How to make cracker candy, the super-easy salty-sweet holiday treat

Crunchy, caramelized and sweet, cracker candy is the easy treat you’ll want to bring to every holiday party this year.

There’s a lot of pressure during the holiday season to suddenly become a star baker. But not all of us feel like strapping on an apron and baking hundreds of cookies when there’s so much else going on.

Enter cracker candy. It’s a sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy holiday treat that comes together in no time.

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What is cracker candy?

Cracker candy is a cookie-candy fusion that layers Saltine crackers with a quick stovetop toffee, chocolate chips and sometimes nuts. The result is a salty sweet treat that’s practically irresistible, and one that allows for a lot of variation based on your personal preferences.

How do you make it?

Luckily, cracker candy is super-easy to make.

1. Layer some Saltine crackers on a cookie sheet.
2. Melt together some butter and sugar, bring it to a boil, remove it from the heat and pour it over the crackers.
3. Bake that until the crackers start to brown around the edges (it only take a few minutes), then sprinkle with chocolate chips.
4. Let the chips sit for a minute, then spread them evenly over the toffee layer. You can sprinkle the chocolate with nuts, coarse sea salt, or both, then place the tray in the fridge to set.
5. Once it’s cold, break the cracker candy into pieces and try not to eat it all before you get to share it!

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Here are some recipes to get you started:

• Classic cracker candy
• Graham cracker toffee
• Chocolate-peanut butter cracker toffee
• Chocolate-coconut cracker toffee
• Coconut-almond matzo toffee

Even without a recipe, you can customize cracker candy to fit almost any appetite. Try using:

• Dark chocolate chips and chocolate digestive biscuits instead of Saltines for a chocolate lover’s dream come true.
• White chocolate chips and speculaas cookies instead of Saltines for cracker candy that tastes like an iced gingerbread cookie.
• Top your cracker candy with white chocolate chips and crushed candy canes for a treat that’s straight out of the North Pole.

Don’t be afraid to experiment — unlike actual baking, where you have to worry about ratios and rise times, cracker candy is all about flavor.

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