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.
Pecan Christmas Crack (Ritz Cracker Toffee)
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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Just made it tonight. Very easy with all the explanation you are giving. It is looking good. We’ll see tomorrow how it came out. Thank you for the recipe and step by step. I think this one will be made many more times.
Marry Christmas
Sounds awesome I will have to try making these with the grandkids over Christmas break .
Just wondering if this can be made using graham crackers??
Thanks
Hi Germaine, I have not made this with graham crackers but other readers have with great success!
My daughter-in-law made these for Thanksgiving and I loved them. I had never seen this recipe before but it’s now going to be a part of my Christmas gift- giving! I’m going to try a couple varieties: white chocolate with macadamias, dark chocolate with pistachios….
I’m so glad I found this recipe, I have tried to make this several times with no success. My aunt always made this around Christmas so I’ve tried to do the same but it has never worked until I followed this recipe so thank you.
I did see one comment that used graham crackers instead and I was thinking s’more crack lol top with mini marshmallows instead of pecans. Will be making both versions double batches because mine only lasted a day.
Oh my Blair! That sounds so delicious. Those would hardly last a day in my house either!
I’ll be making this for the first time. I’d love to know what’s preferred, Ritz Crackers or Saltines please?? Thank you in advance!!
Hi Cynthia, use Ritz for this recipe. The buttery flavor will compliment the chocolate beautifully! I hope you enjoy it!
This didn’t turn out well at all for me. The chocolate didn’t melt and was a big globby mess. What type of chocolate do you use? I used Toll house semi-sweet morsels and it seemed like they needed more to melt smoothly.
Oh no Whitney, that’s disappointing!
I generally use chocolate chips (and I’ve used various brands). 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.
I have also made the Ritz toffee but instead of Ritz or Saltines I have used Graham Cracker (not cinnamon Graham’s just plain) I think they actually make the toffee taste more like a Heath Bar
That sounds delicious Sherrill!
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Thank you Bill!
Excited to get these recipes!
We are excited to share them with you Sylba! Enjoy!
Should these be refrigerated?
I store it at room temperature Chellie.
Can bottled caramel sauce be used instead?
Caramel sauce would not work in this recipe.
Hi! You say to mix the butter and sugar together before heating. Do you melt the butter and mix with the sugar before heating? I wonder if that is why some here had the separation when pouring it out onto the crackers? Need to know as I am making for a pot luck!
I usually put the butter and sugar into the saucepan and then turn it on to start melting. Enjoy!
Awsome and easy for a single dad todo.
So glad you enjoyed it Riley!
Does it matter if i use margarine instead of butter?
Butter is best in this recipe.
Made this going on six times this holiday in different variations, and everyone loved it! I have requests to make it for book club and games night! My variations were: use rice crackers for gluten free friends, I used molasses sugar instead of Brown and all different chips or chocolate add-ons sugar free dark chocolate bar. And sprinkled sea salt on the chocolate. Used butter in all. Not sure how to do a vegan version.
I love these ideas for mixing it up a little!
Brown sugar is sugar that has had molasses added. So you did a good thing. I’ve been thinking about making my own. Same with butter. Butter is very expensive so thinking of making my own from heavy, heavy cream. So easy to do and would be cheaper. I think.
So, SO easy and no need to store – it’s already gone!! The only thing I’d add to the recipe is to gently press nuts into melted chips, so they stay on! The chips harden very fast and the nuts slide off quickly.
Hi – do you think the brown sugar blend of Splenda would work instead of regular brown sugar?
I haven’t tried this with a Splenda blend so I can’t say for sure how it would work out.
Just made this…still too hot to try, but some tips about melting the chocolate: Do wait about a minute when you remove the hot toffee/crackers that are still bubbling from the oven. Then sprinkle your chocolate over top, and take an empty cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan, whatever you like) and place it over the top of the pan, upside down. Walk away (I washed my sauce pan and thermometer while waiting) and when I came back, I lifted the pan, and voila! The chocolate was perfectly melty and spreadable. I also used a thermometer and my toffee boiled more than 3 minutes (rolling boil) to get close to the temp I wanted, so I think times might vary.
Parchment paper works well & I used whole wheat Ritz & tried it wit chopped up Dove chocolate & t didn’t make any difference in taste so kept it at semi-sweet chocolate chips but using almonds on one then walnuts on another & pecans on another – I am going to use sugar free chocolate chips on one for kids so as to keep sugar levels down a bit – but what an amazing treat!