Oh my goodness. The holiday season is quickly approaching, and you know what that means: TREATS! Since I was a child, I’ve always loved giving gifts from the kitchen to friends and family on the holidays. I remember helping my mom dip chocolate covered pretzels and bake cookies to give out to my teachers at school each year. We had such a fun time making the treats, wrapping them, and giving them out! Chocolate toffee crack was one of my FAVORITES
Nowadays, I still continue the tradition. There is something so wonderful about giving a homemade treat at the holidays. Store bought gifts are always nice too…but homemade sweets? Yes, please. I’ve broadened my treat making repertoire from chocolate covered pretzels to making truffles and other candies in the past few years, and I’m sure I’ll be attempting a few more recipes in the coming weeks.
However, there is one candy treat that I absolutely adore, and always brings holiday memories to mind when I enjoy a piece. This chocolate toffee crack does the trick…I’m telling you! My mom would make the “crack” and keep it outside in the garage in tins (we lived in Wisconsin and Michigan at the time, so it stayed really cold), but nowadays I just keep it in the fridge. I used to sneak out into the garage to swipe a piece or two…braving the chilly temperatures to get my hands on some sweet and salty goodness.
What’s so great about this recipe is that it’s SO easy to make: you have no excuse not to do it. Seriously. So easy. All it takes are some saltine crackers, butter, brown sugar, vanilla…and chocolate. It’s not complicated, and it is so unbelievably addicting. I may or may not have consumed almost the entire tray in the past 4 days. The shame.
The chocolate toffee crack makes a great gift for the holidays – you can keep it simple like my pictured version…or sprinkle chopped nuts on top of the chocolate layer…or add some holiday sprinkles or a drizzle of tinted white chocolate for a festive touch. It’s really up to you. Just hurry up and make a batch…and then promptly gift it to someone before you consume the entire pan on your own like I did. Just warning you…
Chocolate Toffee “Crack”
- Saltine crackers (I used 51 exactly in my recipe)
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 15 ounces dark chocolate***
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12x17 inch jelly roll sheet pan with tin foil.
- Arrange saltine crackers, salt side up, across the lined pan in even rows, covering the entire pan. Pack them as tightly as possible, but don't overlap. I typically have to break a few crackers in half to fill in the spaces on one side of the pan. Set pan aside.
- If you are using a chocolate bar, use a knife to chop the chocolate into small pieces, about the size of chocolate chips. Set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan, heat the butter over medium heat until melted. Stir frequently with a spatula during this process. When the butter is melted, add the dark brown sugar and stir to combine. Continue to cook the mixture for about 5 minutes, until it is bubbly and dark brown in color.
- Pour butter and brown sugar mixture evenly over the top of the pan of saltine crackers. Use the spatula to spread it evenly across the pan, covering each of the crackers.
- Place the tray of saltines in the oven and bake for 5 minutes, until the butter mixture on top begins to bubble. Remove from the oven and sprinkle evenly with the chocolate pieces, allowing the heat to melt them. You can also pop the tray back into the oven for 1 minute to speed the process up. When the chocolate is melty, use the spatula to spread it evenly across the pan.
- Place the finished tray of chocolate toffee crack into the refrigerator to set/harden (at least a few hours). Remove from the pan, peel away the tin foil, and break apart to serve. You can also use a sharp knife to slice the candy into even squares if you don't want to break apart pieces unevenly. Enjoy!
***For best results: keep chocolate toffee crack refrigerated – it tastes better that way!***
And if you want even more inspiration for some gifts from the kitchen, check out what the Sunday Supper folks have on the menu:
Breads / Breakfast
- Pumpkin Biscoff Bread – Dinners, Dishes, and Dessert
- All-in-One Beer Bread Kit – girlichef
- Banana Coconut Coffee Cake with Macadamia Nut Streusel – The Lovely Pantry
- Pancake Mix With Apple Cider Syrup and Candied Walnuts – Tora’s Real Food
- Cranberry Hootycreeks – Baker Street
Condiments / Ingredients
- Apple Butter – Hezzi D’s Books and Cooks
- Cranberry Strawberry Jam – The Meltaways
- Herb Vinegars – Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
- Harissa – The Wimpy Vegetarian
- Homemade Vanilla Extract – Flour on my Face
- Homemade Cherry Extract – Cravings of a Lunatic
- Nutella Powder – I Run For Wine
- Apricot Pineapple Rum Sauce – Vintage Kitchen Notes
- Spiced Cranberry Apricot Almond Chutney – Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
- Pumpkin Butter – Family Foodie
Soup and Snacks
- A Soup For You – Momma’s Meals
- Maple Nut Granola – Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
- Sweet and Spicy Curried Nuts – Soni’s Food for Thought
- Roasted Spiced Nuts – Mrs Mama Hen
- Sweet and Spicy Pecans – Supper For a Steal
- Maple Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars – Cupcakes and Kale Chips
- Orange Spiced Chickpeas – Home Cooking Memories
- Turtle Pretzels – The Messy Baker
Sweets
- Rocky Road Candy – Magnolia Days
- Dairyfree Vegan Caramels – Galactosemia in PDX
- Peanut Butter Cookies in a Jar – Mama’s Blissful Bites
- M&M Cookies in a Jar – Damn Delicious
- Monster Cookie Mix in a Jar – What Smells So Good?
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Biscotti – Meal Planning Magic
- Snickerdoodle Snack Mix – Pippi’s in the Kitchen Again
- Butter and Jam Thumbprint Cookies – Crispy Bits & Burnt Ends
- Peppermint Stick Cookie Truffles – The Weekend Gourmet
- Nutella Truffles – Small Wallet Big Appetite
- Peanut Cajetas (Peanut Fudge) – Basic and Delicious
- Cookie Cutter Fudge – Chocolate Moosey
- Pumpkin Roll – Shockingly Delicious
- Homemade Chocolates – My Trials in the Kitchen
- Hot Chocolate on a Stick – Juanita’s Cocina
- Chocolate Toffee “Crack” – Ruffles and Truffles
- Holiday Tree Cake – Noshing with the Nolands
- Salted Caramel Cookies – Mama Mommy Mom
- Fruit and Nut Cookies – In the Kitchen with Audrey
Drinks
- Applepie Moonshine – My Catholic Kitchen
- Holiday Spiced Mocha – Daily Dish Recipes
- Homemade Peppermint Mocha Mix – In the Kitchen with KP
- Homemade Kahlua – That Skinny Chick Can Bake
I can personally vouch that Katie’s chocolate toffee crack is to die for. Warning labels should be required because once you start eating it, you won’t be able to stop!!!
These look amazing and are now on my list of must make this Holiday Season!
I am right there with you! I always seem to make a beeline for this treat during the holidays. My grandma’s been making it for years. I think I’ll have to make it myself this year to add to my holidays treat trays. Yum!
This is a staple at all office parties! Love it!
I love toffee and chocolate together, super yummy!!
Sounds amazing, how well that it´s called crack, addictive for sure! Great gift idea
I honestly was about to mention that in my post…haha! It is soooo addicting…
I love chocolate toffee. My mom makes a different version every year. Looks amazing.
Oh I love the saltine crackers with the chocolate!!Pure heaven 🙂 Would love to try these soon!!
I hadn’t had a saltine cracker in ages…until I bought a box for this recipe! I forgot how much I love them…
Stunning colors! What a gorgeous and delicious recipe!Crack, that cracks me up. Get it? HEHEHE
It’s been SO long since I’ve had this!
Yeah, I’ve had these before and they are like crack. Once you eat one, there’s no stopping you. They’re so good, and your version looks delicious. Pinned.
Seriously. I have issues trying to stop myself from eating the entire tray…hence giving it at a gift! I didn’t have many people to give this batch to though…and I honestly did eat almost the entire tray last week. Burp.
This sounds way to good to be true! I will have to try these to verify 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
I think so – for scientific purposes of course!
I have a recipe very similar to this, only there is a layer of melted peanut butter chips in the middle. Sooo good! And the addition of peanut butter makes it more “crack-like” to me, because I am a total PB addict.
Oh my goodness…a layer of peanut butter too?!?!?! Well, I think I am going to need to try out that version too…just to taste test. Scientific purposes.
Very different! love it!
Cripes woman, send me some crack asap. This is divine. I just fell in love, with chocolate toffee crack.
Oh I hope that when my daughter is grown up she looks back and has wonderful memories of making holiday treats with me. These do sound absolutely lovely.
I hope so too! I don’t have kids yet, but I really do hope that they want to spend time with me in the kitchen. My mom taught me so many things…
OMG, YUm! This does look like crack.
hello, my name is Sarah and I am addicted to your chocolate toffee crack. I haven’t even had them yet and they look so good, I feel like I am addicted to them.
This is seriously one of my favorite (easy) desserts. Love!
Oh, this would be my absolute downfall…they would never make it out of my kitchen 🙂 Seriously delicious – thank you so much for sharing!
Sadly, this batch did not make it out of my kitchen….oooooops
I love how simple and delicious this recipe is. I would have to give it all away for else I’d eat the entire tray for sure (there is NO shame in doing so)!
You are right Katie, from the look only I know I am going to addict with it once I started to munch it! What a great and easy recipe. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Chocolate and toffee is all I need!
Oooh, yummy! I make something similar but with graham crackers…I’m gonna have to try this with saltines!
Oooh I would love to try this out with graham crackers too – that sounds tasty…
Looks do good..have to make it!