Easy Almond Roca Recipe?

It keeps separating before it reaches hardball or whatever that is. I think I have the heat too high. Any suggestions or tips?|||Oh My! Hardball stage, 250-265, you're scaring me and Easy Roca? that's frightening:





Almond Roca Recipe





1 cup sugar


1/4 cup water


1 Tbsp Karo corn syrup


1/2 lb butter (2 sticks - NO substitutes!)


1/2 lb. slivered almonds (2 cups)


1/2 lb. bar of Hershey's dark chocolate (7 oz okay)





Do not attempt to make this on a humid or rainy day. Do not double the recipe, make one batch at a time.





Melt butter with sugar, syrup and water in a pan (such as a large non-stick frying pan or stir-fry pan) on medium to medium-high temperature. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon. When butter is melted, add the almonds. When mixture comes to a rolling boil, set your timer for a minimum of 10 minutes and keep stirring (no more than 15 minutes). The mixture will thicken and turn darker in color. The almonds will roast. Keep stirring and cooking until you hear it crackle. If you don't cook it long enough it will not harden, so keep stirring and listen for the crackling sound.





If you got this far, a little note: I have found it very hard to distinguish between the boiling sound and the crackling sound in this recipe. A better guideline for me is by color. When the mixture turns a warm amber color, at about 11 or 12 minutes into the boiling, that's the time to pour it out. Wait too long and it will burn.


If you try to make this, please read all the comments listed below. It's actually trickier than one would think.


When it crackles, pour the mixture out onto a large cookie sheet and spread it as thin as possible with a fork. While it is still hot, break up the chocolate into chunks and distribute it over the almond mixture and let it melt. Spread it evenly on the top.


Let it cool (refrigerate if you want). When cold you can lift the whole thing off the pan and break into small pieces.


You can use other kinds of nuts such as pecans or macadamia and white chocolate.|||if your making the Almond Roca candy make sure the weather is good, if not it won't harden|||Blue Ribbon Almond Roca Cookies





2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


1/2 teaspoon baking soda


1/4 teaspoon salt


1 cup dark brown sugar


1/2 cup sugar


1 cup butter, room temperature


2 eggs, room temperature


2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


1 package toffee bits


1 cup coarsely ground almonds


4 ounces milk chocolate


1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil





Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.





In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars together on medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. At low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits. Mix until just blended; do not over-mix.





Place ground nuts in a small bowl. Using hands, roll balls of dough into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls, then roll in the ground nuts. Place on cookie sheets several inches apart. Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.





Melt the chocolate with the vegetable oil in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies. Place cookies on a cookie sheet and place in freezer or refrigerator until chocolate is firmly set.








Marbled Almond Roca





INGREDIENTS





* 1/2 cup slivered almonds


* 1 cup butter or margarine


* 1 cup sugar


* 3 tablespoons boiling water


* 2 tablespoons light corn syrup


* 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips


* 1/2 cup vanilla baking chips





DIRECTIONS





1. Sprinkle almonds on a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 300 degrees F for 15 minutes or until toasted and golden brown; remove from the oven and set aside. In a saucepan over low heat, cook butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Add water and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer reads 300 degrees F (hard-crack stage). Quickly pour over almonds. Sprinkle chips on top; let stand for 1-2 minutes or until melted. Spread and swirl chocolate over candy. Cool completely; break into pieces.|||Subj: HEATHER'S EASY ALMOND ROCA





From: TEAMCHIRO





INGREDIENTS:


1/2 LB SALTED BUTTER


1 1/2 CUPS PACKED GOLDEN BROWN SUGAR


1/4 TSP SALT


1 CUP ROASTED COARSELY CHOPPED ALMONDS


3/4 CUP MILK OR DARK CHOCOLATE CHIPS





NOTE: Additional 1/4 tsp of salt is optional and can


be added to butter/sugar mixture


while cooking.





DIRECTIONS:


Place butter and brown sugar in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat until mixture is bubbly and reaches 290 degrees on a candy thermometer. Meanwhile: place a large sheet of aluminum foil on the counter. Grease it lightly all over with butter. Whenbutter/sugar mixture has reached 290 degrees remove from heat immediately. Quicklystir in 2/3 of the roasted almonds and pour toffee onto foil. Allow it to set for 1 or 2


minutes then sprinkle chocolate chips all over the top. Once the chips are soft spreadthem evenly over the toffee. Finish by sprinkling remaining 1/3 cup of almonds overthe chocolate. Let toffee cool completely in the refridgerator then break with hands into bite-size pieces.





This makes an attractive home-made gift around the holidays!