Christmas Crack Saltine Cracker Toffee is a special holiday treat made with just 4 ingredients and less than 15 minutes of prep time! This easy classic candy is crispy, chewy, buttery, and chocolatey with a balance of sweet and salty. It is incredibly delicious and highly addictive!
Making simple and delicious holiday treat recipes such as chocolate haystacks and oreo balls are one the best ways to try an array of different desserts. When a recipe calls for so few ingredients and very little effort and the taste can still knock your socks off, well, what’s not to love?!
This Christmas crack saltine has a buttery crispy and chewy toffee base. It is then topped with semi-sweet chocolate and loads of awesome toppings. It has a nice crack once it has been chilled, broken apart, and bitten into. Enjoy a salty-sweet balance and melt in your mouth buttery chocolate in every bite.
Saltine Toffee aka Cracker Toffee is the traditional version of this sweet candy snack consisting of a layer of crackers and a decadent hardened toffee coating that becomes chewy once you bite it. This elevated Christmas version includes chocolate which we all know makes everything better and is exactly why this just so good.
All you’ll need for this recipe is a bunch of saltine crackers, butter, sugar, chocolate chips, and a jelly roll pan. Oh, and of course any toppings you want to have fun with! Perfect for the holidays or all year round!
How to Make Christmas Crack Saltines
Preheat your oven and line your jelly roll pan (a smaller version of your typical baking sheet) with parchment paper or line with aluminum foil.
Place a single layer of saltine crackers lining the bottom of the pan. There may be some space in between the crackers and that is perfectly fine.
In a small saucepan, on medium heat, add the butter and brown sugar. Stir frequently and bring the mixture to a boil.
Continue stirring continuously until it begins to darken and thicken and gives off the familiar aroma of delicious toffee. This recipe is so easy you don’t even need a candy thermometer! You’ll still want to keep an eye on it to get it to that nice caramel consistency.
Pour the hot butter/sugar mixture immediately over the top of the crackers, drizzling as much as you can overtop getting all of it out of the pan.
Spread with a spatula or spoon to evenly coat all of the crackers. If you miss a spot, don’t worry about it, it will continue to spread in the oven.
Bake in the oven until caramel is bubbling. Remove and sprinkle chocolate chips all over the entire pan. Turn off the oven and place the pan back in the oven for a few minutes until chocolate chips have melted.
Remove from the oven again and gently spread chocolate evenly over top of the crackers. Cover as much of what lies underneath as possible.
If you want to add any additional toppings now is the time to do that, before letting the pan cool to room temperature.
If you can wait it out, it’s highly recommended that you cover the pan with foil and keep it in the fridge overnight. Otherwise, a couple of hours should do the trick.
Then, the fun part! Carefully crack the cracker candy into pieces and leave it out for everyone to have a piece. Or five!
Tips & Variations
- For a cleaner, less “cracked” look, you can use a knife to cut them into uniform pieces.
- Substitute the saltines for Ritz crackers, graham crackers, or even pretzel knots.
- You can swap out the semi-sweet chocolate for white chocolate chips or milk chocolate.
- Topping ideas are M&Ms, festive sprinkles, coarse sea salt, chopped nuts, chopped pretzels, crushed candy canes, toffee bits, or coconut flakes.
- Stir in 1/2 tsp of vanilla into the caramel mixture just before pouring it onto the crackers for added flavor.
- Spray the foil with cooking spray if you’re not using heavy-duty foil. The toffee is quite sticky! If you’re using parchment paper, no spray required, just make sure it covers the entire pan.
How to Store It
Keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week and for up to 3 months in the freezer. That is if you have any remaining!
Try these other easy Holiday treats too:
Christmas Crack Saltine Cracker Toffee
Equipment
- Jelly Roll Pan
Ingredients
- 36-48 saltine crackers enough to cover the entire jello roll pan
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup of optional toppings M&M's, nuts, sprinkles, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Line a 10x15-inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper or line with aluminum foil
- Line the entire jello roll pan with saltine crackers placed in a single layer. (don’t worry if there is a little space left on the sides)
- In a small saucepan, add the butter and brown sugar and heat on the stovetop on medium heat, stirring frequently.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and continue stirring continuously for 3 minutes until it begins to darken and thicken
- Pour the hot butter/sugar mixture immediately over top of the saltine crackers on the jelly roll pan and spread evenly all over the crackers. (it’s ok if they are not perfect. it will continue to spread in the oven.
- Place the pan in the oven and bake for 5-7 minutes until the caramel is bubbling.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over entire pan.
- Turn off the oven and place the pan back in for 5 minutes.
- Gently spread the melted chocolate chips to evenly cover the crackers.
- Sprinkle with seasonal toppings if desired.
- Let the pan cool to room temperature and then cover with foil and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours but overnight is even better)
- Carefully crack the crackers into pieces (or use a knife to cut into desired size)
Notes
Substitute ritz crackers, graham crackers or even pretzel knots instead of saltine crackers. Substitute white chocolate chips or milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Stir 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract into caramel mixture just before pouring on to crackers.
Nutrition
Debbie G
I’ve been making these a few years now,my family loves them
Sherri
Us too!! Such a favorite!