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Aunt Ruthie’s Toffee, image by The Tromp Queen CC license 4.0

Aunt Ruthie’s Terrific Toffee recipe.

Aunt Ruthie has been gone a little over 9 years now. I think of her often and miss her so much!

My Dad was one of 8 children. Aunt Ruthie was one of his older sisters. Way into her late 80’s she was “taking care of the old people.” She would make pounds and pounds of Christmas candy and home-made noodles and baked goods each year (fudge, toffee, pecan rolls, cinnamon rolls, butterhorn rolls, and more). All through the Holiday season, lots of goodies would be sitting on top of her washer and dryer on her screened-in porch (between the kitchen and garage). Friends and family could help themselves as they were coming or going from her house. She was tiny, feisty, hard-working, witty and quick-to-laugh. She loved the Cubs and the Republican Party! She collected Hummel figurines, old dishes and various antiques. She was a FABULOUS cook.

I visit Aunt Ruthie’s grave whenever I get back to visit that area. She and her husband, Uncle Spike (his real name was Dale, but he lost both hands in a corn picker and wore metal hooks that opened and closed so he could drive and do all sorts of things) are buried in a little country graveyard a couple miles from the nearest small town, just down the road from where my cousins now live in a new house built on her old farm land.

Their headstone is a huge agate rock that was found on their farm. Aunt Ruthie had it polished and cut when Uncle Spike died in a tragic car accident when I was 15 years old.
I could write many blogs posts just about Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Spike, but I will not keep you waiting for the recipe any longer!

Aunt Ruthie’s Toffee

1 c. packed brown sugar
2 sticks of butter
chopped pecans
good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips or bars

In a saucepan, heat the sugar and butter on medium heat until it reaches 280 degrees. (My mom’s note says you “can turn it on high” 🙂 Stir most of the time.

Butter a pan (jelly roll type or cookie sheet). Crush or finely chop pecans (or whatever nuts you like) and spread them around on the buttered pan.

(I would probably toast them first, but I don’t think Aunt Ruthie did that).

Pour hot the sugar mixture over the nuts. When it sets up some, put chocolate on top (chips or broken up bars). It will melt. Spread the chocolate around. Break it into pieces when it has cooled.

Enjoy!

Thank you, dear Aunt Ruthie!

*Note to readers: I previously published this same recipe in a “recipe re-visit” here, on The Tromp Queen blog, and also as a Facebook note. I’m posting it again so that it has its own place here now.

recipe notebook

I’ve been blogging for about a year now. My original blog is called “The Tromp Queen” and if you haven’t visited that blog, I’d love to have you stop by for a visit.

I posted several recipes there, and in the interest of trying to keep everything food and recipe related in one place — I want to share the links to those posts here for any of my new followers who might have missed those posts.

Aunt Ruthie’s Terrific Toffee is a family recipe that we dearly love. I encourage you to try this recipe when you need something sweet and delicious.

Craving Curry? gives two of my favorite, quick and easy curry recipes. (These can easily be made as vegetarian recipes).

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake is popular in my family as a birthday cake choice. It is absolutely decadent and worth EVERY calorie.

Another family favorite is Spinach Börek. My sister-in-law is a Turkish woman, and she graciously taught me how to make this many years ago when we first met. This is my son’s favorite meal to eat for special occasions. This recipe is also vegetarian, but not vegan. (It has dairy and eggs).

Chocolate Chip Scones!!! This recipe is my most famous! It still gets the most views on my blog regularly. It is a pin on Pinterest, and I get a lot of traffic from there, too. This is the recipe that got me thinking I should start a recipe blog.

The last post (and the oldest recipe post on the Tromp Queen) is about my trusty recipe notebook (pictured above). I lost it for a few months and thought it was gone forever. When I found it (finally!), I wrote this post and shared a simple family recipe for my Mom’s macaroni salad. Enjoy!