The 2025 Top Artisan Toffee Awards sponsored by TasteTV had lots of traditional English toffee entries but there were also a number of tasty new ideas we got to try which made it a fun competition. I’m sharing with you entries I judged that I thought were worth seeking out — and some that I thought were good but didn’t move me as much.
For example, toffees in this competition made with natural ingredients tasted better to me. Sampling so many toffees so close together made the difference in the classic toffees between those with high quality natural ingredients and those that enhanced their recipes with additives and artificial ingredients really stand out. If I were eating a toffee by itself I might not notice those extra ingredients so much. But when there is a lot of quality competition, those toffees lost points with me.
A light hand with the sugar and salt helped too. Too sweet or too salty recipes overwhelm the other flavors and aren’t interesting flavors on their own to me. But other people’s palettes like the greater enhancements so I include some of those here with caveats. Over the years of judging these comps — and tasting a lot of toffee — I really appreciate the skill, care, and creativity of the top toffee makers.
SFBA
As always I like to highlight SFBA competitors and one entered this year. My Recommended and Worth a Mention lists follow.
Kate’s Single Batch Toffee
First time competitor, Kate’s Single Batch Toffee, Marin, CA, makes one kind of toffee — 1/4″ thick slabs of toffee coated with semisweet chocolate and finely chopped toasted almonds.
It was a well made toffee with a hard crunch that was satisfying, not hard on my teeth. It was coated with a thin layer of chocolate on one side and had chopped almonds inside and out.
It had a strong chocolate and toasted almond flavor. It’ wasn’t buttery which is what I usually like in a toffee but I still found it tasty as more of a toasted nut toffee. If you like traditional toffee with highly toasted nuts, give Kate’s a try.
In the competition, Kate’s Single Batch Toffee won Gold for Best Texture; and received an Honorable Mention for Top Toffee. It was rated 4 stars.
Kate’s Toffee is available on her website, at some Marin area shops, and at special events. Check her website and social media for more info.
Recommended
My top tier picks this year include some classic flavors but also new interesting takes on toffee.
The Toffee Merchant
Veteran competitor The Toffee Merchant, Phoenix, AZ, submitted 3 entries this year and I gave them all my highest rating.
Bourbon Pecan English Toffee
I think Toffee Merchant submits their Bourbon Pecan English Toffee every year and why not? It’s thick slabs of toffee coated with good chocolate and covered with chopped pecans and almonds that range in size from powder up to 1/2″ with a shot of bourbon added to the mix. It’s a winner every year.
The pieces looked appetizing and smelled nutty. The toffee is thick but easy to chew with a good amount of chocolate. It’s not a boozy toffee — there was just a little bourbon and vanilla flavors in the buttery not too sweet toffee.
In the competition, The Toffee Merchant’s Bourbon Pecan English Toffee won Silver for Best Taste, Best Texture, and Top Toffee; and Bronze for Best Ingredient Combinations. It was rated 4.5 stars, the highest rating.
Royal Dutch Chocolate Toffee
The Toffee Merchant’s Royal Dutch Chocolate Toffee was the first unusual toffee of the competition I tried. I could
smell the chocolate as soon as I opened the package — off to a good start. The big slabs were 1/2” thick plus toppings — chopped chocolate wafer cookies — that were packed on top.
The toffee was the color of dark chocolate and it had no nuts — a trend I noticed in a lot of entries this time, although not many made my list because to me toffee = nuts. Toffees had to be extra special to make me not take points off for going nutless.
If you’re taking out the nuts, adding lots of quality chocolate is a good substitute in my book, And this toffee had it with Royal Dutch Cocoa Powder, bittersweet chocolate, and chocolate pizzelle wafer cookies in the ingredients list. There was not much else in there — only butter, sugar, and vanilla — just the way it should be.
The crunchy toffee had an immediate chocolate flavor that ended salty — not sure where that came from, maybe the cookies? It had a softer break than their other entries and was sweeter too but not too much.
I confess, I missed the nuts in this one — I liked it a lot but it wasn’t toffee enough for me. I rated it highly though and recommend it — especially if you don’t like nuts or just want a different kind of chocolate candy.
In the competition, The Toffee Merchant’s Royal Dutch Chocolate Toffee won Silver for Most Unique; Bronze for Best Taste and Top Toffee; and received an Honorable Mention for Best Ingredient Combinations. It was rated 4.5 stars, the highest rating.
Coconut Pecan English Toffee
My personal favorite of Toffee Merchant’s 3 entries — and my favorite toffee in the competition — was their Coconut Pecan English Toffee.
Coconut can be a divisive ingredient — lots of people love it and it seems to me just as many hate it. If you are on that end of the spectrum, this is not for you because it is nothing if not coconutty.
The big pieces were generously covered with chopped pecans and fragrant toasted coconut flakes. The toffee had a good snap and was thick but not dense. By which I mean it was crunchy but dissolved quickly when chewed.
The first flavor was coconut then chocolate from the thick coating of chocolate on top of the crunchy toffee. Pecan came at end — having chopped nuts inside toffee too was a good call — it was a distinct flavor along with the good chocolate and chewy coconut. The toffee wasn’t greasy or too sweet. It reminded me of the giant chewy chocolate covered coconut macaroons at Max’s Opera Cafe in SF — but with pecans.
In the competition, The Toffee Merchant’s Coconut Pecan English Toffee won Silver for Best Ingredient Combinations and Best Texture; and Bronze for Most Unique and Top Toffee. It was rated 4.5 stars, the highest rating.
The Toffee Merchant’s toffees are available online.
Crafian Artisanal Toffee
Return competitor, Crafian Artisanal Toffee, Chicago, IL, submitted one entry and it was stunning.
Cardamom, Coriander & Orange Toffee
Crafian Artisanal Toffee’s Cardamom, Coriander & Orange Toffee was one big piece of toffee that looked elegant in a minimalist style. It was coated on both sides with a tawny caramelized white chocolate and sprinkled lightly with spiced bits of dried orange zest on one side.
The thin very hard toffee smelled like orange and cardamom and tasted like it too before caramel and salted butter notes appeared. This was a no-nut toffee where I didn’t miss the nuts at all — it was so distinctly different and excellent.
In the competition, Crafian Artisanal Toffee’s Cardamom, Coriander & Orange Toffee won Gold for Best Ingredient Combinations, Most Unique, and Top Toffee; Silver for Best Texture; and received an Honorable Mention for Best Taste. It was rated 4 stars.
You can order Crafian Artisanal Toffee on their website.
Ticket Chocolate
Return competitor, Ticket Chocolate, Loomis, CA, submitted one entry:
Classic Handcrafted English Toffee
Ticket’s take on English toffee was very appetizing looking: thick pieces of toffee coated on both sides with dark chocolate and full of nuts inside and out. This was probably the thickest toffee in the competition: 3/4” thick including the double sided coating and chopped nuts.
What was unique about the toffee — and which I hadn’t seen before — was it had chopped walnuts on the outside and sliced almonds inside the toffee. The dual nuts made it visually interesting — and also very nutty smelling.
The crunchy buttery toffee ended with a little chewy caramel texture — and as you might expect, the toasted nuts dominated the flavors. It was a very satisfying toffee with good texture, taste, and visuals.
In the competition, Ticket Chocolate’s Classic Handcrafted English Toffee won Gold for Best Taste, Best Texture, and Top Toffee. It was rated 4.5 stars, the highest rating.
You can buy Ticket’s toffee and other chocolate confections online.
Brown’s English Toffee
New competitor Brown’s English Toffee, Glendora, CA, submitted 3 entries — that consisted of big slabs — 2-1/2×3″ to 4″ each — of thin — 1/4″ — toffee coated both sides with chocolate. Off to a good start, I recommend 2 of the 3 and the 3rd was close enough to be worthy of mention.
Dark Chocolate Toffee
I couldn’t believe my luck — 2 dark chocolate toffees in one comp — how would this new competitors Dark Chocolate Toffee compare to The Toffee Merchant Royal Dutch Chocolate Toffee?
The huge slabs looked pretty with their swirled chocolate coatings and they smelled chocolatey. There was a disconnect between the name — Dark Chocolate — and the ingredients list — milk chocolate — but maybe the list was a typo because the chocolate certainly looked dark.
It had a good crunch — it broke apart easily and didn’t get sticky. It was not too sweet and true to its name it had a very chocolate forward almost fudgy taste. Directly comparing the 2, I found the Toffee Merchant Royal Dutch Chocolate Toffee was more chocolatey and had a better crunch, but Brown’s Dark Chocolate Toffee was pretty delicious all on its own.
In the competition, Brown’s English Toffee’s Dark Chocolate Toffee won Bronze for Best Texture; and received Honorable Mention for Best Taste. It was rated 4 stars.
Vanilla Bean & Sea Salt
Brown’s Vanilla Bean & Sea Salt Toffee looked like their Dark Chocolate Toffee but sprinkled with sea salt. I admit to being over the whole salted chocolate trend. It seems to me most of the people doing it have a heavier hand than I would like but this one got it right. It was lightly salted on one side only. Like the Dark Chocolate Toffee this one had no nuts and the ingredients list said milk chocolate. Maybe they used a dark milk — there was no cacao percentage listed for the chocolate but it looked and tasted dark to me.
The toffee itself smelled buttery and had a hard crunch. It was very buttery and vanilla tasting, a little sticky, and not too sweet. I liked the Dark Chocolate Toffee best but this was a close second.
In the competition, Brown’s English Toffee’s Vanilla Bean & Sea Salt Toffee won Bronze for Best Taste. It was rated 4 stars.
You can buy Brown’s English Toffees online and at special events. Check their website for locations.
Tania’s Toffees
Return competitor Tania’s Toffee, Englewood, FL, was so new when they competed last year that their website was still under construction. This year the website works and they submitted 3 toffees, one of which I thought was exceptional and 2 worthy of mention.
Rose des Sables
I had to Google the name of Tania’s Toffees’ first entry — Rose des Sables. Turns out it’s a dessert made with corn flakes, butter, and chocolate — I’m expanding my French and recipe knowledge with this comp.
Tania’s toffee interpretation of the dessert used corn flakes, semisweet chocolate, almonds, and fleur de sel to top their buttery toffee. It smelled chocolatey, maybe because the chocolatey topping was thicker than the toffee itself. The toffee was very crunchy and chocolatey, and the corn flakes were a fun texture. I didn’t taste almonds but maybe they weren’t toasted so they were more a texture than a taste. My only caveat is that the toffee was a bit sweet.
In the competition, Tania’s Toffees’ Rose des Sables won Gold for Best Texture; Silver for Most Unique; and received an Honorable Mention for Top Toffee. It was rated 4 stars.
Currently you can buy only their classic toffee on their website — but maybe with these wins they will add some other flavors soon.
Mom Yvonne’s Candy Company
New competitor Mom Yvonne’s Candy Company, Las Vegas, submitted 2 entries that made my lists this year.
Cookies & Cream Crunch Toffee
I was definitely leery of the Cookies & Cream Crunch Toffee. To me the big pieces of Oreo cookies and chopped almonds topping and white chocolate drizzles over the dark chocolate covered toffee looked like it would be a sugar bomb. And the ingredients list was kinda yikes! — partially hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn syrup, glycerol lacto esters… — it was a long paragraph and reminded me why I don’t eat Oreos anymore.
So why is it on my recommended list? It turned out to be a buttery crunchy toffee with a brown sugar taste which I liked. It wasn’t a chocolatey tasting toffee — instead it had a white cream filling flavor like Oreos with the “chocolate” cookie and almond flavors coming at end. It was the first cookies & cream food item I actually liked. It was a nostalgic but not too sweet taste — and if you like Cookies & Cream this is one to try.
In the competition, Mom Yvonne’s Cookies & Cream Crunch Toffee received Honorable Mention for Most Unique. It was rated 3.5 stars.
Mom Yvonne’s Candy Company doesn’t have a website at the moment. Check their Facebook page for special events where you can buy their toffee.
Worth a mention
The following entries were all good toffees but they weren’t as special to me as the ones that made my Recommended list. I think they are worth telling you about because they definitely had their strong points and they did well in the competition.
Seal Beach Toffee Company
New competitor, Seal Beach Toffee Company, Los Alamitos, CA, submitted one entry: Ron’s Original English Toffee. It was very attention grabbing in its shiny textured gold foil packaging, and it was heavy — a pound of toffee packed into the deep oblong box.
Ron’s Original English Toffee
Opening the box revealed it was packed full of square nut encrusted toffees. Visually this is an impressive toffee gift. The squares were thick like pieces of fudge and packed with big chunks of nuts both on the outside and inside. It had a thin layer of milk chocolate on both sides but the chocolate wasn’t very flavorful.
The squares had a hard crunch and a strong butterscotch flavor which I think is unnecessary. As it is I think it would make for a nice souvenir/gift — especially for someone who isn’t judging toffee — but personally I would ditch the flavoring and upgrade the chocolate to make the taste match the visuals.
In the competition, Seal Beach Toffee Company Ron’s Original English Toffee won Bronze for Best Texture; and received an Honorable Mention for Top Toffee. It was rated 4 stars.
You can buy Ron’s Original English Toffee on the Seal Beach Toffee Co. website and at a few locations around Seal Beach. Check their website for locations.
Brown’s English Toffee
Brown’s English Toffee’s third entry was a classic:
Milk Chocolate Toffee with Almonds
Brown’s English Toffee’s Milk Chocolate Toffee with Almonds was so heavily coated with chopped almonds on both sides that it left a couple of tablespoons of chopped nuts in the bag after we’d eaten the toffee. The toffee was full of nuts inside too and not surprisingly smelled nutty.
It was sweet and a little buttery with a good crunch but it wasn’t very nutty tasting – unbelievable but true — or chocolatey tasting. I think the problem with the chocolate was that it was milk chocolate where semisweet would have been better. For the nuts, they probably needed to be toasted. It was a good traditional toffee but in a comp like this it needed something more to place higher in my rankings.
In the competition, Brown’s English Toffee Milk Chocolate Toffee with Almonds Brown’s English Toffee Milk Chocolate Coated English Toffee with Almonds was rated 3.5 stars.
Tania’s Toffees
Tania’s Toffees other 2 entries were solid competitors — they were too sweet for me to rate them top tier but I thought they were both good, well made toffees.
Coconut Lime
Tania’s Coconut Lime Toffee was pretty with its white chocolate coating topped with white coconut flakes and contrasting shades of tan and green from pistachios, almonds, macadamia nuts, and lime zest.
It was a super crunchy toffee with bursts of lime as I ate it. It was funny because coconut is first in the name and it smelled coconutty but coconut was under the lime in taste as were the assorted nuts. Lime was definitely the star of this toffee.
In the competition, Tania’s Toffee Coconut Lime received Honorable Mention for Most Unique. It was rated 4 stars.
Classic English Toffee
Tania’s Toffees’ 3rd entry, their Classic English Toffee, was a repeat from last year’s comp. It’s a good take on classic toffee but on the sweet side.
Coated on both sides with a mix of milk and semisweet chocolate and sprinkled with finely chopped walnuts and almonds, it was a thick crunchy buttery toffee. I liked twist of adding walnuts and the chocolate was good.
In the competition, Tania’s Toffees’ Classic English Toffee received an Honorable Mention for Top Toffee. It was rated 4 stars.
Mom Yvonne’s Candy Company
Mom Yvonne’s other entry in the comp was on the traditional side and a nice contrast to show their range.
Dark Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt Toffee
The package of Mom Yvonne’s Dark Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt Toffee says it’s a handmade family recipe crunch toffee. And the small thin pieces of toffee looked traditional — chocolate coated on one side with chopped almonds inside and on top.
It had a soft but crisp crunch and a buttery flavor. It was not too sweet and even though it has salt in its name it wasn’t too salty — salt just perked it up. The reason I didn’t rate it higher was because it didn’t taste chocolatey enough for me and had a bit of an artificial taste to it. Otherwise it’s a good toffee.
In the competition, Mom Yvonne’s Dark Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt Toffee won Silver for Best Texture. It was rated 3.5 stars.
Stony Lake Toffee Co.
New competitor Stony Lake Toffee Co., MI, submitted a single entry to the comp and while I wasn’t sure at first I came around and think it’s worth a mention.
Michigan Cherry Toffee
What put me off initially was that Stony Lake Toffee Co.’s Michigan Cherry Toffee smelled like cotton candy. I’m not sure what it would’ve tasted like without artificial flavor but I think it would be more appetizing without it.
It was a thin toffee coated with white chocolate on one side and chopped almonds and pieces of dried cherry scattered inside and on top. It had a good crunch, but became sticky with chewing. The dried cherries were chewy and had a good flavor, and the toffee itself had a nice browned butter caramelized flavor. Personally I would switch out the artificial flavoring with more cherries.
In the competition, Stony Lake Toffee Co.’s Michigan Cherry Toffee won Bronze for Best Texture; and and received Honorable Mention for Most Unique. It was rated 3.5 stars.
Stony Lake Toffee Co.’s toffee is available on their site and at stores around Michigan.
Check out all the winners
Visit the International Chocolate Salon site for the full list of winners.
