nuts in the cooking stage so they get toasted right in the caramel. Pour the toffee on a greased foil lined pan.
Expert Tip: Cooking the sugar free toffee to the perfect point can be tricky! I highly recommend watching the video in this post before making this. It is only 1 minute long and very helpful!
Second Step: Cool the keto English toffee until it firms up, then pour on the melted chocolate.
Third Step (optional): If you want chocolate on both sides chill the toffee and then flip it over. Peel off the foil and cover the second side with more melted chocolate.
Fourth Step: Cut into squares and eat your toffee candy!
Storing Homemade Toffee
You can store sugar free toffee at room temperature for a day or two. At room temperature, it will be softer and more caramelly. For it to get crisp like a real English toffee chill it. You can see the difference between my video and photos. In the video, the toffee was room temperature. In these photos, it has been chilled first.
Tips for Making Sugar Free Toffee
I have had readers simplify this by putting the melted sugar free chocolate in a muffin tin with aluminum liners. Chill the chocolate, put the warm toffee on top, chill again, and then top with more chocolate. You get cute little circles that way and don’t need to flip the toffee over or cut it. That method can also help with portion control.
Substitutions & Tweaks
This basic combination of cream, butter, and sweetener can be used to make all varieties of keto toffee.
Nuts: Any type of nuts work! We love this with pecans. With pecans, it tastes like cracker toffee aka Christmas crack. Almonds, macadamia nuts, and cashews are all great choices. Make it with peanuts and it tastes like snickers!
Coffee: Mix in a teaspoon of instant coffee when you add the final tablespoon of cream for a mocha flavor.
Seeds: If you can’t have nuts pepitas (pumpkin seeds) give a nice crunch in place of the walnuts.
White Chocolate: Now that sugar-free white chocolate chips are more readily available go ahead and try some in place of the dark chocolate!
Cranberries: Add in some sugar-free dried cranberries with the last tablespoon of the heavy cream. They give a nice, tart contrast to the sweetness of the toffee.
Video
Keto Toffee
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp butter
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or nuts of your choice
- 5 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- pinch salt
- 7 oz sugar free or very dark chocolate***
Instructions
- Line a small baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Melt butter over low medium until it starts to turn golden. Add nuts and cook for about five minutes until they are slightly toasted. Add 4 tbsp of the cream and the sweetener. Cook until thickened and golden. This takes about 10 minutes. If it doesn’t seem to be thickening you can turn up the heat to medium or medium high but stir constantly. It can burn quickly. Remove immediately from the heat and add the salt and reserved cream. Stir until smooth. Pour onto the foil lined tray and refrigerate until firm to the touch (about half an hour).
- Melt the chocolate. I do this in a glass bowl in the microwave stirring every thirty seconds. Add sweetener if needed. Pour half of the chocolate on top of the toffee. Put in the freezer for a few minutes until the chocolate is solid. Flip over the toffee bark and peel off the foil. Put the foil back on the tray and put the toffee on the chocolate side down. Pour the rest of the chocolate on top. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.
- The filling stays soft like caramel at room temperature but hardens like a toffee overnight or after refrigerating.
Notes
Nutrition
Looking for other easy keto candy recipes? Try my:
Salted Chocolate Almond Brittle Bark
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Bark
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bark
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Originally Published August 19, 2016. Revised and Republished with video October 3, 2020.
Love the recipe but I have a couple questions. I didn’t have xylitol (ordered some tho) I used erithritol and stevia in about the same proportions you had suggested.
I cooked to hardball stage. It came out the consistency of peanut butter fudge.
Tasty, but not toffee. I am also curious about the coolness on your tongue after you eat it. Like wintergreen without the mint. Is it the sugar alcohol? It’s a little weird. It tasted pretty good, not sure my stomach agrees.
I use stevia all the time, so maybe it the erithritol.
The cooling is from the erythritol. If it’s fudgy it’s possible you didn’t cook it long enough. Chilling it can help it firm up more. Sugar alcohols crystallize when chilled.
This toffee is so rich & yummy + relatively easy. Unfortunately, I think I may have done something wrong since the toffee stuck to the foil and remained very soft. Still tastes wonderful, just have to eat it differently!
You may have needed to cook it a bit longer. You can try popping it in the fridge. The sugar alcohols will crystallize and harden it. 🙂
I have been trying this for sometime now and its incredible.
Did you make any alterations?
The chocolate didn’t stick to the caramel and when I cut the bars the chocolate separated top and bottom.
Hi Louise,
I’m so sorry your chocolate didn’t stick to the toffee. May I ask which sweetener and what chocolate you used? I’m always happy to help troubleshoot. I’ve never heard of this happening before.
Does it still taste good? You could chop it and use it as an ice cream topping. Or inside brownies or cookies.
This Toffee is so good. I cures a “sweet tooth” without the guilt. My husband & I love it. Not hard to make. I used a candy thermometer and brought it to 300 degrees, as I would do with regular toffee. I added one teaspoon of vanilla and I used the amount called for using Trivia. Since we like toffee a bit thicker I used an 8″ square pan so the carb count might be off but so worth it! I melted Lilys dark chocolate chips for the topping and the second time I made it I only coated one side of the toffee vs. both sides. Awesome recipe. Thank you!
For the nutritional facts, is that per piece or for the whole recipe?
1 piece assuming you cut this into 24 pieces.
For a sweenter, can I use the equivalent of splenda or Monk Fruit?
I used half xylitol, half erythritol and it never hardened, so I don’t think Splenda would work either. Not sure about monk fruit. It has to be something that will crystallize. It does make a tasty ‘soft caramel’ , though.
Its the xylitol. Xylitol stays at a soft stage and doesn’t crystallize which is why its used for ice cream (allulose too). The monk fruit and erithrytol will crystallize and splenda too
Can I use a different milk instead of hwc?
Half and half can work but you need to cook it longer. I have not tried non-dairy milk in this.
Delicious recipe that truly has great flavor and different from a lot of the other keto desserts!
I made this but the last layer of chocolate wouldn’t stick to the toffee. I also used hazelnuts and sprinkled some flakes of salt on top….yummy!
This looks really good! Would it work for me to use honey or maple syrup as the sweetener? Thanks!
I’m sorry but I have no idea. I’d suggest looking for a toffee recipe that does use honey.
I haven’t tried this recipe yet but do you have to refrigerate it after making it. What is the shelf life? Thank you
These are fine at room temperature for a few days. They last for up to a month in the fridge.
Have not yet made this recipe as I need to shop 1st.
Favor: Can you please put the serving size and servings per recipe on the nutrition label? I know it is at the beginning, but when I am researching (for my diabetic husband’s needs) it would be SO handy to have it there too. (Store-bought food nutrition labels always have the serving size & servings per container listed at the top. Thanks!!!
It is listed. It is near the top of the recipe by the cooking time.
Do you use powdered or granular sugar for this recipe?
I use granulated.
Thank u
Hi I am highly sensitive to milk and I was wondering what I could use in replace of the heavy cream and butter… would coconut oil and milk work? Thanks!!
I would try butter flavored coconut oil and coconut cream. BUT I haven’t tested it yet so I’m not positive it will work. I’d try half a batch just in case it doesn’t.
I used canned coconut milk instead of cream and it was yummy.