Enstrom carries with it 60 years of almond toffee making excellence and are considered the #1 producers of it’s type by many.
Their milk chocolate almond toffee has been perfected over decades.
The recipe was first created during World War Two when Chet Enstrom offered to make toffee for neighboring parents to send to their sons who were on the front lines.
Chet and his wife, Vernie opened a small mom and pop shop called Enstrom Candy Co shortly after and the rest is (a lot of) history!
So, I had to try this incredibly popular and top rated treat.
Enstrom offers their almond toffee in milk or dark chocolate.
I chose the milk chocolate almond toffee as I think it’ll be the most popular flavor and help the most people out if they saw real life photos and feedback. Plus it looks delish, no? Buy Enstrom Toffee here.
Shipping & Delivery
Shipping is not free. It’ll cost an additional $10.20 to get a box of Enstrom Milk Chocolate Almond Toffee home.
If you plan on ordering multiple items from Enstrom, the shipping charges increase as follows:
They ship with FedEx, not USPS.
My total was $36.95 with shipping added on.
Two days later FedEx literally tossed the package from Enstrom onto my doorstep.
I know it’s not unusual for FedEx to throw packages, but it’s gotta stop.
A lot of people worked hard on Enstrom’s toffee and it shouldn’t be handled like that.
I dread to think what the packages endure before they reach their final destination. A 3 foot drop from the driver’s hands to my doorstep could be the least of their worries.
Toffee isn’t super fragile, but having sharp impacts from being dropped and tossed onto doorsteps won’t do it any good.
More on that later.
The milk chocolate almond toffee is shipped in a cardboard box with Enstrom’s logo, website and storage tip to keep the box in the freezer or fridge. The toffee is good in the fridge for 2-3 weeks or frozen 4-6 months.
Inside is the Enstrom almond toffee box wrapped in a cellophane type plastic
Here’s where I started to notice the result of the package being mishandled and getting tossed around. The back of the cellophane wrapped box has lots of crumbs or some sort of powder on it.
The powder is super finely chopped up almond pieces. It’s almost a dust…and it gets everywhere!
I felt that this wasn’t a very gourmet observation and expected the box to be clean.
If I wasn’t aware that it was finely ground almonds, it would be off putting. Who would package their gourmet almond toffee with all this mess on the back of the box?
Removing the cellophane plastic and opening the box revealed even more almond dust to get all over the place.
Try lifting up the black cardboard box lid without causing a mess. Betcha can’t.
The stuff just goes all over…
I had to clean my photography light box and my lap of almond bits and powder several times. This is before I even got to pick up a piece and taste the almond toffee.
I realize this is an extraordinarily first world problem, but it’s my job to point out this stuff!
The issue with the ground almond powder/bits is probably down to the box being thrown and tossed about during shipping.
The almond toffee is most likely packed into the gift boxes neatly and without mess at the Enstrom factory kitchens, the shipping probably causes all the ground almond powder to go all over.
I suspect it’ll only take a few times for the box to be inverted for the almond powder to sneak through the gap between the box and the lid and end up on the outside of the box eventually…..between the cellophane wrapper and the cardboard box.
I’d put money on it that the box gets turned upside down many times before it reaches it’s destination.
There should be way to wrap the almond toffee with cellophane before it goes into the gift box, or even vacuum pack it for freshness and so all the ground almond bits stay inside the box.
I didn’t feel like this was a gourmet experience considering I had to use vacuum, spray cleaner and paper towels to remove almond bits and dust that got everywhere on me and the table.
There’s a note Enstrom includes in each milk chocolate almond toffee box that’s a nice touch. It was also covered in almond dust, which clings to the note and….gets everywhere.
Finally, behold the almond toffee!
Taste
Enstrom’s almond toffee is known for it’s buttery rich caramel taste and premium creamy almonds.
You’ll find a few really big chunks of almond toffee and a few smaller bits. I didn’t weigh it exactly, but it feels like a pound.
You can break up the larger almond toffee pieces into smaller chunks – or even take some out of the box and freeze the rest.
Enstrom’s almond toffee has five layers to it
- Ground almonds
- Milk chocolate
- Toffee and whole almonds
- Milk chocolate
- More ground almonds
One question I had, perhaps for Enstrom’s Master Candy Maker – are you supposed to let the almond toffee melt in your mouth and then chew the almond or should you chew the almond and some toffee together? Or just suck on an almond until it dissolves? (hope not!)
The creamy almond flavors and caramelly buttery richness of the toffee blended together very well. The toffee is delicious.
Milk chocolate covers the top and bottom of each toffee almond piece, along with the almond dusting.
The chocolate isn’t very noticeable to be honest. There’s a slight milk chocolatey taste, but the rich caramel almond toffee flavors quickly overpower it.
I would love for them to double the milk chocolate thickness.
Who’s in?
Enstrom does offer dark chocolate almond toffee, so it may work better there…..but it was a bit disappointing.
I was hoping for an epic blend of toffee, almonds and milk chocolate but couldn’t ID the chocolate much.
Value For Money
I think it’s always important to look at what you’re actually getting for your money.
Does it match up to what the advertisement claims?
Is it a worthy purchase or could you find something comparable locally for much less?
The almond toffee gift box is $26.75 and shipping was an additional $10.20 for a grand total of $36.95.
How does this hold up to competitors?
- Vermont Country Store Almond Toffee 14oz $28.95 + $8.85 Shipping (link)
- See’s Almond Toffee-ettes 1lb $25.50 + $7.95 Shipping (link)
- Brandini Almond Toffee 1lb Box $32 + $25 Shipping (link)
Compared to three other competitors, Enstrom’s almond toffee is about average in price and shipping. A gift wrap option is an additional $3.
One thing to point out is that Brandini Almond Toffee offers a gift tin and See’s Candy offers a gift tube.
Would that result in less almond mess than Enstrom’s box?
It’s easy to tell premium ingredients have been used to make Enstrom’s almond toffee, there’s no doubt there, and it is the perfect melt-in-your-mouth consistency. No weird after taste, nothing oily that lingers. It’s a quality toffee.
I don’t think I could go out to my grocery store and replicate this easily with something right off the shelf either.
I think the almond toffee is priced fair and the quality is very good. The milk chocolate is lacking a bit, but overall worth the money that’s asked.
The shipping needs improvement for the money asked, though.
Perhaps USPS would have been an alternative? The almond toffee would have been safely protected from the elements in my mailbox, rather than on my doorstep for everyone to see!
Also, when was the last time you saw a USPS delivery person throw a package at your doorstep?
Gift Ready
Enstrom’s almond toffee is very good. It ticks all the right boxes for almond toffee – rich, caramelly, sweet but not overly sweet and most importantly for any treat – you want more and more and more.
It’s downfall is the packaging and shipping. I can’t get over having this gourmet treat being carelessly thrown at my doorstep and the mess I ended up with when unboxing the almond toffee.
It’s just not gourmet. That hurts it’s gift readyness I think.
I think companies like FedEx won’t change how they handle items – my personal experience alone seems to confirm this – I feel like it’s on Enstrom to find a better way to get it’s product to it’s customers that doesn’t result in a mess when you open it.
Relying on package couriers to handle packages better than they currently are doesn’t sound promising to me. Which is sad, because that’s what they’re paid to do.
Enstrom’s almond toffee is quite giftable on it’s own, but the delivery isn’t very premium.
I imagine purchasing the almond toffee from an Enstrom outlet or store or their facility in Grand Junction, CO would result in less of an almond powder mess, so that might be an option.
For now, I’m not sure how you’d avoid the almond dust getting everywhere. It might just have to be part of the Enstrom almond toffee experience?
Roundup
Enstrom delivers a very good toffee that literally melts in your mouth, along with premium creamy almonds.
Suggestions for a better milk chocolate almond almond toffee – Fix the avalanche of almond dust and boost the milk chocolate thickness, it get’s overpowered by the toffee flavor too quickly.
I was initially surprised by the size of the milk chocolate almond toffee box when it arrived. It was smaller. I think the big chunks make it look larger than it really is.
It’s hard to judge the size of it from the Enstrom website photos.
SO, I thought I’d take a photo of the box next to a banana so you can get a better idea.
I think I’m going to start measuring everything in bananas.
BUY: Check out more information on Enstrom and order your own box of Milk Chocolate Almond Toffee on their website here.
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