
The name of this Christmas Crack recipe makes it sound sketchy but trust me, it is heavenly.
I love Christmas Crack for three reasons. 1) It’s Yummy. 2) It’s the easiest dessert that I’ve ever made. 3) You kinda feel gangsta.
So what is Christmas Crack (also known as Christmas Toffee)? It’s a super simple dessert that has a toffee layer on the bottom covered in chocolate with optional toppings. Why is it named Christmas Crack? I’m guessing it’s because it is super addictive but I didn’t name it so don’t blame me.
Christmas Crack Recipe and Step-By-Step Tutorial:
To make it you will need:
- 1 cup of butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 sleeve of Saltine Crackers
- 1 bag of chocolate chips
- assorted toppings such as pretzels or m&m’s
First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Next line a sheet cake pan or jelly roll pan with foil that has been well oiled. Trust me, you don’t want to skip the tin foil step. It will make the Christmas Crack / Christmas Toffee easy to remove from the pan and clean up will be a breeze. You will also need a pan with sides so a cookie sheet won’t work the best. A jelly roll pan or baking dish will work best.
Lay out the crackers in a single layer in the bottom of the pan.

Fill

Next, put the 1 cup of butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar into a pan and bring it to a boil. You need to stir it constantly until it is well blended and you can’t see the butter on the top anymore. Once it is blended let it boil for 5 minutes while stirring.
Make sure you have the crackers done before this step is done.

When it is ready the toffee will pull away from the edge of the pan easily.
Once it’s ready, immediately pour the toffee over the top of the crackers and spread it out.

Straighten up any wayward crackers with a fork. If your
During this time you might want to wash the pan you used to make the toffee because once it sets up, it is really hard to get out of the pan. After the 5-6 minutes pull out the crackers and let them cool for about 5 minutes.

Be careful – at this point the toffee is extremely hot but we’re going to use this to our favor.

Let the toffee cool for about 5 minutes and then sprinkle the top with chocolate chips. The heat will start melting the chocolate chips. You can be patient and wait or be like me and put it back in the oven for 60 seconds.
And now comes the best part (well.. not including eating it)…

There’s nothing like smoothing chocolate. Plus if no one’s looking, you can lick the spatula.
You don’t have to stop here. You can add a variety of toppings before the chocolate hardens. I’m a plain jane type person so I’m happy with traditional Christmas Crack but some people like to add crushed pretzels, M&M’s, or even crushed candy canes. I added crushed pretzels to a small section of this batch for a friend.
Here’s the sad part – Now you have to let the chocolate set up. Yes. It will take a lot of will power.

Put this to the side for 4-5 hours or if you’re in a rush, you can pop it in the freezer for 20 minutes. If you put it in the freezer it can make the toffee layer a little bit softer when you pull it out – BUT IT’S STILL YUMMY.
When the chocolate is hard set, pull it away from the tin foil and break it into pieces. Then I dare you not to try and put some in your mouth.

I first published this recipe in 2011 and every year since then, as soon as December 1st hits, I start getting text message requests for it. Everyone loves it. However I’ve never messed it up in all those years. It’s really that easy to make.
Yummy and easy. Does it get any better? Oh yea! You get to offer all your super conservative friends some crack.
Don’t forget to follow along for more Christmas Goodies!

- 1 cup of butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 sleeve of Saltine Crackers
- 1 bag of chocolate chips
- assorted toppings such as pretzels or m&m's
- First preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a sheet cake pan or jelly roll pan with foil that has been well oiled. You need a pan with sides.
- Lay out the crackers in a single layer in the bottom of the pan. Lay the crackers in the bottom of the pan in a single layer with little to no space between crackers. It will take about one sleeve of saltines.
- Next put the 1 cup of butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar into a pan on the stove and bring it to a boil. You need to stir it constantly until it is well blended and you can’t see the butter on the top anymore. Once it is blended let it boil for 5 minutes while stirring. Make sure you have the crackers done before this step.
- When it is ready the toffee will pull away from the edge of the pan easily.
- Now you need to pour the toffee over the top of the crackers and spread it out.
- Straighten up any wayward crackers with a fork. Then immediately place this in the oven for 5-6 minutes. After 5 minutes pull it out of the oven and spread the chocolate chips on top carefully, the mixture will be extremely hot.
- As the chips melt smooth them with a spatula to make an even layer of chocolate.
- Let this stand until cooled or you can pop it into the freezer to speed up the process.

If you love this Christmas Crack recipe, you might also like:

Santa Bread, the gift we give our neighbors every Christmas

Can you not cut this recipe down to be printed off. Came to 7 pages.To large to go in my recipe files.
Sorry I’ll try to install a plugin soon to do that and then I’ll reply again so you know it’s done.
I made it but I did melt my chocolate first and it spread great… topped it with chopped pecans and pretzel pieces and it was great!! Thank you
Instead of trying to print all the pages, just copy and paste the recipe into Word … OR … save the entire page … it will open in Word, pics included!
Adrienne, copy and paste to Word will give you the text and if you are using explorer you can save the whole page to word and keep that document for the pics.
You could simply cut and paste the recipe into a notepad document. (just the part you actually need in order to make it) It’s the best way I have found to trim down lengthy recipes. Hope that was helpful 🙂
Is this the 5 o’clock free christmas crack giveaway?
I kept reading and came to the recipe ready to print. I clicked on print and it asked what size. It is set for Large and Normal. I clicked print and got it on one page.
Highlight the recipe. Right click and then click on print preview. Once the page pops up. Select the highlighted option and print.
I make this with Wheat Thins. It is very very addictive and very popular with friends and family.
Nancy: that sounds very good. The combination of the wheat, salt , toffee and chocolate. I better get a large box though as I love wheat thins .
I will try this! Looks very easy and yummy!
I made this recipe last year from somewhere that I found it. Well, it has already been requested this year. It is so simple and is so addictive!! Makes me laugh to tell people the name of it, especially my friends from church. 🙂
I tried to do this…and my chocolate chips would not melt…not in the 400 degree oven after over 10 minutes! I was worried about burning the toffee/crackers so I gave up…but it was all wasted anyway, so I guess I should have just left it. I am going to try it again, but going to melt chocolate ahead of time. I have made/had this before, but couldn’t find my old recipe. 🙁
I’ve looked up the Crack recipe online several times – your version with pictures is wonderful and ACCURATE!
I don’t know if it was holiday sress or what, but I managed to mess up this recipe the first time I made it, using someone else’s recipe. I tried using milk choc chips and they wouldn’t melt. This time I used semi-sweet and it turned out perfectly. By the way, I top mine with chopped pecans. YUM!
Love this recipe. Love your website. Love your commentary. Love your sense of humor. Have a blessed New Year!
Sometimes if you use off brand chocolate chips they do not melt very well. They are good for making chocolate cookies, but not when you are going for a smooth chocolate like this calls for. So, maybe try a different brand….they are a little more expensive, but less expensive than wasting a whole batch of candy!!
Sorry it did not work for you, and happy that you will give it another try.
Real chocolate chips will get soft enough to melt, but the chocolate chips still hold their shape. Use an offset spatula, to smooth them out and it will look just like the photo. Good luck on your next try.
I used toll house chocolate chips, semi-sweet and they would not melt. I put them back into the oven and they still did not melt 🙁 Tried smoothing them with an offset spatula and they just didn’t do what they were suppose to? It still looks good though and we’ll still eat them, but wonder why they did not melt?
That is crazy! Maybe they were older?
Even though the chocolate chips hold their shape when they are melted they are soft enough to spread with a knife or spatula. Don’t let the appearance fool you.
I have made this for years. We just call it Tree Bark!
Haha. I bet Martha Stewart makes it with a wood grain chocolate top since she is so into wood grain.
please re-think the name of this recipe. tree bark is much better than the one you have. too many teens struggle with addiction and we as christian need to be much more sensitive. needless to say our family has dealt with this issue. thank you.
“Crack” because there are crackers in the recipe.
I like that MUCH better!!! Thanks for sharing…
I had some of this a few years ago. I’m so glad I found the recipe!
I’m wondering if it would be good with candy cane pieces on top… Has anyone tried that?
yes! It is great with candy cane on top.
I am wondering how this would taste with white chocolate.
I bet it would be pretty with white and brown chocolate swirled on top.
I just made this with white chocolate chips and they didn’t melt very well. My suggestion would be to melt them first then spread on top of the cracker/toffy mixture. It is still tasty, just not as pretty.
You can also put them back in the oven again for a minute with the white chocolate chips and then spread it again. I’ve had to do that before with an expensive chocolate chip. The higher fat content, the faster they will melt.
Can you freeze these after making? I’m trying to pre-make all my Christmas treats!
Yes! I usually keep some in the freezer to keep me from eating it all on the same day.
I just made this. Very good. Very easy.
I would like a printable copy too. Our daughter made it for Christmas. I only got one piece but it was yummy.
I right-clicked this whole recipe and pasted into a Word document. All I did was click on each picture and made it much smaller, still viewable but didn’t take up as much space. I got the recipe down to two pages.
I haven’t tried this yet, but look forward to doing so! Using Wheat Thins sounds great too!
I’m sorry. I will add this to a printable version soon!
Can you send me this Christmas Crack recipe to my email. I take baked goodies to the Wounded Warriors her Gatesville Texas once a month. The would love these. I had some last night at a xmas function and it was great.
I remember my mother making this when I was younger but she always used Graham Crackers instead. Great recipe!
When I was in high school in the late 80’s, I had someone give me this recipe. I think she called it fake toffee or something like that, but I have been searching for this. Thank you!
Which kind of chocolate chips? milk, semi-sweet or what?
I used Semi- Sweet.
Do you have any suggestions for a gluten free version?
Actually I’m going to start working on that soon since my husband is now gluten free. I’m going to try chex mix and then you could also try the glutino table crackers.
I am gonna try this. It sounds easy and good. My wife won.t let me in her kitchen but if I pull this off while she is at work I will be a hero. If I fail I will be dead. Merry Christmas from the Bishops.
My guess is it is called Crack because you cook the butter and brown sugar to the crack stage, and when it is finished you crack it apart like nut brittles.
That’s true but it’s also still yummy and addictive. 🙂
I’m guessing it’s called “crack” because it’s made with crackers. Probably started out as Christmas Crackers and got shortened along the way.
How long do you leave the crackers in the oven? And could you send this to my email, please?
It says 5-6 minutes. Basically until it’s bubbly all over.
And put the chocolate on right after you pull it out. It melts better.
I make this with crushed Hanover Honey Pretzels instead of saltines and it is a hit. I haven’t made any in a while so this year is as good as any 🙂
First, let me say this recipe sounds like it will be fun to make and yummy. However, “you get to offer your conservative friends some crack”… Apparently, you don’t realize that even conservative people have senses of humor.
Hey. I’m conservative and I don’t have a sense of humor. What are you saying?!
I’m super conservative. Not trying to imply anything.
I have to admit, I thought the same thing when I read your comment about “super conservative friends”…goes to show we are all WAY too sensitive about politics these days.
Add bits of brickle instead of pretzels… yummy
highlight the recipe right click …click print then follow the instructions to print that page easy as…..
I wonder if this is better with saltines or graham crackers. Anyone try them both to know?
I resent your asking for my email’s password in order to have a recipe sent to my email address. Why should you have full access to my address book & all my people just to get a recipe?? No thanks. I will write it down
Actually it’s just a web plugin that I use. I have no access to that and was not actually aware that it was happening. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Love this. Had it before under a different name, but lost the recipe. Maybe I just wasn’t looking under the right title! Thanks, and happy holidays.
Has anyone tried it with peanutbutter?Sounds like there are several possible reasons for its name,maybe because its made with crackers,ha ha.Crack sounds more appetizing then tree bark.Just tell them this is legalized crack,…over the counter,ha ha,affordable,lol.So even if you lack in crack,have happy holidays to all.
We always called this “Poorman’s Toffee”
Those of u with iphones doa screen shot of it!! It will save in ur photo galler!!
I think they call it ‘crack’ because it is made with crackers….I’m just guessing..but this stuff is so good and it makes a great gift.
Oh. Em. GEE. My grandmother made this all the time when I was a kid and it was my FAVORITE dessert! THANK YOU!!!!!
LOVE this stuff! It’s amazing with pretzels as the base too instead of the saltines.
Thank you so much for sharing.. It is amazing and so easy.. Merry Christmas..!!
Same to you!
Just wanted to say I use parchment paper instead of tinfoil to line the bottom & sides of the pan. Much easier because no need for any prep work. I do fold the paper crisply along the pan edges to help hold its shape. No spraying or buttering needed. The candy comes out fine without sticking. Easy! Also, I used Club Crackers when I didn’t have saltines – delicious. Bought Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips for a change too. YUM. You can really put your individual stamp on this recipe! Thanks for sharing.
This is a well loved recipe in my house. I have used saltines, Ritz, and Graham crackers. Make sure that you use real butter and not margarine. It won’t do correctly with margarine. You get an awful mess!!
I have to try this with graham crackers it sounds great and easy to make 😉
Club crackers are great.
Has anyone tried this using the New Sugar Free Choc. Chips by Hershey & Splenda Brown Sugar.
The chips would probably work, but not the splenda. The chemical reaction that makes the toffee needs real sugar.
I have been making this recipe for years. One thing I found is that you can not use anything but REAL butter. It will not set up right. Otherwise, the recipe is spot on. We call it “Toffee Crackers”.
Can you freeze these? How long will they keep unfrozen?
I have never tried to freeze them and I don’t know if it would work. I think the crackers might go soggy if frozen.
I froze some of mine in the deep freeze and then thawed them. They tasted just fine not soggy at all.
I do that sometimes to slow down how fast we eat it. Turns out we eat it just as fast and aren’t afraid to crack a tooth to do it.
Hello, I’ve made a few batches of the Christmas Crack. My question is when the toffee is finished, is it supposed to be crunchy? All of my batches so far have been chewy but not “crunchy”. Thank you.
I would try boiling the sugar a little longer until you can get it crunchier.
I was wondering if the toffee is suppose to be soft or crunchy?
It’s supposed to be crunchy but I’ve had it turn out soft before and it was still good. It usually turns out soft when I don’t let it fully set until hard and I try to rush it.
My ex-BF makes this with club crackers instead of saltines.
When he first had me taste it I said “this is the perfect PMS food – salt, sugar, chocolate”.
lol!
Looks great! Can these be frozen once made?
I have never tried to freeze them. I’m not sure how the crackers would hold up.
I did a test and threw some in our deep freezer for a few hours then put the pieces out in the warm living room, they did not get soft or soggy. I found the pieces were still crunchy and tasted just fine.
What are the best chocolate chips to use? I’m trying this recipe now with candy making chocolate. I was afraid to use bakers chocolate chips that they wouldn’t melt because of the past comments I read.
Just regular Milk Chocolate or semi- sweet chips work best. If they don’t melt just pop it back in a hot oven for a few minutes and smooth the top again.
I made this yesterday for my wife to take to work so she could share with the other nurses , they loved it .
Beth Sheeler This was the best ever baby..I about lost some fingers over this stuff lol..everyone at work LOVED it and they want more
lol!
Made ths yesterday with some kids I sit for. When I printed out the recipe I called it “crackle” just to simplify and not get their mother upset with me. But I take no offense to its original name and am also uber conservative. Some of you people need to lighten up. Enjoy the treat for what it tastes like and not for the name. Btw I also used HEB brand semi sweet chocolate chips and we topped with pretzels, M & M candies and crushed oreos ( 3 different trays). All three turned out fanatic. Thank you for this easy and yummy recipe.
Fantastic, sorry, lol
If found this works best if you use a candy thermometer and get the temp to between soft ball and hard ball. Any less than that the toffee is gooey and not as the recipe intended. Also, no need to wait to place the chocolate chips on top. I’ve been making this for years and its always a big hit.
This was really yummy! Thanks for posting it to share. I did ours with graham crackers and put andes peppermint baking chips on the chocolate. So good!
Has anyone tried to send christmas crak in the mail? If so….how did it turn out?
Karyn
Has anyone tried this with Andes mints? Do you think it’d be good with it? I just made my first batch. Waiting on them to come out of the freezer 🙂
What kind of oil do you use? I used Canola and it burnt. 🙁
The only oil needed is just to lightly coat the foil on the pans with so it doesn’t stick. It should be a very light coating.
I followed the directions exactly, but after boiling and constantly stirring the sugar & butter mixture for just 2-3 minutes, it started to smell like it was burning and never did pull. Sure enough, the “toffee” in the final product was definitely burnt. Any suggestions?
I followed the directions exactly, but after boiling – and constantly stirring – the sugar & butter mixture for only 2-3 minutes, it smelled like it was burning. It never did set, and the “toffee” in the final product was definitely burned, Any suggestions?
Just wanted to say I use parchment paper instead of tinfoil to line the bottom & sides of the pan. Much easier because no need for any prep work. I do fold the paper crisply along the pan edges to help hold its shape. No spraying or buttering needed. The candy comes out fine without sticking. Easy! Also, I used Club Crackers when I didn’t have saltines – delicious. Bought Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips for a change too. YUM. You can really put your individual stamp on this recipe! Have to say this freezes very well! (At least for a few weeks since it usually gets eaten by then!)
To the Janet above whose toffee burned: try starting at a medium heat and then go to a medium high. If your heat is too high, it will burn. It’s hard to give an exact temp since I don’t use a candy thermometer, but it’s better to start lower and turn it up. Everyone’s stove is different, but I start at medium for a minute or two, then go to medium high. I never turn it up higher than that. It may take longer to get to a boiling temp at medium high, but be patient and keep stirring! 🙂
All great tips! Thank you.
This was great and the kids loved it
What is the best way to break it apart? Just use your hands or do you have another trick?
I use a pizza cutter on it if I want straight lines and it comes apart really well or you can just break it if you can’t wait to cut it!
I made this with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter light, Splenda brown sugar and Hershey’s sugar free chocolate chips. It was wonderful!
That’s a great way to make it with a lot less fat!
What is the best way to store this?
Make sure it’s at room temperature and then put it in a ziplock or a air tight storage container. If you put it in the bags while it’s cold from the fridge or still hot from the oven, condensation will make it chewier than you want.
This is a lovely food recipe, thank you for sharing it with us.