This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our privacy policy for additional information.
Why You’ll Love My Recipe
This dessert combines saltiness, sweetness, and an intense crunch in every bite, and it’s so quick and easy to make that I know you’ll add it to your Holiday baking roster! It holds up excellently to freezing, too, so it’s a perfect make-ahead treat!
Christmas Crack is just what it says: it’s addictive, Christmassy, and you crack it apart into pieces instead of slicing it. Oh, and there are soup crackers on the bottom! If you love crunchy, salty, and sweet things, you’ll love this Christmas Crack.
For more great-tasting, chocolate-tastic recipes, why not try my Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe? Or how about some tasty Dark Chocolate Cookies?
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This recipe is easy to make and makes a perfect offering for family, friends, and school bake sales!
- Total Time: You can have a whole baking tray of this delicious treat ready in just 15 minutes!
- Variations: Christmas crack can be modified in any number of ways! Switch out the saltines for graham crackers and use white chocolate and a sprinkling of candy canes instead of sprinkles, use white chocolate and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar as a topping to make a churro cracker candy, or even sprinkle roasted nuts, sweetened shredded coconut, or mini M&Ms over everything! Let your imagination run wild!
- Tools For This Recipe: You will need a rimmed cookie sheet, a medium saucepan, and a silicone spatula to make this recipe! If you want to cut down on the amount of parchment paper you use, consider investing in a silicone baking mat as a reusable non-stick surface to make cookies and sticky treats like these! If you want to get precise with your toffee topping, consider investing in a candy thermometer!
What You’ll Need for Ingredients
Saltine Crackers: It’s not everyday that you get to use saltine crackers in a dessert recipe, but no other cracker will do! The saltiness and crunch is what adds a little extra special goodness to your Christmas Crack!
Chocolate Chips: The gold standard for baking treats is to use semi-sweet chocolate chips, a cross between milk and dark chocolate that makes them perfect for giving baked goods a chocolatey flavor without adding too much sugar. White chocolate chips would also work and be very Christmas-themed, but you’d end up with a much lighter, milkier and sweeter tasting treat. Dark chocolate would also be excellent, and would add a little bitterness to contrast with the overall sweetness of the recipe!
Brown Sugar: You can use either dark or light brown sugar for this recipe, depending on your preference. If you prefer a slightly lighter and sweeter end result, stick to light brown sugar; however, if you prefer the intense, dark caramel sweetness of desserts like fudge or toffee, give brown sugar a try!
Sprinkles: If you can find Christmas-themed sprinkles, you can give this dessert a truly festive look! Tiny icing snowflakes and Christmas trees are absolutely adorable; but if they’re hard to find, your regular red, green, and white blend will be cute too!
How To Make Christmas Crack
This is a quick overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat your oven to 400°F and line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Align as many saltine crackers as you can side by side in a single layer over the whole surface of the baking sheet and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once it reaches a boil, stop stirring and allow to boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla and immediately and carefully pour the toffee mixture over the crackers in an even layer. You will need to spread it out evenly using a silicone spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Place the toffee-covered crackers into the oven and bake for 5-6 minutes, until bubbly. Remove from the oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top evenly. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, then spread the melted chocolate into a smooth layer and add sprinkles (or other toppings as desired) evenly over the top.
- Allow to cool in the freezer for 20 minutes, or until the chocolate has set, then remove from the pan and cut or break into pieces before storing your Christmas crack in an airtight container!
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Christmas Crack
- Go Halfsies: If you want to mix it up a little, cover half of your toffee-coated pan with one style of chocolate topping, and half with another! Since you’re making a whole baking sheet’s worth, you have the space to play around!
- Crush that Candy: If you want to be a bit more precise with your toffee, a candy thermometer can come in handy! You’ll want to bring your brown sugar and butter mixture up to 270-290°F (known in candy-making circles as the ‘soft crack’ stage) for best results!
- Melt My Heart: If your chocolate chips don’t melt to a spreadable state after five minutes on top of the hot toffee, just pop everything back into your oven for a little while to help them soften up. Make sure to keep your eye on the pan, though, or they’ll seize and burn instead of melting!
Storage Instructions
You can store your finished Christmas crack in an airtight container for up to seven days at room temperature—though I bet it’ll be gone in a blink if you keep it on the counter within easy reach!
Refrigerator: Cooled Christmas crack can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Freezer: Christmas crack freezes exceptionally well! Once it’s finished cooling completely, smash your bars into large pieces and flash freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once they’re frozen solid, layer the pieces between parchment paper in an airtight, freezer-safe container. They’ll keep in the deep freeze for up to 3 months! When you’re ready to eat, you don’t even have to wait for it to defrost before enjoying!
More Delicious Holiday Desserts
- Mr. Magpie loves to make Bourbon and Rum Balls for the holidays, and this recipe makes gorgeous, nut-free, truffle-like delights!
- One of my most requested desserts during the Christmas season is my recipe for Perfect Whipped Shortbread! Light, tender and crumbly while still being buttery and rich, I just know you’ll love them too!
- These delicious Oreo Balls (also known as Oreo Truffles) are an excellent no-bake treat that come together quickly and easily!
I adore recipes like this one because they come together easily and make delicious, shareable treats—both of which are fantastic traits for a dessert I only tend to make during a busy, festive time of year!
Make a big tray of this Christmas crack to share with friends, neighbours, and loved ones, and let me know what your favorite topping options are in the comments below!
Happy Holidays, and Happy Baking!
Karlynn
Christmas Crack
Ingredients
- 40 saltine crackers
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup Christmas sprinkles
Instructions
- Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a rimmed cookie sheet (also known as a jelly roll pan) with parchment paper. Use more or less crackers as you need to fill the pan.
- Align crackers side by side in a single layer along baking sheet then set aside.
- In a medium saucepan combine the butter and brown sugar and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once it reaches a boil stop stirring and allow to boil 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla then immediately and carefully pour mixture over crackers in an even layer. You will need to spread it out evenly using the back of spoon.
- Place in the oven and bake 5 to 6 minutes until bubbly.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle the top evenly with the chocolate chips.
- Let rest 5 minutes then using the back of a spoon spread the melted chocolate into a smooth layer. Sprinkle the sprinkles over the top evenly.
- Move to the freezer (or outside if you live where I live!) and allow to chill 20 minutes or until chocolate has set.
- Remove from freezer and break or cut into pieces. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- you can make these for other holidays and occasions by simply changing the sprinkle colors
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Linda says
Can you use cookie mix to make CHOCOLATE SNICKERDOODLES with having to use many other ingredients?
DJ says
Loved this!
Elaine Taylor says
Hello Karlynn,
These look like a great Christmas hostess gift as well. And very limited clean- up is a bonus !
Merry Christmas 🎄🔔🎅
Cynthia Beattie says
Love baking