I found this recipe on Grin & Bake It that looked like a fun twist on my World’s Easiest Christmas Candy recipe. So naturally, I had to give it a try.
It was fun to make — and the end result is delicious. It’s sweeter than the other recipe and doesn’t have as much of the sweet and salty flavor thing going that I love in my other recipe, but this recipe is fantastic in its own right.
Best of all, this is a recipe that can be made ahead of time and frozen… provided you can keep yourself from eating all of it straight from the freezer. 
Chocolate Peanut Butter Holiday Bark
- One sleeve of Saltine crackers (you can use an off-brand)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chips
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- Chopped M&M’s (or other candies or nuts)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper and lay crackers on the the pan (make sure the cookie sheet has sides, otherwise, you’ll end up with sticky burned goo all over your oven!). Leave a small amount of space between the crackers (see an example of how these should look here).
Bring sugar and butter to a boil in a saucepan on medium heat. Turn down to medium low heat and boil for 3 minutes, without stirring.
Pour boiling mixture over crackers on the cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.
Spoon the peanut butter on top of the crackers and bake for another minute. Spread melted peanut butter over the crackers with spatula and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Return to the oven and bake for another minute.
Spread the now-melted chocolate chips evenly over the crackers with a spatula. Top with M&M pieces and freeze until hardened (this will take 1-2 hours).
Once these are hardened, remove break into pieces and store in a ziptop freezer bag in the freezer for up to four weeks.
Recipe originally from Grin & Bake It.
Other posts in the Freezer-Friendly Christmas Treats series
- World's Easiest Christmas Candy Recipe
- Peanut Butter Bon-Bons
- Angel Face Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Holiday Bark
- Better-Than-Mounds Bars
- Peppermint Fudge Brownies - Dairy & Gluten Free
- German Chocolate Cookies -- Gluten and Dairy Free
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{ 21 comments... read them below or add one }
I love the other recipe (World’s Easiest Christmas candy) and was planning on doing that for teacher gifts….do you know how long it lasts, either frozen or not. Would love to make it a day or two ahead of time, but did not know how it held up.
By the way, the last two years I have made up your bread machine cinnamon rolls and packaged them up (uncooked), with a Christmas poem, bagged icing and baking instructions and given them to teachers for a hot, homemade breakfast on their first day of Christmas break. They rave about and really appreciate them!!!! So easy and inexpensive for me. In the past all teachers who have my son (include counselors, music, secretary, principle, librarian, etc) would get 4-6, but now that I have 3 kids in school, not sure who will receive the cinnamon rolls and who will receive the candy……
Yes, you can definitely make it ahead of time. I’d keep it in the freezer or fridge, just to keep it good and fresh before giving it as gifts. I’ve kept it in the freezer for up to 4 weeks and it’s still just as yummy!
Oh, I love the idea of giving cinnamon rolls as gifts, too!
I just made a batch of the tradition version, we call it Christmas Crack. Super yummy, just might have to try this one .
We make your more traditional version using pretzels instead of crackers, with a sprinkle of sea salt over the chocolate. Got the recipe off Pinterest last year and it is amazing. This looks pretty good, too.
I was thinking this same thing. Saltines have hydrogenated oils, but some brands of pretzels are made without it. Plus the additional sprinkle of salt will really kick up that sweet/salty ratio!
There are brands of Saltines that don’t have hydrogenated oils, but they are more expensive. Pretzels are a great idea!
Hi, sorry, it doesn’t say how big a batch this makes, or what size pan to use. Can you clarify that? I know it mentions a cookie sheet but I have like 4 different sized cookie sheets.
It makes one regular-sized cookie sheet (not even sure what size those are — anyone know?). And how many it makes will depend upon how big you break bark pieces into.
Sorry for the ambiguous answer, but that’s the best I can come up with!
If you think of one sleeve of Saltines spread out on a cookie sheet, that’s how much you can picture it making.
Just measure the cookie sheet with a ruler.
I used a Wilton jelly roll pan and I am glad that I did. Otherwise, I am too messy and would have spread peanut butter and chocolate all over my counter.
I’m envisioning how challenging this will be to spread the peanut butter over the crackers. Was it for you?
Perhaps melting it for a few second in the microwave will make it pourable?
Spreading the peanut butter is super easy once it has been in the oven for a minute. That was the easiest part after spreading the chocolate…
I was surprised how easy it could be spread once baked for a minute!
We love the traditional one but I think my husband will love this even more with the peanut butter. I’ll make it this weekend with my grandson.
I made this yesterday (from following your link of planned snacks for the week) and I agree! The Christmas bark is fantastic and super easy to make. Thanks for sharing!
I don’t know if Crystal had this problem, but after two minutes of boiling, the butter and sugar started burning. I got it off in time and it worked out fine. Just watch that when you are making it.
I didn’t have that problem, but thanks for mentioning it so I can make a note to turn it down to medium low so this doesn’t happen to other people!
I made the worlds easiest Christmas candy last year & it was soo good. I can’t wait to try this one. I love peanut butter & this sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing Crystal!
I made this tonight but my crackers started floating and did not get covered with the butter and sugar mixture. Am I doing something wrong. Thanks
I didn’t have that problem, but I’d say to just push them down and spread it over them, if they want to bob up. The mixture will all harden up in the freezer.
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