Chocolate Walnut Caramels and Chocolate Almond Toffee. Meh.

I feel very mediocre about this past weekend's culinary endeavors. I've been wanting to make a candy or chocolate type something for awhile. While I haven't yet gotten the patience to actually temper chocolate, I made caramels and toffee and dipped/spread them with chocolate.



Here is the caramel becoming caramel. I just want to take a moment to say thank you to the woman that invented the clip that holds a candy thermometer on a pot. I say woman because I'm pretty sure a man didn't do it.



These sounded really good in writing. I followed the directions, cooked it to the right temperature, got fresh walnuts from HEB, etc. It just turned out...weird. When I think of caramel, I think chewy, buttery goodness. This was really hard to chew and I think it requires way too much cooking time.



Here's the toffee getting chocolate covered! I've included this picture for the sake of showing off one of the skirts I got in Ireland (I got 3...). It's really cute! This picture does it no justice...



Out of the two candies I made, I tolerated this one the best. It has toasted almonds in it that added a nice after taste. I liked the toffee, Mike gushed about the "caramel". It's clear that I need a neutral judge that's not myself or sealed to me for time and all eternity to tell me how my food really tastes.

I know where the blame falls for me not liking what I made this week. Mom, this is entirely your fault. If you hadn't raised me on the most amazing homemade caramel and toffee then I probably would've liked these two recipes.

Maybe it was the time of year. When I think of caramel and toffee and dipping things in chocolate, I think of Christmas. For now, I'm not going to share the recipes for these. I didn't like them, so I'm not endorsing them! HA! As soon as I get my mom's recipes, I will share those though :)