This Christmas crack recipe is saltine toffee made with crackers, brown sugar, butter, chocolate and holiday sprinkles. A sweet and salty treat that’s addictively delicious and perfect for feeding a crowd!
I love to make homemade treats around the holidays like reindeer chow, peppermint patties, and this unique and unexpected Christmas crack toffee.
So right about now you may be wondering, what exactly is Christmas crack? It’s saltine toffee. I think the name relates to the fact that it’s made with crackers and is also super addicting. This salty sweet combo is SUPER easy to make, and it’s a unique treat that will have all of your guests begging for the recipe.
This is one of my favorite Christmas recipes along with rum balls, Grinch cookies, caramel popcorn and peppermint bark.
Table of Contents
Christmas Crack Ingredients
To make Christmas crack you will need saltine crackers, butter, brown sugar, chocolate chips and sprinkles.
How Do You Make Christmas Crack?
To make this Christmas crack recipe start by placing your crackers in a single layer on a sheet pan or baking sheet. Put butter and brown sugar in a pot, and bring the mixture to a boil. Pour the hot sugar mixture over the crackers. Next, bake the crackers in the oven until the sugar and butter bubbles. Remove the pan from the oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the crackers and toffee mixture. Put the pan back into the oven to melt the chocolate. Take the crackers out of the oven and use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate in an even layer. Add sprinkles, then let everything cool to room temperature. You can also refrigerate the Christmas crack so it will set up faster. Break into pieces, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- This recipe is simple to make, but you do need to watch the toffee mixture carefully as it boils. You want to boil it for exactly 3 minutes or you run the risk of it burning. If you watch the toffee carefully, you won’t need a candy thermometer.
- You can make Christmas crack up to 5 days before you plan to serve it. Store it in the fridge, then break it into pieces and enjoy.
- I use an offset spatula to spread the toffee and chocolate layers. It makes the job so much easier.
- You can use a baking mat or parchment paper to make the toffee easier to take off your sheet pan or baking sheet.
- You can easily double this saltine cracker toffee recipe if you need to feed a crowd. Simply double the ingredients and spread the crackers over two sheet pans instead of one.
Quick Tip
Use high quality chocolate chips for the best results. My favorite brand is Guittard because it has a rich flavor and melts smoothly.
Recipe FAQs
You can make Christmas crack with just a handful of simple ingredients, including saltine crackers, butter, brown sugar, chocolate and toppings such as sprinkles.
This dish gets its name from a few sources. It’s called “crack” because it’s made with crackers, makes a cracking sound when you cut or break it, and also is addicting in nature because it’s so delicious!
You do not need to refrigerate Christmas crack for food safety purposes, but I do prefer to store mine in the fridge in an airtight container. If you store it at room temperature, it can get soft if your kitchen is warm. I typically keep it in the fridge, then let it sit out for about 10 minutes before serving so that it comes up to room temperature for eating.
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Flavor Variations
This recipe is delicious as-is, but you can easily change up the ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
- Chocolate: Not a fan of semisweet chocolate chips? Milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips will also work well. You can even use two types of chocolate and swirl them together!
- Crackers: While saltine crackers are traditional, you can use other types of crackers such as Ritz crackers or graham crackers with good results.
- Toppings: Swap out the sprinkles for a different toppings. Try using nuts like chopped pecans or chopped walnuts. You can add other toppings like shredded coconut, crushed candy canes, small pretzels or mini M&M candies.
You may want to plan to make a double batch of this Christmas cracker candy because this stuff goes fast! You can also check out my favorite Christmas cookie recipes to make an amazing dessert platter.
More Holiday Treats
Peppermint Brownies
1 hr 10 mins
Rocky Road Fudge
12 mins
Crock Pot Candy
1 hr 35 mins
Candy Cane Hearts
16 mins
Buckeye Balls (Peanut Butter Balls)
1 hr 2 mins
Christmas Crack Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Christmas Crack Recipe
Ingredients
- 40 saltine crackers
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips I recommend Guittard or Ghirardelli. DO NOT USE NESTLE!!!
- 1/2 cup holiday sprinkles or 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Line a sheet pan with foil and coat with cooking spray or alternatively you can use a nonstick silicone baking mat.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Place the crackers in a single layer on the baking sheet.
- Place the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes.
- Pour the brown sugar mixture over the crackers and spread with a spatula to coat.
- Place the sheet pan in the oven and bake for 3-5 minutes, or until bubbling.
- Remove the pan from the oven and immediately scatter the chocolate chips over the top. Place the pan back in the oven for another 2-3 minutes to melt the chocolate. Spread the chocolate evenly over the top.
- Place the sprinkles on top of the chocolate. Let the toffee sit until completely cool, either at room temperature or you can refrigerate.
- Cut into pieces and serve.
Notes
- Christmas crack can be made up to 5 days before you plan to serve it. Store it in the fridge, then break it into pieces and enjoy.
- As this recipe has become very popular over the years, I’ve had readers encounter issues with Nestle toll house chocolate chips. Nestle tends to change the formula of their chocolate chips and chunks, and sometimes they melt, and sometimes they don’t. I recommend avoiding Nestle chocolate for this recipe.
- I use an offset spatula to spread the toffee and chocolate layers. It makes the job so much easier.
Hi, I hit 2x on your recipe.
All ingredients changed by doubling except the butter. If I am doubling the recipe shouldn’t the butter read 2 cups? Or showing 1 cup is correct when doubling recipe?
I just clarified the recipe card, 2 cups of butter is correct if you double the recipe.
Turned out great. Nice and crispy crunchy. Will definitely make it again for Chrismas.
How did you get it crunchy???
Perfect recipe! I was a little nervous because I purchased off brand mini chocolate chips, but they worked 😬🥰🥰
Can parchment paper be used instead of Tinfoil?
Yes that’s fine!
Can you use Ghirardelli white chocolate chips in this recipe?
Thanks,
Jessica
I believe this would likely work, but I haven’t tested it myself. You might want to consider using the semisweet, and then add a drizzle of melted white chocolate over the semisweet instead of sprinkles.
Everyone loves this wherever I take it. Thank you for sharing!
Man. You’re not kidding about the nestle. Read that too late and just ruined a batch. Wow. Disappointed in Nestle big time. The recipe is great though! Thank you!
Nestle is the worst, ruined the whole batch because I thought I’d “make it work”…BUT Ghirardelli white chocolate chips are just as bad!! Ugh!! Ruined another batch. So frustrated. I’ll have to try milk chocolate chip guiatard next time.
I just did the same thing only I used Lindt first then Ghirardelli. Both of them were ruined!!!! I made this recipe last year with the Ghirardelli and it worked. What’s going on????!! UGH. What a waste of money and time.
Can you let me know specifically what type of chocolate you used? I’ve never seen Lindt chips, was it a baking bar? And is it Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips?
What happens when you use nestle? I ordered ghiaradelli semi sweet but I am just curious what happens. I have a large bag of hersheys milk chocolate that I was going to mix half and half
The Nestle chips don’t melt, they just kind of crumble when you try to spread them.
Excellent
I have made this recipe for the past three years. It never seems to last very long around my house. I make it only at holiday time so that there are always others to eat it and I don’t have to eat it. all. It is great!
Can they be frozen for a few weeks
That should be fine, just keep in mind that there may be some condensation on top after thawing.
How do you get them out of the pan in squares? Do you cut them with a knife or just try to find the cracker outline and break them off with a fork?
You can cut it with a knife, or break it with your hands!
I also use it for Easter. I use pink and purple sprinkles. They came out great and the grandkids love them.
Do you use salted or unsalted butter? Thank you!
I’ve done it both ways and either works!
It would have been extremely helpful if your Note about using Nestles chocolate chips was included further up in the ingredients section. You are absolutely correct, and now I’ve literally wasted all the other igredients because the Nestle chocolate chips seized up! Not your fault at all! I should have taken time to read entire post, but I was at the grocery store and just threw ingredients into basket. Thank you! Going to have to try another day. It amazes me Nestle would do such a thing! I will never purchase their product again!
I actually have it written in the ingredients too! It says “2 cups semisweet chocolate chips I recommend Guittard or Ghirardelli. DO NOT USE NESTLE!!!”. I’m sorry you missed the note, this recipe is delicious with other brands of chocolate.
Same thing happened with Hershey’s 🙁 I also should have taken the time to read but you wouldn’t think chocolate chips would make such a huge difference! Definitely AVOID nestle AND hersheys!
Same exact story here. So dosappointed in nestle.
I made this tonight for my 10 co-workers who had birthdays in September. We were going to celebrate Friday, 27 September, but Hurricane Helene put a halt to our celebration here in Atlanta, GA. So, we are celebrating tomorrow Friday, 4 October, instead. I made two batches: one with chopped pecans, and one without. Also, I always use Ghirardelli semi-sweetchips and they melt beautifully.
I have been making these for years! I absolutely love them. I love adding fun things like shredded coconut, mini M&Ms, and chopped pecans to mine!
If I double the recipe do I double the cook time?
You do not need to double the cook time!
I make this Christmas crack and I put pretzel salt over the chocolate …it turns out delicious😋😊
Had the same problem with the nestle chips just now. Did my best spreading them, hopefully they’ll taste fine. Made a few years ago with Nestle and they were fine. Glad I read your post so I was prepared lol
Why not nestle chocolate chips I use them
I’ve gotten dozens of reports that they don’t melt when you put them in the oven, and when I tested this recipe with Nestle I had the same issue.