Larsen's World Famous Butter Toffee

This is the Butter Toffee Recipe from my Grandmother, Mildred Larsen. 

2 Cubes Butter
1 Cup Sugar
5 TBSP water

4 Hershey's Chocolate Bars
Chopped Walnuts

You also need a sauce pan for the stove top, a wooden spoon, a metal flat ended spatula and an 8x8 pan (or 7x10, or any size that's between 60 and 70 inches square)

(The instructions are the next paragraph, this is just a quick funny story about this recipe) -  I have made this Toffee since I was in Junior High.  I made my mother show me how to make it 8 times in a row.  Once I had it down I've made it every year since.  About 15 years later I was at my aunt's house (also a Larsen) and I tasted her toffee and it was different.  I asked her why, and we compared recipes.  She laughed and said "You're still using 1 cube of margarine too?  Grandma only used margarine because two cubes of butter was too expensive."
SO - like the old story about the family that always cut the end off of the ham - I have been making it "the cheap way" my whole life. 
Well - that's how I like it, so that's how I make it - you can use all butter if you want.

HERE'S HOW:

1st: Get everything ready.  You better have all your Hershey bars out and unwrapped and your walnuts chopped and your 8x8 pan nearby before you begin.  Because you never get to stop stirring and there won't be any spare time once you begin.

2nd: Put the 2 cubes of butter, the cup of sugar, and the 5 Tablespoons of water in a saucepan on high.  Start stirring.

3rd: When it starts boiling you have between 6 and 9 minutes to go. (I know that's a wide range, sorry)  Keep stirring, always the same direction.

It will start out really thin and bright yellow.

 It'll thicken a little.

 Then it'll turn a little whiter and really start sticking to the edges

Then it will turn a little more grayish, and you'll start to see dark brown on the bottom of the pot.  It will start clumping together and pulling away from the sides of the pan.

 4th:  When you start to smell a little smoke and it smells a little burned and you think your eyes might start to water if you stood right over the pan - you're just about there.  I wait about 20 seconds after I sense that smell and feel my eyes twinge a little.  (Don't burn it or let it get dark brown.)
*I recently used a candy thermometer and it was done when it reached about 285 F.  This is a little shy of "Hard Crack."  If you want to try the thermometer, go ahead, but I have always done it by "look and smoke."

5th: Pour it into the 8x8 pan, DO NOT scrape the sauce pan to get all of it.  If you do you'll be scraping in little burned sections and your toffee will taste burned.

6th: Lay the four Hershey bars face down on the top.  It doesn't matter how they're arranged or if they're broken - how ever they fit into your pan without overlapping is fine.

 7th: Wait for the chocolate to melt all the way through, then spread it with a flat tipped metal spatula so that liquid chocolate covers all the toffee.

8th: Spread your chopped walnuts over the top.

9th: Let the toffee cool down so the chocolate can harden. 
 - I always put it someplace in the garage where kids (and animals) can't get to it. That way it cools down faster and I can eat it sooner. (in summer time I put it in the freezer)

10th: When it's cool you should be able to turn the pan over and "pop" the whole square of toffee out.  Then put it on a cutting board and use a knife (whose point you don't care about) and break the toffee into pieces. (If you just hold the knife vertical and stab the point straight down into the toffee it will crack and separate and you can make the pieces more or less whatever size you want)

Put it on a platter or whatever you think looks festive and EAT UP!

Hope this makes sense - Merry Christmas and Happy Toffee Making!