Christmas Crack. Imagine all of the deliciousness of toffee, topped with chocolate and pecans; once you make this toffee bark and crack it into pieces, you simply can’t stop munching!
This is one of my absolute favorite treats to make for the holidays!
It takes just minutes to prep and the results are so incredibly delicious that no one can resist eating several chunks.
© SpendWithPennies.com
A quick stovetop toffee is poured over buttery Ritz crackers and coated in chocolate and topped with pecans. Once cooled, it is cracked into chunks and ready to be enjoyed!
I have made this recipe two ways, with Ritz Crackers and Saltines, both ways are fabulous. You could substitute the pecans for the nuts of your choice; I have a feeling cashews or pistachios would make a yummy addition to the toffee, chocolate, and cracker combination!
This Ritz Cracker Toffee is made on a foil lined pan, making clean up as simple as can be! Be sure to butter your foil well to keep everything from sticking (or you can buy non-stick foil).
Considering how easy this treat is to make and eat, you will want to make several batches of this Christmas Crack to share with your friends and neighbors. It keeps perfectly at room temperature so is the perfect gift to pack up and spread delicious holiday cheer!
Recipe Notes:
I have been making this recipe for more years than I can count exactly as written below. A few readers have had trouble with their toffee being sticky or not setting quite right. While I’ve never had my toffee not set, there are many variables that can cause this.
If you have trouble with your toffee setting, my friend Meggan over at Culinary Hill suggests the use a candy thermometer to ensure your toffee reaches 270-290 degrees before pouring over the crackers.
Chocolate Chips should melt when heated however if you have trouble with them melting, you can melt them at 50% power in the microwave. If your oven is too hot, the chocolate can seize instead of melting. You’ll want your toffee to sit for about 1 minute before adding the chocolate.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 54 Ritz Crackers (or saltines)
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Line an 11x17 pan with foil and grease the foil well. Line with crackers.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar and stir to mix. Bring to a boil over medium heat and let come to a rolling boil for 3 minutes. Once the mixture comes to a boil, DO NOT STIR. (Your toffee should reach 270-290°F with a candy thermometer)
- Pour brown sugar mixture over the crackers. Bake 4 minutes. Turn the oven off.
- Remove from the oven and wait 1 minute. Pour chocolate chips over the top and let sit 4 minutes or until chocolate is soft (or place 1 minute in the warm oven). Spread chocolate evenly and sprinkle pecans on top.
- Cool on the counter slightly and then place into the freezer to cool completely. Break into pieces.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Candy, Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Should this be refrigerated after? I had it in the freezer before I “cracked” it.
I store it at room temperature.
Made this this afternoon,followed directions exactly,except I used well buttered parchment paper. No candy thermometer,but I boiled as recipe required. Turned out great!! & Looking forward to sharing it with friends this Merry holiday weekend!
I’m so glad you loved it! Thank you for sharing Carolyn!
The toffe isn’t working for me – what am I doing wrong? I put the butter (2 sticks=1 cup) and sugar in the pot over medium heat. When it begins to boil I wait 3 minutes (tried 5 the 2nd time to see if the result would change… It didn’t). When I pour it over the crackers, I get a very wet layer and then an almost chunky brown layer. It does not look smooth & brown like the video.
I’m not sure why yours isn’t smooth, mine always comes out perfectly smooth. I might suggest giving it a quick stir at the beginning before it boils.
How long does this treat keep?
We keep them for about 10 days.
Do NOT make this recipe. It was a huge disappointment. First of all, I would use light brown sugar rather than dark. Second, watch carefully or your sugar will burn in three minutes. Third, the sugar mixture does NOT spread easily. Fourth, it’s a gigantic mess to clean up. And finally, when you break the pieces, the Ritz crackers crumble apart. I give this recipe a 1/2 star out of 5 stars.
I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you, I’ve made it so many times and haven’t ever had any problems. The sugar mixture shouldn’t burn and should be easy to spread. Did you pour it on the crackers immediately? It does harden fairly quickly.
If it is all poured into a greased, foil lined pan there shouldn’t be a huge mess to clean up.
Made something like thisas a kid but used graham crackers and chopped peanut
what on earth? chocolate chips did not melt I follow the recipe exactly and the chocolate chips did not melt they actually broke and never did get smooth and creamy, continued on with it and spread them as much as i could ;(, we shall see how they turn out
That is very odd, semi sweet chocolate chips should definitely melt. Did you use chocolate chips or morsels? Were they semi-sweet?
I used mini chocolate chips and had no problem. This is delicious.
Glad it worked out well for you Barbara!
I wonder if the melt quality varies between chocolate chip brands, depending on the fat content of the chips, etc?
Were you using the ‘fake’ chocolate chips? You must use Nestle or real chocolate chips!
This is also good made with matzo of any kind including gluten free. Passover dessert!
I just made this. Followed the instructions and my toffee didn’t harden completely. I put it in the refrigerator for thirty minutes before breaking it into pieces. It is also sickly sweet. Not sure where I went wrong. I packed the brown sugar so maybe that was it? I also used semi sweet chocolate chips.
The brown sugar should be packed. Did it come to a rolling boil for 3 full minutes?
The toffee part of the bark I made was chewy/sticky. What adjustments can you recommend?
Did it come to a rolling boil for a full 3 minutes? Mine always comes out quite brittle. I would suggest baking it a little bit longer.
Just making these now with ritz crackers, semi sweet chips, and we are using macadamia nuts. We just got married in Maui and am trying to incorporate everything hawaiian in to this years xmas. My question is, how long do you put in freezer? They look so tasty!
Congratulations on your wedding Karen!! You just put it in the freezer enough to chill it and make it easy to crack.
How long in advance can the toffee be made? Wanting to make it for Christmas. Thank you!
It keeps well for about 10 days at room temperature.
How far in advance can these be made? Thank you!
These can be made about a week in advance.
Hello:
I am not able to print your cracker toffee recipe from the link on your website. Not sure if the issue is on my end or yours. Thank you.
Thank you for letting me know, it seems to be working for me. Are you using the print button located to the right of the ingredients list?
This tasted amazing but was a little softer than I expected? I was thinking it would be really brittle…did i do something wrong? Didn’t last long so I guess my family didn’t care either way :)
I’m not sure why yours was soft (it should definitely be brittle). Did it come to a rolling boil for a full 3 minutes?
Can I sprinkle sea salt on top or is it already salty? I want to use Ritz crackers, not saltines.
Sea Salt would be delicious in this recipe!
It’s a delicious recipe, but my toffee isn’t staying hard after the freezer. Did I do something wrong?
The texture of the toffee should be brittle. Did it come to a rolling boil it for 3 full minutes? Did you bake it at 400 degrees?
How should they be stored after they are made…???
Fantastic site.
Thanks! :)
Could I melt almond bark and pour it over the top instead of the chocolate chips?
That sounds delicious!!