Don Harquail‘s Triple Nut Toffee is the winning treat from Recipe to Riches‘ exciting new category: Candies and Chocolates! A toffee filled with nuts smeared over graham crackers and topped with buttons of chocolate was definitely an innovative idea.
I love that they incorporated Don’s magic touch with orchids in the depiction of him, as well as that chef hat he inherited from his father. Nice touch!
The Product
You will find the Triple Nut Toffee with the other winning prize-winning products for $5.99. It comes in an aluminum foil container wrapped in plastic.
I was surprised that you can quite easily cut the brittle into squares which made for pretty pictures. Being slightly obsessive, with the chocolate dots so evenly displaced, I really did not want to break it apart into toffee pieces like the box says you can do.
Foodie Conclusion
Here is the rub. I do not like graham cracker crusts. The texture and the sweetness bothers me. But! I recognized that is my own personal taste issue. I asked my foodie friends on Facebook what they thought and nobody else had an issue with it at all. In fact people said the more they ate it, the more they liked it.
I really love the combination of the nuts in general and what chutzpa to add pine nuts to the mix. Altogether you have caramelized almonds, cashew, pine nuts and sesame seeds, which I loved. As cute as the chocolate dots are, I wish there had been more chocolate. I would have added bitter dark chocolate to offset the sweetness, especially since when you cut them into squares they are so huge.
It is clear this product is not for me but people seem to love it. I really respect that I have never seen or tried anything like it and give Don kudos for coming up with something very creative and new, which in the old foodie world of candy is not easy to do. I give this product three and a half out of five wooden spoons but if you like graham crackers, you probably will think it is at least a four.
The Show
In the end, Don’s candy went up against Lucie Dion’s Sucre à la Crème who went traditional with her recipe. It is one she learned from her mother that is very well known in Quebec.
Once again, I think her downfall was listening to the marketing team, especially the guy who wanted to sex up her booth by having male models for her spa-themed event. Ugh! The sexism of the marketing group annoys the hell out of me. As a pedestrian I would veered right away from those guys to hang out with Don’s chipmunks, even though they were also kind of creepy.
The more I watch this show the more I learn to stick with your instincts and say no to people who want to take control of your product. By the way, I totally agree with Laura Calder. This winning product is not toffee. There is toffee in it but officially it is not a toffee. I am disappoint they went with the name Triple Nut Toffee just because they liked how it sounded and did not focus on the fact that this a unique idea. They went the easy and inaccurate route. Bad form! Bad form…
Yes, toffee does not usually have a base, graham cracker or otherwise, I would call this a dessert square.
This is the best cookie I have ever eat, I wish I could still buy it.