When we started CBTB back in 2009, we were quite the purists — we were only going to talk about local artisan chocolate — nothing mass marketed, no candy, nothing we didn’t like (like white chocolate) — just chocolate, preferably dark, made in small batches and only in SFBA. Over the years we have expanded — other places, other chocolates (white, blonde, ruby), chocolate-adjacent candy, even chocolate baked goods have been creeping into our reviews (thank Brigadeiro Sprinkles for that bending of the rules).
The biggest influencer on our expanding categories has to be TasteTV, sponsors of the Chocolate Salons and top chocolate awards. Since we were asked to be judges in 2011 by André Crump and his crew in these competitions we have tried a wide range of chocolates and chocolate adjacents which we have decided to cover here at CBTB.
Toffee was one of the first chocolate adjacents we started covering because we were judges in a toffee competition. I thought toffee was too sweet, hard, sticky, full of bad ingredients — so my mind was blown by how good toffee could be when experienced makers cared about what went into it and how they made it.
Since then I have come to look forward to the toffee competitions. The Top Artisan Toffee Awards 2024 met my expectations with a lot of good/excellent toffee — including from our local competitors who I like to start with.
SFBA
There were 3 local competitors this year, 2 were repeats and the other was one whose toffee I have loved since they started making it.
Tomo Toffee
Return competitor Tomo Toffee, San Ramon, submitted 2 of their classic Southern style toffees: Dark Chocolate Toffee and S’mores Toffee.
Tomo’s Dark Chocolate Toffee was excellent as always — I think they submit it every year and it wins multiple awards. It’s a traditional toffee — not too thick nor too thin, crunchy but not hard, buttery, not too sweet, with good roasted almond and pecan flavors, and covered in a tasty dark chocolate. I rated it 5 stars.
In the competition, Tomo Toffee Dark Chocolate Toffee won Silver for Best Taste, Best Texture, and Top Toffee; and received an Honorable Mention for Best Ingredient Combinations. It was awarded 4 stars.
Tomo’s other repeat entry, S’mores Toffee, is a milk chocolate covered traditional toffee with the cutest decoration: toasted mini marshmallows on one side. Pieces of graham crackers covered both sides.
This is a sweeter toffee but also delicious with the added fun textures of chewy marshmallows and soft crunch crackers with the crunchy toffee. It’s addictive and I rated it 5 stars.
In the competition, Tomo Toffee S’mores Toffee won Gold for Best Taste and Best Texture; Silver for Best Ingredient Combinations; and Bronze for Top Toffee. It was awarded 4 stars.
Tomo Toffee is available via their website and at some local stores. Check their website for locations.
Rainy Day Chocolate
I’m not sure why it took first time toffee competitor Rainy Day Chocolate, Forestville, so long to enter these competitions. They might be more known for their single origin chocolate but I have liked and recommended their toffee since they debuted it at the 2018 International Chocolate Salon.
When we were sampling we didn’t know if it was Rainy Day at first because there was no logo on the packages but the flavors — English Toffee with Dark Chocolate, Toasted Almond, and Himalayan Pink Sea Salt and English Toffee with Milk Chocolate, Macadamia Nut, and Toasted Coconut — sounded like their toffee so who else could it be?
Sampling the toffees just strengthened our suspicions and once we got the judging form they were confirmed.
We tried the Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt Toffee first. The “commercially compostable rice paper packaging” contained 2 big pieces — the biggest was 4-1/2″x3-1/2″ 👀
The thick crunchy toffee was coated on one side with dark chocolate and topped with finely chopped nuts. There were larger pieces of roasted almond inside the toffee. So many nuts made for a delicious nutty aroma and good roasted nut flavor.
And I don’t know if it’s because Rainy Day is primarily a chocolate maker but this toffee had the strongest chocolate flavor of any of the entries this year. It was a really good balance to someone like me who is always looking for chocolate. It ended with a little hit of salt but it wasn’t too salty — it was the best use of salt in a toffee in this competition too. I rated it 5 stars.
In the competition, Rainy Day Chocolate Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt Toffee won Gold for Best Texture; Silver for Top Toffee; and Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Taste. It was awarded 4 stars.
Like the Dark Toffee, their English Toffee with Milk Chocolate, Macadamia Nut, and Toasted Coconut was a crunchy toffee coated with chocolate on one side — but this time topped with toasted coconut. It was a very buttery toffee.
I loved this combo — a lot of times coconut dominates other flavors but in this toffee the coconut is there but not overpowering everything else. Along with the sweet milk chocolate it had a nice mild macadamia flavor from the chopped nuts inside the toffee. I rated it 5 stars.
In the competition, Rainy Day Chocolate Milk Chocolate Macadamia Nut Toasted Coconut Toffee won Silver for Top Toffee and received Honorable Mentions for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Taste. It was awarded 4.5 stars — the highest rating.
Rainy Day Chocolate is available online, at special events, and soon at their chocolate factory in Sonoma County (slated to open Fall 2024).
Sonoma Chocolatiers
Return competitor Sonoma Chocolatiers, Sebastopol, entered 2 toffees that were solid competitors.
Their 3-Seed Chili Toffee with 70% Dark Chocolate was almost 1/2” thick and double coated with chocolate, sesame seeds, pepitas, and sunflower seeds. It smelled so good — like roasted seeds and chocolate.
The toffee was crunchy, the dark chocolate came next, then the different seeds with chili heat coming later.
I like the flavor blend of the toffee, chocolate, seeds, and spice and rated it 4 stars.
In the competition, Sonoma Chocolatiers’ 3-Seed Chili Toffee won Gold for Best Texture; Silver for Most Unique; Bronze for Best Taste; and received an Honorable Mention for Best Ingredient Combinations. It was awarded 4 stars.
Their Maple Pecan Toffee with 65% Dark Milk Chocolate was a giant thick slab of toffee coated with chocolate and nuts on both sides. Seriously what is going on with the competitors this year and big toffee pieces? This one was about the same size as the Rainy Day one.
This one was interesting too because the toffee was almost as dark colored as the dark chocolate coating it because it had maple syrup in it. This hard crunchy toffee was very maple syrup tasting and too sweet for my taste. Due to the sweetness of the maple syrup I would have preferred a thinner toffee — but keep the coating both sides — to have a better ratio of the less sweet parts (nuts, dark chocolate) to the sweet syrup. I rated it 3 stars.
In the competition, Sonoma Chocolatiers Autumnal Toffee — AKA Maple Pecan with 65% Dark Chocolate — won Gold for Best Texture; Silver for Best Ingredient Combinations; Bronze for Top Toffee; and received an Honorable Mention for Best Taste. It was awarded 4 stars.
Sonoma Chocolatiers’ chocolates are available at their store, online, at special events, and at Oliver’s Market, a Sonoma County supermarket chain.
Recommended
Outside SFBA there were some top toffees too — some familiar competitors and some new ones. These are toffees I rated 4 or 5 stars.
The Toffee Merchant
Return competitor The Toffee Merchant, Phoenix, AZ, brought back their winner from last year plus 2 new entries:
The repeat entry Bourbon Pecan English Toffee was thick slabs of toffee coated generously on one side with chocolate and chopped nuts — with more chopped nuts inside the toffee. It had a good crunch with a good roasted pecan flavor then a hit of bourbon in the buttery toffee and good semisweet chocolate. This is an excellent not too sweet toffee, and I rated it 5 stars.
In the competition, The Toffee Merchant Bourbon Pecan English Toffee won Gold for Top Toffee; Silver for Best Texture; Bronze for Best Taste; and received an Honorable Mention for Best Ingredient Combinations. It was awarded 4.5 stars — the highest rating.
One of their new flavors, the Salted Espresso Toffee, topped the espresso flavored toffee with semisweet chocolate, pink Himalayan salt, almonds, and pecans. The big pieces of nuts were interspersed with finely chopped nuts on the surface and the toffee was a dark color from the espresso powder. Nice touch: It was decaf espresso powder so no extra caffeine buzz with this toffee.
It had an immediate taste of espresso then salt in the crunchy buttery toffee. I liked that it wasn’t too sweet but the salt was a tad too assertive for me. It ended with a sweet salty aftertaste. I rated it 4 stars.
In the competition, The Toffee Merchant Salted Espresso Toffee won Silver for Best Texture and was awarded 4 stars.
The Toffee Merchant’s toffees are available online.
Fritz Toffee
We always look forward to what’s inside the big jar of toffee from repeat competitor Fritz Toffee, IA. This year they submitted their Bourbon Pecan Toffee.
The toffee was not the most eye catching with a few nuts sprinkled on top amidst a fine powder of pulverized pecans. There were more chopped pecans inside the toffee.
The thick slabs of hard crunch toffee were lightly coated with chocolate and very buttery. it was a good balance — the chocolate was strong enough to be distinct and the toffee was tasty with a good pecan flavor and a subtle bourbon flavor plus a very vanilla aftertaste. I rated it 4 stars.
In the competition, Fritz Toffee Company Bourbon Pecan won Gold for Best Texture; Silver for Top Toffee; and received Honorable Mentions for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Taste. It was awarded 4 stars.
You can usually buy Fritz Toffee on their website, but when I checked it said it is temporarily closed (maybe they don’t ship in the hot summer weather). Fritz Toffee is also available at some retailers in IA. Check their website for locations.
Tania’s Toffee
New competitor Tania’s Toffee, Englewood, FL, might be a new business too — their website is under construction. They submitted one entry, their signature Tania’s Toffee.
The toffee consisted of thick pieces coated on both sides with chocolate and finely chopped nuts. It was crunchy — but not too hard — and buttery. It had an uncommon nut mix —almonds and walnuts — I don’t see a lot of walnuts in these toffee competitions. And it mixed milk chocolate and semisweet chocolate, which is something I am starting to see more of — a way to make a darker milk chocolate from existing couvertures.
I thought this was a good above average toffee — the walnuts were a tasty twist on the usual pecans and the darker milk helped keep the sweetness level down.
I also liked their packaging — a vacuum sealed jar. The toffee was clearly visible and its freshness was ensured. Humidity is the bane of any toffee — it gets soft and sticky quickly — so I like to see packaging like this or resealable pouches for toffee so I can enjoy the toffee to the end.
I rated Tania’s Toffee 4 stars. In the competition, it won Bronze for Best Texture and was awarded 3.5 stars.
Currently there is no easy way to buy Tania’s Toffee. You can leave your email address on their under-construction website to get news of when they will open for business.
Crafian Artisanal Toffee
Crafian Artisanal Toffee, Chicago, IL, was a new competitor in 2022 and while they didn’t make my recommended list then I thought they were a toffee maker to watch. They came back this year and proved me right with 2 entries I can recommend.
Crafian makes visually appealing toffee that’s full of chopped nuts and coated on both sides with chocolate, then decorated with whole/chopped nuts and other inclusions on top, and finished off with a drizzle of more chocolate. Their resealable packaging is very elegant — mostly black, minimal text, and a see-through window band across the front that reveals the toffee inside. Very giftable.
Their Coconut Curry and Cashews Toffee smelled like coconut curry as soon as I opened the bag. The big thick piece of toffee was coated with milk chocolate and sprinkled with cashews and coconut.
I could definitely taste the curry and coconut with a mild cashew flavor in the crunchy buttery toffee covered in good chocolate. Top notch ingredients and a good balance of flavors made this unusual toffee very satisfying. I rated it 4 stars.
In the competition, Crafian Artisanal Toffee Coconut Curry and Cashew won Gold for Most Unique and Silver for Best Ingredient Combinations. It was awarded 3.5 stars.
Crafian’s other entry was a return of their original entry, Dark Chocolate Salted Almond Toffee. That time I thought the toffee was too salty and the almonds too mild to rank it top tier. This time I thought it was close to perfect. It had an initial hit of salt but it wasn’t too much. And the almonds were really tasty this time — maybe because they included whole nuts along with the chopped nuts so the flavor balance was better.
Otherwise it was the same as I remembered —crunchy nuts and toffee with good dark chocolate and toffee flavors. I rated it 4 stars.
In the competition, Crafian Artisanal Toffee Dark Chocolate Salted Almond won Silver for Best Texture; Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations; and received an Honorable Mention for Top Toffee. It was awarded 4.5 stars — the highest rating.
You can order Crafian Artisanal Toffee on their website.
Robinson Confections
Robinson Confections, Hayden, ID, makes spiked toffees that are always interesting and this year’s entry was delicious too.
Starting with a traditional English toffee recipe they added Smirnoff Vanilla Vodka, ginger, nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon, then covered it with a marbled Callebaut 28% white chocolate — Robinson uses quality ingredients and their product descriptions usually highlight them.
Their entry was one big slab of dark toffee covered with very pretty marbled chocolate on one side. The marbling was done by swirling the spices through the melted chocolate and I could smell the spices before I took it out of the package.
The slab was so thick that it was hard to break — don’t worry, I persevered and was rewarded with a crunchy toffee. It was a good combo — not boozy — vanilla-y and pumpkin spicy instead. It didn’t taste chocolate-y or buttery — the spices were dominant — but I didn’t think that was bad in this instance. It was a different kind of toffee experience.
Even though it used white chocolate and contained zero nuts, it was not too sweet. The only minus was it stuck to my teeth some. I rated it 4 stars.
In the competition, Robinson Confections’ Pumpkin Spice Martini Toffee received Honorable Mentions for Best Ingredient Combinations and Most Unique. It was awarded 3 stars.
Robinson Confections are available online and at stores in ID, MO, OR, and WA.
Belle Toffee
Return competitor, Belle Toffee, Kansas City, MO, usually submits 3 toffees each year and they move up and down in my rankings every time. Last year all 3 made my recommended list. This time only 1 did but the other 2 are in the next level.
I like Belle’s presentation: Bite-size chocolate covered squares of toffee in resealable packages. And their toffee is good — it’s the coating that seems to vary from year to year that changes the experience.
The Belle Toffee flavor that I rated highest this year was their Bourbon Pecan Toffee in Gold Chocolate. The individual enrobed squares smelled buttery, the toffee was crunchy, and this year they had a really delicious bourbon and butterscotch taste. The only minus was a not as delicious aftertaste so I rated it 4 stars.
In the competition, Belle Toffee Bourbon Pecan Toffee in Belgian Gold Chocolate won Gold for Best Texture and was awarded 4 stars.
Belle Toffee is available online and at stores around KS and MO. Check their website for locations.
Good
While these toffees didn’t get my highest ratings I thought they were still worth a mention. These are entries that I rated in the middle — 3 stars.
Belle Toffee
Continuing with Belle Toffee, their other 2 entries were a milk chocolate toffee and a dark.
The Milk Chocolate Almond Toffee reappeared this year after being replaced last year with a dark chocolate version. It was the same crunchy toffee with a good almond flavor but the milk chocolate was just meh — the dark chocolate version last year was much better. I don’t think milk chocolate is wrong for this, I just think it needs a better couverture.
In the competition, Belle Toffee Almond Toffee in Belgian Milk Chocolate won Silver for Best Texture. It was awarded 4 stars.
I’m not sure what happened with the Roasted Hazelnut Espresso Toffee in Dark Chocolate. That has always been my favorite of Belle’s toffees but this year it was just OK.
It smelled yummy with a good coffee chocolate aroma and had an initial hazelnut coffee taste, but the very crunchy toffee got a little soapy tasting and like their milk chocolate entry I think this one needs better chocolate.
In the competition, Belle Toffee Roasted Hazelnut Espresso Toffee in Belgian Dark Chocolate won Silver for Best Texture and received Honorable Mentions for Best Taste and Top Toffee. It was awarded 3.5 stars.
The Toffee Merchant
The Toffee Merchant’s third entry was a new interesting flavor: Tart Cherry Amaretto. Like their other toffees, this entry consisted of thick slabs of toffee coated on one side with dark chocolate and chopped almonds and pecans. On this one the big pieces of nuts were interspersed with finely chopped nuts and freeze dried cherries.
The toffee had a strong sweet almond aroma and immediate taste, then it changed to cherry and actually had more cherry flavor than amaretto. Chocolate came last. Like their other entries it was a good crunchy toffee, but this one was too sweet for me.
It did very well in the competition winning Gold for Best Ingredient Combinations; Silver for Best Taste; and Bronze for Best Texture, Most Unique, and Top Toffee. It was awarded 4 stars.
Lulubee Artisan Chocolates
Lulubee Artisinal Chocolates, Lincoln, NE, has competed in other TasteTV competitions but this is the first time they submitted entries to the toffee competition.
Their English Toffees are super traditional: Simple ingredient lists — sugar, butter, nuts, chocolate, salt — and the toffee is thin with some chopped nuts inside, then coated with chocolate on one side and topped with finely chopped nuts.
Their Milk Chocolate with Almonds English Toffee smelled buttery and had a buttery/salty flavor. The toffee had a small crunch and was a little sticky. It did not have pronounced chocolate or nut flavors. It wasn’t bad, just not special enough to rank higher in my book. In the competition it was awarded 3.5 stars.
Their Dark Chocolate with Pecans English Toffee was similar to the milk chocolate one but more flavorful with the distinct flavor of roasted pecans
and a more tasty chocolate flavor from the dark chocolate.
In the competition, Lulubee Artisanal Chocolates Dark Chocolate Pecan English Toffee won Silver for Best Texture, and Bronze for Best Taste and Top Toffee. It was awarded 4 stars.
You can buy Lulubee Artisanal Chocolates’ toffee online, at their store in Lincoln, and at other locations around NE. Check their website for locations.
Susi Toffee
New competitor Susi Toffee, Columbia, SC, submitted 2 toffees that I liked even though they ran too sweet for me.
Their namesake Susi Toffee was coated with milk chocolate on both sides, with a few sliced almonds on one side and more inside the toffee. The sparse scattering of almond slices on milk chocolate looked like abstract art.
The toffee was crunchy but a little sticky. It tasted lightly buttery and chocolatey. They used a good milk chocolate but it needed more nuts and less sweetness to move it up my list.
In the competition, Susi Toffi’s namesake toffee won Bronze for Best Texture and was awarded 3.5 stars.
The Smoked Salt S’more Toffee was more interesting. Like the other toffee it was coated both sides with a good milk chocolate. One side was visibly salted and it had a marshmallow creme layer inside on top of the toffee.
The marshmallow layer added a chewy texture to the toffee which was very satisfying — usually chewy is a no-no in toffees. It had a salted flavor but wasn’t too salty. I liked this one better than other one but it was still too sweet for me. Maybe switch in a dark chocolate for the milk to balance the extra sweetness that the marshmallow layer adds.
In the competition, Susi Toffi’s Smoked Salt S’more Toffee won Bronze for Best Texture and was awarded 3.5 stars.
Visit their Facebook page for instructions for ordering toffee.
The Toffee Store
Return competitor The Toffee Store, Oakland Charter Township, MI, didn’t make my cut last year but this year they returned with a new confection, the Cobblestone, which was a naked square of toffee the size of a graham cracker that had lots of chopped roasted pecans mixed throughout.
A no chocolate toffee — isn’t that just a brittle? — has to work extra hard to earn my interest. The Cobblestone Single just made it under the wire this year. It was a dark caramel colored square that broke easily and was crunchy with a salted butter flavor and a mystery savory flavor that I assume was the unsalted pecans but they might have snuck something extra in there that I couldn’t identify. I gave it points for being not too sweet but it stuck to my teeth a little.
In the competition, the Cobblestone was awarded 3.5 stars.
You can buy The Toffee Store’s naked and enrobed toffees on their website.
Toffee takeaway
All in all this was an interesting competition with some new standouts and some old favorites. As always I didn’t like everything I sampled so I concentrate on the good and above in these reviews. I didn’t include any toffees I thought were below average so if you’re looking for some new toffee to try I think you can find it somewhere in here.
If you are interested in the full list of 2024 Top Toffee Awards, visit the International Chocolate Salon website.
