Christmas Crack (Saltine Cracker Toffee)
This Christmas Crack is an easy, irresistible treat you can whip up in only 15 minutes! Crisp saltine crackers are coated in a rich, buttery toffee and finished with a layer of melty chocolate. Sweet, salty, crunchy goodness that pairs perfectly with other holiday favorites like ginger snaps and crushed candy cane cookies.
Craving The Recipe Details?
What it is: A crunchy, sweet-and-salty holiday treat made with saltine crackers, caramelized sugar-butter, and melted chocolate layered on top.
Why you'll love it: It's ridiculously simple, crowd-pleasing, and totally addictive. Perfect for cookie exchanges or holiday parties.
How to make it: Line a baking sheet with crackers, boil butter + brown sugar for 5 min, pour over crackers. Top with chocolate, bake briefly, cool completely, then break into pieces.
Summarize & Save This Recipe On:
I'll never forget my first bite of Christmas crack. It was the star of the cookie-exchange basket and disappeared embarrassingly fast. (Translation: I ate it all before getting home. This is a judgment-free zone, right?) Since then, it’s been in our annual Christmas baking rotation!
Christmas crack takes just minutes to make and is endlessly customizable with fun toppings. Whether you’re serving it alongside eggnog bread and chai white hot chocolate, building a festive dessert board with Christmas funfetti cookies, or stocking the freezer with sourdough cinnamon roll Christmas trees and other make-ahead treats, this easy Christmas cracker candy fits right in.
This Christmas crack recipe is dedicated to judgement free zones!
Key Ingredients
Crackers: Kind of hard to make Christmas cracker treats without the “crack”! Am I right?! Good old fashioned salted-top saltine crackers are great in this recipe!
Chocolate: Splurge for the good stuff, you’re worth it! I chopped a Lindt dark chocolate bar for these photos and would absolutely do it again. No chocolate bar? High-quality chocolate chips work great. Go for semi-sweet or dark chocolate; milk chocolate makes it too sweet.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations + Substitutions
This recipe is so fun because there are so many different variations and iterations.
Change up the cracker. Use one of these:
- graham crackers
- Ritz crackers
- pretzel crackers
Change up the chocolate. Try these:
- white chocolate chips
- peanut butter chips
- butterscotch chips
Change up the topping. Get creative:
- pretzels again (chocolate plus caramel plus pretzel = best)
- sprinkles
- chopped nuts, like candied pecans or walnuts
- dried fruits, like cranberries!
- chopped candy canes
- marshmallows or dehydrated marshmallows (especially if using graham crackers!)
Love Christmas Crack? Try this Butter Toffee!
How To Make Christmas Crack
- Step 1: Preheat oven to 375f. Meanwhile, chop 1 1/2 cups of chocolate, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out saltine crackers in neat, close rows on the prepared baking sheet.
- Step 2: In a large saucepan, add 1 cup of salted butter and 1 cup of lightly packed brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium low heat and allow to boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Step 3: Carefully pour the boiling mixture over the saltine crackers.
- Step 4: Spread the caramel with a silicone spatula, trying to avoid moving around the crackers.
- Step 5: Sprinkle the chopped chocolate around the top of the caramel covered crackers and place in the preheated oven. Bake at 375f for 5 minutes.
- Step 6: Remove the baking sheet from the oven and using a spoon or spatula carefully spread the chocolate around in an even layer.
- Step 7: Sprinkle the top of the chocolate with fleur de sel or flaky sea salt, then place baking sheet in the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours.
- Step 8: Once completely cooled, crack the Christmas cracker toffee and place in desired storage container.
Expert Tips
- Use Good Chocolate: Always opt for high quality chocolate, it tends to melt better. I’ve made this recipe before and used a chocolate bar that seized in the oven and was gritty and awful! I’ve had great luck with Lindt bars.
- Chill: Don’t forget to allow your Christmas crack to cool sufficiently before breaking apart. The chocolate and caramel need to be completely set or you’ll run into issues.
- Be Gentle: Spread the caramel and chocolate gently! If you’re too vigorous, the crackers can shift causing pools of crunchy caramel, which while delicious, can affect how how much you’re able to spread it over the crackers.
Christmas Crack FAQs
A single recipe of this irresistible treat makes about 12 servings.
If you’re gifting this recipe as part of a cookie exchange, I’d recommend 1/2 a batch per dozen cookies required.
Christmas cracker toffee can be stored in an airtight container or cookie jar at room temperature for up to 7 days, in the fridge for about 14 days, or in a freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months (as if it’s going to last that long!).
Layer separation happens when the caramel cools down before the chocolate is added, cool caramel forms a firm surface that the chocolate can't properly adhere to. To prevent this, add the chopped chocolate immediately after spreading the hot caramel so it begins melting right away. Placing the pan in the preheated oven also helps to prevent the chocolate from separating from the caramel layer.
Here’s What I’m Baking This Christmas!
If you tried this Christmas Crack recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📖 Printable Recipe
Christmas Crack Recipe
Ingredients
- 42 saltine crackers
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 ½ cup chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips
- fleur de sel or coarse sea salt, for garnish
Instructions Start Cooking
- Preheat oven to 375f. Meanwhile, chop or pre-measure 1 1/2 cups of chocolate, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out saltine crackers in neat, close rows on the prepared baking sheet.
- In a large saucepan, add 1 cup of salted butter and 1 cup of lightly packed brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium low heat and allow to boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Carefully pour the caramel mixture over the saltine crackers and spread, trying to avoid moving around the crackers.
- Sprinkle the chocolate around the top of the caramel covered crackers and place in the preheated oven. Bake at 375f for 5 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and carefully spread the chocolate around in an even layer. Optional:Sprinkle the top of the chocolate with fleur de sel or flaked sea salt, if desired.
- Place baking sheet level in the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours.
- Once completely cooled, crack the Christmas cracker toffee and place in desired storage container.
Notes
- Use Good Chocolate: Always opt for high quality chocolate, it tends to melt better. I've made this recipe before and used a chocolate bar that seized in the oven and was gritty and awful! I've had great luck with Lindt bars.
- Chill: Don't forget to allow your Christmas crack to cool sufficiently before breaking apart. The chocolate and caramel need to be completely set or you'll run into issues.
- Be Gentle: Spread the caramel and chocolate gently! If you're too vigorous, the crackers can shift causing pools of crunchy caramel, which while delicious, can affect how how much you're able to spread it over the crackers
This is a winter favorite in our house, and if I’m being perfectly honest, it creeps into our fall baking – it’s so easy to make and hits all the right flavor notes and some how has the perfect mix of textures that it’s downright irresistible!
I just tried this today… I didn’t have butter, so I used Margerine…Also cut up some older Purdy’s chocolates that I had and it worked perfectly. I will be making it again for sure!