This chewy maple candy (toffee) is made with just 5 simple ingredients, plus your favorite topping. A paleo and gluten free candy recipe made with real butter, maple syrup, and dark chocolate. Delicious sweet treat to get you through the holidays. Actually, it’s just good ANYTIME! Makes great holiday food gifts, too.
Hold the phone…. I’m posting a 5 Ingredient paleo maple candy recipe less than a week after tropical banana soft serve. Well, geeze. Just shows how off I am this week.
Holidays that are between seasons throw me off. Do I eat pumpkin? Even thought it’s 90F? Or do I keep drinking mojito smoothies until we reach September 23rd and a crisp cool 85F? LOL! First world problems.
In all honesty, I think this is the best time to ENJOY both. End of summer fruit and SO close to Fall spices/flavors. You get variety and comfort at the same time.
Which leads me to this maple candy recipe. Uh… can I just call this crack toffee? Yes, let’s go with it.
It’s addicting in the best way possible. Paleo and gluten free candy it is, sure, but I won’t lie, it’s no superfood. Just super delicious. Actually, come to think of it, maple and butter and superfoods. I’ll explain my reasoning in a minute.
But first. A STORY! True story, once upon a time there was a young blog girl who grew up with 3 brothers. They often dared her to do stuff. Like eat WHOLE sticks of butter in one sitting. Ahem… that girl was me. The only problem was that after I accepted the dare and ate the stick of butter, I realized that I REALLY liked butter. In fact, I continued to eat slabs of butter with cinnamon sugar or maple syrup on top. Obviously this was without my mom knowing. In fact, I don’t think she know now. Haha, whoops. Maybe I’m really Paula Dean’s long lost daughter? I kid. Honestly, I never had any health issues growing up. I was quite active and healthy. I guess you could say my life life motto back then was “fueled by butter!” Haha.
Point being friends, REAL butter is magical (if well tolerated). And if fact, it can be a healthy addition to the diet. Just don’t eat the whole stick in one sitting like I did. Instead focus on using it recipes or a little bit here or there for individual servings.. Also, Dairy Free Ghee, Grass-fed, or even the new coconut oil based vegan butters work wonders as well! Oh the natural healthy fats make me swoon!
Nerdy Nutrition Facts about Butter –>
Yes I am going there. BUT… only so I can justify the 5 ingredient paleo maple toffee addiction. Cool?
- Butter contains healthy fat soluble vitamins. Vitamin k2 in particular. Remember my love for Vitamin K in the Brussel Sprouts recipe? Yes, it’s so needed. But Vitamin K2 does wonders for calcium metabolism.
- Butter contains a two pretty AMAZING fatty acids. One is called butyrate and the other Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA). Both contain anti-inflammatory properties (source), but what I love about butryate (I may be bias) is that is can help with your digestive system by regulating proper cell growth or “balance” of good/bad cells in the lining of the gut.
Don’t worry, I won’t get any more nerdy on you. Just had to hare those two tidbits. Like I said, maybe those healthy facts justify my reasoning for sticks of butter as a young child. I’m one big BUTTER LOVING machine now!
Okay, now let’s discuss how 5 ingredient maple candy can fit in here. Um…. can you tell by the picture below?
Ingredients in Paleo Maple Candy (Toffee)
ALL THE BUTTAH!
Today’s paleo and gluten free maple candy is my ode to butter. With a little bit of dark chocolate and coconut sugar mixed in. You diggin it?
All you need are 5 ingredients and a lot of LOVE for healthy snacks and desserts to make the recipe for maple candy.
Although… I won’t lie. IF.. and only IF you want a topping, then this will make it a 6 ingredient toffee. 5 or 6, meh. Same thing right? Does water count as an ingredient? Ugh, you get my point. Still, butter is INVOLVED. YEA!
Personally, I liked adding a little coconut sugar and crushed almond on top. For Crunch factor. Hello, my blog is Cotter Crunch. You can quote me on that. Obviously, you don’t have to add any topping. I will leave that up to you.
So what does it take to make this toffee? Mmmm… just 15 minutes and then bam, in the fridge it goes.
What temperature do you cook maple candy?
One tip –> to perfect the chewy toffee texture, I highly recommend using a candy thermometer or a thermometer that reaches 330- 350F. You’ll be cooking the maple candy to a temp of 300 on a candy thermometer. When it cools and hardens, it becomes toffee!
Let’s get to it. You’re gonna love this maple candy toffee! Super easy and great for holidays!
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Easy Maple Candy Toffee (Paleo + Gluten Free)
- Total Time: 29 minute
- Yield: 16 pieces 1x
Description
Maple candy toffee made with 5 ingredients plus your favorite topping! With real butter, maple syrup, and dark chocolate This gluten free candy is so easy to make, and it makes a great holiday food gift.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (8oz) softened – (We use KerryGold)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (Enjoy life Vegan/GF brand)
- Optional toppings or add-ins if desired – crushed nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, etc.
TOOLS
- Baking pan
- Parchment paper
- Small sauce pan
- Candy thermometer
Instructions
- First make sure your butter is softened somewhat. This speeds up the process.
- In a small sauce pan, combine your butter, sugar, maple syrup, and water.
- Mix on stove top on medium heat until sugar is dissolved into butter.
- Increase heat to medium high until you reach a boil. Don’t boil too high or too long otherwise your sugar will burn.
- Reduce heat to medium or at 285F, somewhat of a soft boil.
- Continue to cook, whisking constantly, until candy thermometer reaches 300/hard stage (this will take about 10-15 minutes). Be careful to watch the pot so the mixture doesn’t overflow. If it starts to, just lift pot with pot holder for a second then place back down.
- The liquid boil will be nice dark amber color once done.
- Carefully pour the hot mixture onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Spread it around evenly.
- Pour your dark chocolate chips on top.
- The chocolate will start to melt with mixture. Spread the melted dark chocolate around evenly with spatula.
- Add any other topping you’d like. Crushed nuts, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, etc. Spread it around the pan as well.
- Place in fridge for 2 hrs.
- Once hardened, remove from fridge and cut into pieces.
- I like to add a little coconut sugar on top to make it more “sticky.” This is optional.
- Store in air tight container or ziplock bag.
- I keep mine in fridge to last longer but room temperature is fine as well.
Notes
If you don’t have a thermometer, just be sure to continue whisking at soft boil for at least 10-12 minutes.
This is a good basic toffee recipe. You can add in vanilla extract, spices, nuts, cranberries, etc!
Be careful when cooking; you don’t want butter/sugar mixture to boil over. It’s very HOT when you pour onto baking sheet, so do so gently.
Substitutes
Nutritional Info
- Nutrition as shown is for one piece, with nuts on top
- Prep Time: 2 hr
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Category: dessert
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 161
- Sugar: 13.9g
- Sodium: 6.9mg
- Fat: 12g
- Saturated Fat: 7.5g
- Carbohydrates: 14.7g
- Fiber: 0.2g
- Protein: 0.3g
- Cholesterol: 28.7mg
Keywords: gluten free candy, maple toffee, paleo dessert
If you want STICKY toffee, just drizzle with a little extra maple syrup or coconut sugar. Oh so bad yet so good, right?
Confess.. did you love butter as much as I did growing up? Are you ready for so all the holiday shenanigans and treats?
If you are, make it PALEO MAPLE CANDY TOFFEE!
Cheers,
LC
This looks amazing! If I’m more of a crunchy toffee fan than a chewy one, approximately what temperature should I get my mixture to?
Hi Lauren! I would try 300 F. That’s hard crack stage (at least 300 degrees F). Keep me posted 👍
I love the recipe, but I hate to say, I don’t think there’s anything “paleo” about refining sugars and dairy products into candy. Honey was the only refined sugar paleolithic humans would have had access to, and they didn’t know how to raise bees and killed the hive to harvest, making honey relatively rare. They also certainly didn’t have butter and other dairy products, as animals weren’t domesticated yet.
★★★★
Hi Josh! Thank you for your feedback. We’re so happy you enjoy the recipe! You’re absolutely right, and this post is on our list to update with new terminology as we move away from the Paleo phrase altogether. We appreciate you drawing it to our attention and will work on correcting the verbiage. Until then, we hope you continue to enjoy this real food coandy!
So glad to find this healthier toffee recipe! Do you know if 1/3 cup honey can be substituted for the 1/3 cup maple syrup in this recipe and still turn out right? Thanks for your help!
Hi Angela! I’m not sure honey wil work. I don’t see why it wouldn’t though. The only problem I could see you running into is the timing of the caramelization. Honey might take longer. Do you have a candy thermometer?
Thank you, Lindsay, for taking the time to offer a helpful response! I greatly appreciate it! Yes, I do have a candy thermometer.
This looks and sounds so good! I want to make tomorrow. Could I substitute date sugar for the coconut sugar? Thanks so much for posting healthier recipes!
I haven’t tried it with date sugar, but worth a shot!
Is the texture like English toffee? Crisp or is it chewy?
definitely more chewy! But, also depends on how hot you get the sugar before pouring onto pan. Mine has always been more on the chewy side.
Made this toffee recipe today and it turned out perfect! Used the exact ingredients listed in the recipe because I know substitutions can throw off a recipe like this. Super simple to make and will be making it again for our family’s Christmas Eve party! 🙂
★★★★★
Terrible recipe!! I used ghee instead of butter and brown sugar instead of coconut sugar. They never mixed!!!! I was careful of the proportions and used a thermometer during the entire procedure. Now I have just some lumps of hard candy floating in liquid ghee.
★
Oh no! I am so sorry. What brand of ghee did you use?
I was wondering if you can use coconut oil instead of butter for the paleo toffee?
Thank you!
Hey there! I have tried it with coconut oil once before, naturally refined. It does work but you might have to play with the ratio a bit. The texture won’t be as chewy. Have you tried palm shortening? That works well! Or vegan butter.
Ghee is not dairy free. There are still milk proteins left in it that some people react to or have issue with. Usually lactose intolerant people do fine with it but those with a dairy allergy do not.
Very true! Thanks for catching that. I will correct.
I made this recipe over the weekend for a neighbor that loves toffee. It was crazy how much it tastes like the real deal!
The only thing different is the fact that it is not crunchy, but honestly your teeth will thank you for that. The recipe was easy as long as you follow it and stir vigorously for 10-15 minutes. No slacking off here! The payoff is well worth it.
Thanks for such a great recipe, I’m saving this one for the holidays!
Oh yay! So glad. I adore it too. haha kinda like toffee, taffy, and everything between.
I was really excited to make this today for holiday gifts. A triple batch even! The candy thermometer I bought seemed to be defective because I could not get it past 250 even though the mixture was clearly at a fast boil, and then a slow boil. So I did the best I could based on observing the mixture rather than the temp. Unfortunately the finished toffee will not harden. Even after many hours refrigeration, it’s still just gooey. Wondering if you have had any experience with that happening, and ideas about what might have gone wrong. Perhaps I poured it too thick? Or perhaps it just never got hot enough. Maybe tripling the recipe had something to do with it? I can’t stand to let all these premium ingredients go to waste so I plan to make balls of the toffee and dip them in dark chocolate. It just won’t be nearly as pretty. Thanks for the recipe and any suggestions you might have!
Hi Nicole! So sorry to hear about this. Bummer! I think doubling might have to do with the texture. That’s tricky. I usually try to get my thermometer up to 240F if not 250F. 220 is soft candy. It could have been too much butter too.
I have an idea though!! Did you see my toffee bites recipe? You could make that for sure. Here it is. https://www.cottercrunch.com/maple-chocolate-chip-toffee-bites/
oops I meant 240F for caramel sauce, not toffee. SO that’s why it probably didn’t set. Feel free to email me if you need help!
Very interesting blog. A lot of blogs I see these days don’t really provide anything that much interesting, but I’m most definitely interested in this one. Just thought that I would post and let you know.
I certainly agree to some points that you have discussed on this post. I appreciate that you have shared some reliable tips on this review.
Amazing blog and very interesting stuff you got here!
Great post. All readers will definitely like this post. Looking forward for your next post.
So delicious! Reminds me of the saltine cracker toffee my grandma made during the holidays when I was a kid! This I am sure would be much, much better!
I love butter too. Sometimes I think my crazy bread eating ways is just an excuse to put some butter on it. Back in the day, I used to eat the butter off the bread and then ask for more. 🙂
This ode to butter (and toffee of course) made my day. Blows kiss.
Wanna know another funny story? That same butter-loving girl would be me too! I wouldn’t quite eat a whole stick but that was only because I always got caught by the superfitmom and get warned about the acne butter causes! LOL!
OMG i love this story! Buttah Twin!
I did eat butter as a kid & OMG, cinnamon toast meaning bread toasted, lost of butter & cinnamon sugar on top. I was a fat kid! 🙂
I am not a butter fam now – just not my thing but I would eat your toffee!!!!!!!! YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
man I wish that was healthy. haha i miss it.
This toffee is amazing. Looks like a healthy version of one my Mom use to make. Can’t wait to make it. Julia Child loved butter!
You should toss this is a Cotter Christmas post.
So goofs like me can rind it again and make it!
Hah I will! P.s this toffee is going to be part of a healthy bite recipe.. oh stayed tuned!
pps how are you feeling?
Lolo! Your butter-eating story actually reminds me of something I used to do when I was younger… Mom wouldn’t let me eat raw cookie dough, but I snuck a taste before she added the egg one time and fell in love. It was basically just butter and sugar, and I remember making it after that and just snacking on it that way 😆
Omg I would have done same!! Cookie dough love!!
Lindsay, my mom used to make “milk toffee” all the time when I was younger – looking back, it’s been ages since I had some and your paleo toffee sounds downright drool-worthy! Gorgeous photos too, my friend! And now I know that butter ha anti-inflammatory properties!
Remember butter sandwiches? And yes, real butter is indeed amazing! Too bad it makes my stomach go WTF? But at least I can have a little bit!
I definitely thought toffee would be more complicated to make. Happy to find out that it’s not.
Ummmmmmmm. I’m pretty sure this is amazing.
I need a huge big batch of this for myself and I need to package up plenty of other batches for all the people who I love as this would make an awesome gift too! You are amazing, girl!
That looks delicious! And I love treats that don’t require a lot of ingredients!
me too! thank goodness. So much work is not necessary! haha
Oh my goodness this toffee looks unreal!! Sign me up for a whole batch please! (Also that butter story— OMGee LOL!!)
hehe, thanks friend. I heart butter. My brothers laugh now.
Total first world problems! I’ve actually been eating Pumpkin Spice Smoothies for breakfast this week — the perfect cross between summer and fall! I want the autumn flavors, but it’s still 100 degrees here! 🙂
I need your smoothie next! Let’s escape to either the beach or mountains. K?
Srsly, I ate sticks of butter when I was a kid, too! But I did it our of my own volition, not out of a dare #fattyintraining. This toffee is straight up my alley…I love the butter element to it, and am 200% game for a little coconut sugar sprinkle on top. Thinking I need to make batch upon batch of this toffee for my family over the holidays.. 😉
True story – this is my favorite Christmas dessert. My friend Ben used to come by every Christmas Eve with a giant bag of the most delicious toffee ever (besides yours, that is) and we’d chow down on that for the 22.5 hours it lasted. I’m ready for some holiday treats! But for now… yeah, I’m making watermelon-vodka slushies in the blender.
Ready for the holidays! And this toffee – WOW! I need it, and I will definitely make it!
I can’t believe that ingredient list is only all of five ingredients! These sound amazing and would be so perfect for the holidays!
right? SO GOOD TOO!
The struggle is definitely real! I made pumpkin muffins in 100 degrees the other day and had zero desire to eat them. Going in the freezer for a rainy day! Guess I need to get creative like you!
OMG really?? Brave girl! stay cool