DIRECTIONS

• Mix the corn syrup with two tablespoones of warm water and set aside. Grease a large, heavy saucepan and in it melt the butter over medium-low heat. As soon as it's melted, stir in the sugar. Continue to stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Add the corn syrup-water mixture and stir well; the mixture will hiss and spit for a few seconds, but that's all right.
• With the pan still on the heat, cover the saucepan and leave it covered for 3 minutes. Then uncover it and stick in the candy thermometer. Keeping the heat at medium-low, and stirring once in a while, heat the mixture to 300 degrees F. At some point before it reaches that temperature (say when it's 220 degrees, where it will seem to stay forever), scatter half the toasted almonds evenly over the bottom of a 9-x-13-inch baking pan.
• When the candy reaches 300 degrees, remove it from the heat immediately and pour it into the almonded pan, tilting the pan back and forth to cover it evenly. (Wear oven mitts. The pan gets incredibly hot.) Do not scrape the saucepan, or the candy might crystallize. Let cool.
• When the candy is cool, heat the semisweet chocolate in the top of a double boiler until it's about two-thirds melted. Take the chocolate off the heat and stir until the remaining chocolate is melted as well.
• Pour the chocolate onto the cooled candy and spread it over the candy's entire surface with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the rest of the almonds over the chocolate.
• Cool the candy until the chocolate is set, about 2 hours or longer. Turn the pan upside down on a surface covered with wax paper. Rap the bottom of the pan until the sheet of buttercrunch comes out. Then break the buttercrunch into bite-sized pieces. (Some of the almonds will fall off, but it doesn't matter. That's why you put on more than you needed.)
• Buttercrunch keeps well and freezes well. Unlike many candy recipes, this one can be multiplied and made exactly the same way. If you go the whole hog and multiply it by 5 and make lots and lots of batches and give away dozens of boxes of butter-crunch every year, make sure to put the candy into plastic bags before you box it. Otherwise, grease stains will gradually make their way through to the surface of the boxes, which wouldn't be very Christmas-y.