Easy, addictive cracker candy recipe made with saltine crackers covered in a crispy toffee coating. No thermometer needed for this holiday favorite! Don’t be fooled, this quick snack is great all year long!
I’ve been making this super simple homemade candy made with saltine crackers surrounded by toffee and covered in chocolate and optional nuts for the last 20 years or so.
Luckily this recipe is easy and fairly quick to make because you’ll want to make extras, it’s hard to eat just one piece. This sweet holiday treat is also known as Christmas Crack!
INGREDIENTS
The ingredients for this recipe are so common you probably have all of them in your kitchen already! You just need about 1 sleeve of salted top saltine crackers, 2 sticks [1 cup] of butter, and 1 cup of brown sugar.
If you want to add chocolate to the top you can use chocolate candy bars or chocolate chips. I have used both and my favorite is milk chocolate chips.
Chocolate chips melt quicker so I can smooth it out and get on to other tasks.
Milk chocolate tastes more like regular toffee, but if semi-sweet is what you have on hand, go ahead and use them. White chocolate can also be used and looks really great when covered with some holiday sprinkles.
Nuts are optional, use your favorite. My personal favorite is called nut topping or dessert nut topping. It’s an assortment of nuts chopped into fairly uniform pieces.
Instructions
Heat an oven to 400⁰F.
Prepare a 10 X 15 baking sheet with sides by lining with aluminum foil and spray that with baking spray. You can also use non-stick aluminum foil, I prefer this type of foil but don’t always have it on hand. I tend to abuse it and use it for nearly everything up until I run out.
Lay the crackers in the pan side by side, trying not to overlap the crackers, [if your crackers require more than one sleeve go ahead and use more]. This will make it so much easier to break into ice pieces later.
Cook the butter [1 cups] and brown sugar [1 cup] in a pan over medium-high heat until boiling. Boil for an additional 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and very carefully pour over the crackers.
If there are some crackers without any sauce, poke them down into the mixture with a fork, be careful though, that melted sugar is super-hot!
Baking
Place into the preheated 400°F oven. Don’t tip the pan or you will find yourself with melted sugar on your hands, the floor, or smoking on the bottom of the hot oven. Ask me how I know it smokes on the oven floor…….
Bake the crackers for 6 minutes. Do not overbake, burnt toffee crackers are kind of nasty. Yes, I have taste tested them! Just say no to burnt crack candy.
The toffee will still be quite runny at this point, so be as careful removing them as you were putting them in. The sugar is even hotter now.
This is a great time to get every cracker covered with toffee. Using a fork, gently press them into the hot toffee, you could even use a pair of tongs to flip them. I rarely have to do either, but if you overlapped your crackers you might need to. Work quickly, the toffee will start to get thick as it cools.
Add the chocolate to the top of the hot crackers if using. Allow the chocolate to set for a few minutes until it is completely melted. Once the chocolate bars or chips are melted, use a knife or an off-set spatula to smooth it out.
Optional nuts or sprinkles need to be added to the top of the chocolate while it is still melted and shiny so that they will stick.
Allow the toffee to cool completely before breaking apart.
TOPPING IDEAS
White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, or my personal favorite, milk chocolate
Holiday shaped sprinkles like snowflakes, Christmas trees, gingerbread men, or even colored jimmies
M&Ms – use holiday colors to match the season
STORING
Cracker candy will last about 1 week before it’s no longer crispy and the toffee starts to turn grainy and chewy. It will be edible, just won’t taste as good as when it is less than 2 weeks old.
This candy makes great Christmas and hostess gifts. Break the candy into cracker size pieces and place into cellophane bags and seal for gift giving. To store cracker candy without giving it as gifts, just place it into plastic baggies at room temperature.
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Cracker Candy Recipe
Ingredients
- 35 saltine crackers a little less than a full sleeve
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips optional
- 1/2 cup crushed nuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 400⁰F.
- Prepare a 10 X 15 baking pan by covering with non-stick aluminum foil and spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.
- Line the baking pan with crackers [35 crackers], trying not to overlap the crackers, and set aside near the stove.
- Place butter [1 cup] and light brown sugar [1 cup] into a small saucepan and set heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to boil the mixture for 3 more minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove from the heat and carefully pour the mixture evenly over the crackers. Spread the mixture if necessary. Use a fork to push any floating crackers under the toffee mixture.
- Carefully move the pan of crackers into the 400⁰F preheated oven and bake for 6 minutes. Do not overbake.
- Carefully remove the crackers from the oven and cover with chocolate chips if using. Allow the chocolate to completely melt before spreading the chocolate.
- While the chocolate is still wet, top with crushed nuts or sprinkles.
- Allow the cracker toffee to cool completely before breaking or cutting into pieces.
- Store the cracker candy in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Sandy
Delicious…I added pecans to one half and broken candy canes on the other.
Beth Mueller
Hi Sandy!
Those are great ideas! I bet they turned out even better that way.
Happy Holidays!
Meghan
So I misread “baking spray” in this recipe and used regular Pam cooking spray instead. The candy had an awful aftertaste and I had to throw it all away. What a bummer. My mistake but if I make it again I’m not taking any chances and just wiping the foil down with crisco.
Beth Mueller
Hi Meghan!
Pam is a baking spray and the one I use the most. I’ve never noticed an aftertaste before. I’ll be sure to be mindful next time I make it and see if I’ve just overlooked it.
Happy Holidays!
Martha
Question
I love this recipe!
However is the toffee layer supposed to be crunchy? Mine came out grainy
Beth Mueller
Hi Martha!
If any uncooked sugar granules get into your toffee it can turn grainy. A really humid day could be the blame. If it’s super humid, I would give the sugar an extra miute of boiling on the stove.
It helps if you make sure that there are no unmelted grains of brown sugar on the side of the pan, and your oven is running a true 400 Degrees F. The toffee should be bubbling while it is baking.
Hope this helps!
Elishea Hayes
is there a trick to cutting these into perfect squares??
Beth Mueller
Hi Elishea!
I don’t really have a trick, I just remove the entire thing from the pan and then cut them with my largest knife, it has a 9-inch blade. I just press it through the candy from one end to the other on the shorter side, then I cut through those strips. Hope this helps!
Stay safe!
Melissa
Just made a double batch of these and they are AWESOME!!
Very easy to make thanks for a great recipe.
Beth Mueller
Hi Melissa!
I’m so glad to hear you had success with it! It’s one of my favorite holiday food gifts!
Happy Holidays!
Kimberly St. Onge
In #7 of this recipe, I believe that you mean to say “refully remove the crackers from the oven and COVER with chocolate chips if using. The use of the past tense of the word ‘cover’ makes the sentence unclear. Thank you!
Beth Mueller
Hi Kimberly!
Thanks for finding that and pointing it out. Nice eye for grammar! It’s been fixed.
Stay Safe!