This guest post is by Alea Milham of Premeditated Leftovers and Gluten-Free Flavor Full!
Holiday parties can be difficult to navigate when you have Celiac’s Disease, but I have a confession; this is the time of year when I am most thankful for my gluten intolerance! I have the perfect excuse to politely refuse my aunt’s fruit cake, my mother-in-law’s rum cake, and neighbor’s date cookies. I realize you may have enjoyed these items and now miss them, but I don’t! Prior to being diagnosed, I used to politely choke down a few bites, but now I don’t have to. 
And since I am not wasting calories on items that I don’t enjoy, I have more leeway to partake of the ones I do: candies. I love fudge, divinity, and toffee and because there is a God in heaven, they are all naturally gluten free.
My kids prefer my traditional toffee, but as I have gotten older I have begun to find it a little too sweet. I discovered that brown rice syrup can be easily be substituted for refined sugar to make brittles and toffee. The only changes that need to be made is to eliminate the water in the recipe and stir the butter and syrup mixture regularly while boiling it.
Brown Rice Syrup Toffee
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown rice syrup
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds
- 6 oz. dark chocolate
- 1/4 cup chopped almonds
Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil. Grease the foil.
In a large sauce pot, melt butter over a medium heat. Add brown rice syrup and attach a candy thermometer to pot.
Raise heat to medium high and stir constantly until the mixture reaches 270 degrees on the candy thermometer.
Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup chopped almonds. Pour into the foil lined pan and allow to cool.
You could stop right here if you like or you can proceed and add chocolate and more nuts…
Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Spread over the top of the toffee. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chopped almonds over the chocolate.
Place in the refrigerator to cool. Once the toffee and chocolate has cooled completely break it into pieces.
What are your favorite gluten-free holiday foods?
Alea Milham shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home at Premeditated Leftovers. Since 3 out of 5 in her household are gluten intolerant, she has declared majority rule, and made her home a gluten-free zone. She shares gluten-free recipes at Gluten-Free Flavor Full.
OOhh… I am going to make this today!! LOVE IT!! Can't wait!
Oh my, this sounds and looks so amazing. I adore toffee and I have loads of rice syrup in the house. Yes, I'll be making this!
You know, for some reason I have yet to buy rice syrup. But i love toffee, so this is a perfect reason to buy it!
I used agave syrup when I made it, and it didn't set. Just wanted to let everyone know that. I am gonna try again with rice syrup.
I have never tried it with agave syrup – now I know not too. Thanks for sharing!
I make home-made baby formula and use brown rice syrup as the sweetner. I love having another way to use the brown rice syrup. This recipe is a great idea for Christmas presents. Thanks!
what did i do wrong. I ended up making caramel instead of toffee. It tastes great but still. I used margarine and added maybe 1 tsp of vanilla. I got to 270. Did I not leave it at 270 long enough? Not boil it fast enough? Help. I so want this to work
My first guess would be that your thermometer is not calibrated correctly. I take it off the flame as soon as it hits 270 degrees, but I have never tried making this with margarine and vanilla (but I sure will be trying it soon – maybe even tonight!) You want to take it off the flame when it is at the soft crack stage (270 – 290 degrees) so you have room to cook it a little longer, but you need to be careful or it will burn. A secondary test you can do to make sure you are at the soft crack stage is to drop a small amount of boiling liquid into some cold water. It should form hard, but pliable threads.