Christmas Crack (aka Saltine Cracker Toffee) starts with saltine crackers, topped with rich toffee, melted chocolate, a white chocolate drizzle, and festive sprinkles and flaky sea salt (or any toppings you love). I missed out on this classic treat as a kid but now I always include it in my holiday cookie boxes.
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My grandmother always made us chocolate covered peanut butter balls and cinnamon snickerdoodles every year around the holidays. I never had saltine cracker toffee became a instant holiday tradtion for me when I first tried it recently!
Everyone loves it because it’s crunchy, chocolatey and perfectly salty-sweet!
It’s easy to make with just 8 ingredients in under 30 minutes. What’s also great about it is that it’s super customizable like this sugar cookie edible cookie dough!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple ingredient list: All you need is butter, brown sugar, saltine crackers, and chocolate! White chocolate, vanilla and sprinkles and flaky sea salt are delicious and fun but optional!
- Salty-sweet taste: The combination of buttery toffee, crunchy saltine crackers, and rich chocolate makes these full of salty-sweet flavor.
- Makes a big batch: One pan makes plenty of pieces. It’s ideal for holiday parties, cookie exchanges, or packaging up as gifts. Add it to your cookie boxes along with these cookie dough bites!
- Customize the toppings: You can top it with chopped nuts, crushed candy canes, whatever sounds good to you.
- Quick to make: From start to finish, this recipe takes less than 30 minutes of active time.
Ingredient Notes
- Crunchy, salty saltine crackers make the perfect base. They also make the easiest crust. Just open a sleeve and spread them in an even layer.
- Melt salted or unsalted butter with the brown sugar for the candy toffee topping.
- Use light or dark brown sugar for the toffee topping. Light brown sugar is more commonly used, but dark works too. Dark brown sugar has more molasses and adds a richer flavor.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips make the easiest topping! Since the recipe only uses a handful of ingredients, I recommend splurging on good quality chocolate chips. You’ll notice the difference!
- I like to drizzle white chocolate over top to make it extra pretty and delicious. You can skip that if you prefer!
- Christmas sprinkles make these extra festive. Just sprinkle them over the white chocolate and they’ll stick to it.
- I also love a sprinkle of flaky sea salt to balance out some of the sweetness!
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions and Variations
- Instead of semi-sweet chocolate, you could swap in white chocolate or dark chocolate (use 60% or lower)
- Salted saltines work best and are most commonly used in Christmas crack. You can swap in Ritz crackers or graham crackers for a different flavor and texture.
- Use vegan butter sticks to make this dairy-free.
- You can customize Christmas crack however you like! Chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, or peanuts), crushed pretzels, shredded coconut, candy canes, toffee bits, M&Ms all work great! Bonus points if you toast the nuts first for added flavor!
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: (See photo 1 above). Preheat oven to 400℉. Line a large baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil. Spread the saltine crackers out on the foil in a single even layer. Set aside.
Step 2: (See photo 2 above). In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and brown sugar together. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
Step 3: (See photo 3 above). Pour the hot toffee evenly over the crackers. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Wait about 1 minute then immediately sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Let them stand for 2-3 minutes until the chocolate looks shiny and melty.
Step 4: (See photo 4 above). Use an offset spatula, a bench scraper or the back of a spoon to slowly and gently spread the chocolate into an even layer. Let cool at room temperature until the chocolate is set, about 25–30 minutes.
Step 5: (See photo 5 above). Melt the chopped white chocolate in the microwave in 20 second burst, stirring in between. Drizzle over the bark. Top with sprinkles and flaky sea salt.
Step 6: (See photo 6 above). Let it cool completely in the fridge for about 1 hour until fully set. Then break or chop into pieces and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Line your pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil. It peels off the toffee easily and makes clean up easy. Regular foil works but make sure to lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray so it doesn’t stick. You can also use parchment paper and there’s no need to grease it. Just make sure it fully covers the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Let the toffee rest for a minute right after taking it out of the oven before you sprinkle the chocolate chips so that they melt gently. Be careful not to wait too long, or the chocolate chips won’t melt!
- Spread the chocolate mixture around with an offset spatula or bench scraper slowly, gently and evenly. If you press down hard or move quickly, the crackers can slide around too much.
- Add your toppings right after drizzling the white chocolate on top. If you’re skipping the white chocolate, add the toppings right after spreading the chocolate chips!
Recipe FAQs
Saltines are the best and most common choice for Christmas crack. They are crunchy and salty. You could swap in Ritz crackers or graham crackers but they will be softer and less salty.
Toffee can turn out grainy if the butter and brown sugar weren’t fully melted and combined before boiling or the mixture wasn’t boiled long enough. Be sure to boil it, while stirring, for the full 3 minutes.
Store leftovers in an airgitht container for 5 days at room temperature or up to 2 weeks in the fridge. You can also freeze it for up to 2 months.
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Christmas Crack (Saltine Cracker Toffee)
Ingredients
- 48 (144 g) saltine crackers about 1½ sleeves
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (220 g) brown sugar light or dark
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract optional
- 2 cups (360 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2.5 ounces (70.87 g) white chocolate, chopped about ⅓ to ½ cup chopped, optional
- sprinkles for sprinkling, optional
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉. Line a large baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil or parchment paper. Spread the crackers out on the foil in a single even layer.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and brown sugar together. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Immediately pour the hot toffee evenly over the crackers. Bake at 400 ℉ for 5 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it cool for about 1 minute. Then sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the topLet them stand for 2-3 minutes until the chocolate looks shiny and melty. Next, use an offset spatula, a bench scraper or the back of a spoon to slowly and gently spread the chocolate into an even layer. Let cool at room temperature until the chocolate is fully set, about 25–30 minutes.
- Chop or break the white chocolate up into smaller pieces. Place it in a small microwave safe bowl and melt it in 20 second bursts, stirring well in between, just until melted.
- Use a spoon or transfer melted white chocolate into a small zip lock bag. Snip a tiny corner off and drizzle the white chocolate diagonally across the bark in one direction, then back the other way for a light crisscross.
- While the white chocolate is still warm, immediately sprinkle with holiday sprinkles and flaky sea salt (or your preferred toppings). Let it cool completely in the fridge for about 1 hour until fully set. Then break or chop into pieces and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
lyndsay kramer
such a great recipe, it came out perfectly! will definitely be saving this to make every year 😋
Natalie Ward
Yay this makes me so happy! Thank you Lyndsay!