Salted Caramel Christmas Crackers
About seven years ago, we were at Bart’s parents house for Christmas. After all the festivities had passed, we were the only company staying on, and Ella was our only child, so we had lots of quiet hours while she was napping.
We spent a lot of the time playing our favorite cards and board games together and, as one does during the holidays, munching our way through all the plates of goodies that friends and neighbors had brought to my in-laws.
One particular plate of treats especially caught everyone’s fancy and when we were half-way through, I said, “I think these are saltine crackers!” Everyone was dubious, but then we closely inspected them and everyone agreed with me that this seemed to be true. I thought about these treats for months – they were the perfect blend of salty and sweet, and also a great balance of crispy and chewy.
Basically they were my dream treat.
Months later, I found a recipe for them (they’re often called Christmas Crack) and made them for book club when I was in charge of refreshments. I left a few behind in the fridge and halfway through our meeting, I got a text from Bart with many exclamation points that said something like, “HOLY COW, THESE ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER. I MAY HAVE EATEN THE ENTIRE CONTAINER YOU LEFT BEHIND.”
Or something like that.
I made them this week and Ella, who had never tried them before said, “These are the second best treat I’ve eaten in my entire life.” (The first was cookie dough truffles, apparently).
Anyway, everyone in our family gives this Christmas Crack recipe a hearty seal of approval.
Salted Caramel Christmas Crackers or Christmas Crack Recipe
Salted Caramel Christmas Crackers
The best holiday treat ever! Seriously, I could eat the whole pan on my own. Perfect for neighbor and teacher gifts.
Ingredients
- About 4 dozen saltine crackers this is just less than 2 sleeves
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar my personal preference always is dark brown, but either kind works
- 1/8 teaspoon salt if your butter is salted, you can skip this
- 1/2 Tablespoon vanilla
- 1 bag 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, minus any your small child eats while helping you in the kitchen
- 1/2 cup slivered or chopped nuts optional
- Coarse sea salt optional
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350°. Line a rimmed cookie sheet (mine is just over 17" x 12") completely with aluminum foil, then place a silicone baking mat or sheet of parchment in the bottom.
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Cover the whole sheet with crackers (I did 6 across and then 8 down and then cut three more in half and it fit perfectly)
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In a medium-sized saucepan, cook the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat, stirring frequently to keep from burning. Once it comes to a boil, set the timer for three minutes and stir pretty much constantly. When the timer goes off, take the pan off the heat, add the salt (if you're using it) and the vanilla, give it a quick stir, and then immediately pour it over the pan of crackers, gently spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula so that all the crackers are covered.
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Put it in the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn, especially around the edges.
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When it's done, sprinkle all the chocolate chips on top and let them melt for 3-5 minutes. Once they are melted, spread them with a spatula to make a smooth chocolate layer and sprinkle the nuts and sea salt over the top.
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Cool in the fridge until the chocolate is completely solid, then break into pieces and eat (or. . . you know, give it as gifts. Your call).
If you liked this Christmas Crack recipe, you might also like these posts:
- 40 fantastic consumable gifts
- Lemon curd (a simple and unique edible treat – this is one of my favorite neighbor gifts!)
- Chili in a Jar – perfect for when you want to give a food item that isn’t sweet
Silly question, but are these plastic baggies that you used, or plastic wrap? And did you find the tags on Etsy?
Also, my grandmother always made these treats, so I associate them with her. I should make them myself some time!
It was a bag from the bulk section of my grocery store, actually! It had the almonds in it and when I emptied them out, I thought, "Hey, this would be perfect!"
And the tags were from Quaker Oats, weirdly. I did a campaign with them for another blog I write for and they sent them in a box of baking supplies, so I have no idea where they are from. Sorry!
My mom makes these every year and we call them Christmas Crack… because they're so addicting you can't stop. As I'm sure you've experienced.
Thanks for posting! Was planning to make my no-bake peanut butter bars this morning before work (for a Christmas party that is tonight) and realized I had no powder sugar. Had everything to make these and they turned out so yummy!
I am making these right now, but I keep wanting to tell you that Alan makes fun of me because I say stuff like, "oh Janssen told me about this great book I should read,"–when I just read it on your blog. So today I am so glad you told me about these treats :)—and we can pretend that you told me in person.
This is a great, delicious recipe! Very easy to follow and make with ingredients that I had on hand. I MAY have started it eating it before it completely cooled. Great job!
I have a friend that makes them with graham crackers which is also good (but i prefer the salty ness of the saltines!)
I so agree! I think the graham crackers are a little too sweet – they really need the saltiness to offset it!
These look absolutely delicious! I will need to try making these..
Let me know how you like them!
Oh, man. I made these last year when you posted them and they were so. good. Thanks for sharing the recipe again!
Aren’t they the BEST??
I just made these today! They are my favorite Christmas treat.
SO good!
These are SO good. Once we crushed candy canes, like pulverized them and sprinkled them over the tops of these and they were so delicious. The perfect minty-chocolaty Christmas treat.
Well that sounds amazing!
My mom made a similar treat for our lunch boxes on days that she realized there were no other treats in the house. She called them Emergency Cookies because they can be whipped up so quickly!
I love this!
ooh these look yum!
http://www.henatayeb.blogspot.com
My mom made a similar recipe when we were kids and called it English Toffee, maybe because it had crumbled Heath bar on top instead of nuts. So delicious and good for people who don’t like or eat nuts!
Well, that sounds amazing.