Coconut toffee

As a kid I loved toffee. Heath Bars were my favorite candy bar. I've really missed toffee since I started eating vegan. I made a few attempts to cook it with vegan margarine instead of butter, but it came out greasy yet lacking the richness of real toffee, since it's missing heavy cream and butter. Inspired by some coconut caramels I had at Tour de Fat, this weekend I tried adding some coconut milk to my normal vegan toffee. It worked really well! It's still no substitute for that buttery richness, but the texture is pretty close, and it's slightly healthier too.

1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan margarine

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/8 cup corn syrup

1 cup water

1/2 can coconut milk

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1-2 cups nuts (I used leftover chili pepitas from our wedding salads)

Combine all ingredients except vanilla and nuts in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat and stir until dissolved. You'll want to use a candy thermometer to make sure the mixture reaches a "caramel" stage, which can take at least 20 minutes. There are lots of good instructions out there on how to make toffee. It essentially involves lots of stirring and keeping a close eye on the thermometer. Once the mixture reaches 320 degrees (the beginning of the caramel stage), remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla and nuts. Immediately pour onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Cool and then cut into pieces. You can also top the toffee with melted chocolate before you cool and cut it.