I have read from several people that cooling it too fast will cause the chocolate to separate from the toffee. One person commented she had put hers in the freezer to cool and the chocolate popped right off. Another person added they thought it was because the chocolate cooled too fast that caused it to separate. These comments were on a recipe site where I was reading the Saltine Toffee recipe, but the problem was the same with the chocolate layer separating from the toffee layer.

Very good information, thank you!

What's oleo?

"Oleo" is an old time word that means "margarine". I don't know why it fell out of fashion, probably because of advertizing.

One reason that candy recipes might fail according to Joy of Cooking is high humidity. They recommend making candy on clear, dry days.

I have made a similar English toffee recipe many times. I clipped it from a newspaper more than 30 years ago. Instead of a temperature, it simply says to cook it until it turns the color of a brown paper bag. Then you pour it into your foil lined jellyroll pan and quickly sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. In one minute they will be melted enough to spread with the back of a spoon, and then you sprinkle the chopped nuts over the chocolate. Only one time did the oil separate out of the mixture and cause problems, and I'm not sure why it happened. Since then I avoid making it on humid days.

I think your problem was the wait before you put the chocolate on. The butter in the candy had time to rise to the top making a protective layer. Put the chocolate on after only a minute or two. I second not rushing the cooling.

I purchased an industrial candy thermometer at a restaurant supply store and have been supplying my happy family with homemade Almond Roca for the last 3 weeks or so. The recipe sounds the same - I coat a cookie sheet with butter, sprinkle almonds on the butter. Cook the sugar/butter/corn syrup/water to 290°, just before hard crack. Pour over the almonds, then sprinkle with semi-sweet chips. Wait a few minutes for the chips to melt, then spread.

NOW. Here comes my twist. Instead of sprinkling chopped almonds on top of the chocolate, I tried sprinkling a little bit of coarse sea salt on top. OMG it was soooo good! My 19 year old son said it was the best ever, and it disappeared so fast my husband didn't get any and I had to make a second batch.

The recipe I use calls for sprinkling chocolate chips atop the toffee mixture and covering with a cookie sheet for a few minutes. When melted, spread the melted chocolate evenly over the toffee.

I started sprinkling sea salt on top, instead of crushed almonds. Omg. Put that toffee right over the top. I made 12 batches between Christmas and about a week ago, when I broke my candy thermometer. Everywhere I went, people gobbled that stuff up.

I can remember my mother making "oleo"; must have been right after WWll. She would take, what I guess was, lard purchased from the grocery store, and then mix a little package of coloring that came with the lard together until well mixed. I was fascinated by the lard turning from white to blue to orange to finally yellow, and each area was a different color until the whole thing was mixed and all yellow. Don't know if there was other oleo than came premixed.

JBeamer - that was probably uncolored margarine that came with the color packet. Wisconsin prohibited the sale of margarine that was colored to look like butter, so you had to mix the color in yourself. Other states may have had the same prohibition.