Whether you call it a saltine toffee bark or Christmas Crack, all I know is this is super addicting! Chris Crack is super easy to make and requires seven simple ingredients!

Things I learned last week:

1. one day isn’t enough for Thanksgiving food
2. I can’t be trusted around Christmas crack

Today’s recipe is really basic, all you really need are seven simple ingredients, and there are tons of variations that I’ve shared so you can make these again and again well into the new year.

I happened to make a batch of Christmas crack right before Thanksgiving, so I took them along for the feast, and I have to say, I didn’t think anything could outshine my pumpkin pie but boy, did I hear rave reviews about the Christmas crack!

If you’ve never heard of it before, let me explain. It’s salty crackers topped with easy homemade two-ingredient caramel that’s baked into the crackers. Then slathered with melted chocolate and topped with all sorts of crunchy things! It’s sweet and salty at the same time and if you think you don’t like salty and sweet together, wait until you try my homemade Christmas crack.

Christmas crack or saltine toffee is quite possibly the simplest thing you can make if you aren’t the biggest fan of baking but still want something homemade around for the holidays. It makes for a great gift for neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family. All you really need is pretty tins or boxes to pop them in.

If you’re looking for other festive treats to make for gifts, I suggest trying my spiced chai pumpkin muffins, homemade Nutella, apple crumble bars, brown butter maple pecan banana bread, or gingerbread muffins.

• saltine crackers (or club crackers)
• butter
• brown sugar
• bittersweet or milk chocolate chips
• toffee bits (or other subs listed below)
• roasted pecans (or other subs listed below)
• white chocolate chips (for drizzle)

Don’t worry if you’ve never made caramel at home before; I’m going to walk you through this, it’s not hard!

First, you want to gather all your ingredients. It’s just two things: butter and brown sugar. Then, we’ll melt the butter and brown sugar together in our saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar dissolves and the caramel comes to a boil, set a timer for 3 minutes on your phone. Let it bubble and deepen in color, and you may be tempted to stir, but don’t! As soon as that timer goes off, remove it from the stove and pour the caramel directly onto the crackers. Spread the caramel using an offset spatula to make sure all the crackers are evenly covered. Pop this into the oven and let it bake.

When your caramel and crack base has baked, immediately remove it from the oven and sprinkle on your chocolate chips. Let the chocolate hang out for a minute, the heat from the caramel will warm it and make it easier to spread. Then spread the chocolate using an offset spatula. If it doesn’t melt, don’t worry, just pop the baking sheet back in the oven for roughly a minute or so then attempt the spread again! Then all that’s left to do is sprinkle on your toppings!

If you aren’t a fan of saltine crackers, Ritz crackers will work equally well here. Can I also just say that they might be extra delicious because of all of that yummy buttery flavor!

If you have a tree nut allergy, feel free to leave out the pecans and use something else in its place! You can use the toppings listed below exclusively or swap the pecan nuts for roasted pumpkin seeds. The salty kind is the way I’d go!

If you’re not a big fan of heath toffee bits, you can swap them out for mini m&ms or Reese’s pieces. Crushed-up candy canes, M&m, Oreos, shredded coconut flakes, walnuts, chopped roasted almonds, peanut butter chips, or even holiday-colored sprinkles would make this yummy! To make this more of a grown-up saltine toffee, I like to finish mine with a pinch of Maldon sea salt to cut through some of that sweetness. However, that is purely optional!