This truly is The World’s Easiest Christmas Candy ever.
And I’d argue that it’s one of the yummiest candy recipes, too. In fact, you might do yourself a favor and make it other times of the year, too.
It’s not one bit healthy at all, but Christmas isn’t about eating all healthfully in my mind. 😉
I posted this recipe a long time ago and wanted to update it with new pictures.
In usual Crystal form, I decided to try a tweak to the recipe… er, more like we didn’t have brown sugar and I figured raw sugar could be substituted.
Well, I discovered that raw sugar works okay, but that it makes the topping much thicker and more grainy. These still taste yummy, but they don’t look quite as pretty as they normally do.
And then I forgot that you didn’t put the chocolate chips on until after you put the crackers/caramel in the oven. So I poured them on, stuck it in the oven, and didn’t realized I’d messed up that part of the recipe until after I pulled them out of the oven and was having trouble spreading them.
{People, I clearly have recipe issues. It’s quite sad when I can make two mistakes on a recipe that has 4 — count ’em — ingredients. Yikes! At least I always keep things interesting! :)}
So don’t do what I did. Stick to the original (and very simple!) recipe. Here it is:
World’s Easiest Christmas Candy
1 sleeve Saltine crackers
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
On a baking sheet, spread out Saltine crackers. Melt butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until gooey. Pour over crackers and bake at 350 degrees for five minutes, or until bubbly.
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Let sit for a few minutes until chocolate chips begin to melt. Then, spread over crackers evenly with a spatula.
Stick in the freezer for an hour, or until chocolate hardens. Break into small pieces and put into gift containers or baggies. Store in the freezer until ready to eat or give away.
Today, I’m joining a group of blogging friends in having a virtual Christmas party — and we’re all virtually bringing our favorite Christmas Savory Treats and Holiday Sweets. Click on the links below for much more yummy goodness and inspiration:
Savory Treats
- Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus from Jo-Lynne Shane
- Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts from The Finer Things in Life
- Black Bean and Avocado Salad from Kitchen Stewardship
- Cheesy Pesto Crescent Bites from Andrea Dekker
- Easy Cheesy Vidalia Onion Dip from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
- Homemade Sausage Balls from The Humbled Homemaker
- Kale Spinach Bites from For the Love Of
- Spiced Nuts from Modern Mrs. Darcy
- Toasted Pecans from My Blessed Life
- Trio of Cream Cheese Appetizers from Eat at Home Cooks
- White Cheddar Cranberry Bites from Parenting Miracles
Holiday Sweets
- Cherry Snowball Christmas Cookies from I’m an Organizing Junkie
- Bacon Spinach Frittata Bites from Life as Mom
- Chocolate Chunk Toasted Pecan Oatmeal Cookies from Life Your Way
- Chocolate Peanut Brittle from The Happy Housewife
- Chocolate Peppermint Brownie Trifle from Mom Endeavors
- Double Chocolate Candy Bar Pretzel Bark from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures
- Easy Black Currant Scones from Good Cheap Eats
- Frozen Inspired Vanilla Raspberry Bites from Bargain Briana
- Gumdrops from Hoosier Homemade
- Microwave Caramel Corn from Ashley Pichea
- Nutter Butter Snowman Cookies from Mom’s Tool Box
- Old Fashioned Christmas Cookies from Mommy Hates Cooking
- Snickerdoodle Puppy Chow from Smockity Frocks
- Sugar Cookies for Dummies from Happy Little Homemaker
replace the saltines with the large sized cheese-its and it is fantastic too! Trust me!
I will have to try that!
Each year on their birthday, my children get to pick out their favorite candy/dessert and I will make two batches – one for them and one for the rest of the family. My youngest ds wants this recipe (we call it toffee here) every year and without chocolate. It is so easy to make and is so good.
I love the idea of substituting the crackers with nuts – I may try it with pecans this year since I can buy them cracked from the wholesaler for about $3 a pound.
I love this recipe, and made it with graham crackers before I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance. SO……now I substitute gluten-free Honey Nut Chex for the crunchy layer. Christmas crack lives on!!!
I’ve been making this for years and you’re the first person I’ve seen that makes it also! I’m amazed how many ladies on here make it! I love this stuff, my mom taught me how to make it about 15 years ago and it’s amazing. The only difference with mine is I add sliced almonds on top. Makes it look pretty and tastes great! I’ve never know what it’s called so I call it “Mom’s Candy”
I made a chocolate cake for my mother-in-law’s birthday this fall and completely forgot to add the melted butter (like 3 sticks). I baked the cake which amazingly still tasted good, it was more like a chiffon cake than a rich chocolate cake since I forgot the butter. I didn’t realize I forgot it until I opened the microwave later and found a large bowl with three sticks of melted butter.
Here is my super easy homemade Christmas candy which makes great Christmas gifts.
http://www.homeecathome.com/the-home-economist/homemade-christmas-candy
I started making this from your recipe a few years ago. I also live at the pacific coast and we have a friend that harvests salt. I sprinkle it on top, YUM. Not regular salt, but super nice sea salt.
I really enjoy how human your posts are! This post made me smile as I could relate! Thank you!
Thanks so much for your kind encouragement!
The cracker chocolate thing. Yeah. All I’ve read everywhere is how easy it is to make. I consider myself to be a good cook and have failed to make it correctly after a few attempts. Not a fave for me. Glad yours turned out, despite the ‘alterations’. 😉
My mom used to make a version of this and we loved it! And thanks for keeping it real and sharing exactly how your changed version turned out. We all do things like that so thanks for keeping it real!
This is a staple all year long in my house! I made some a couple weeks ago and I’m making some again this weekend. I can’t stop. It’s so good. And addictive. I give most of it away because if I ate it all I’d have a whole other problem, but it’s always a hit wherever it goes!
I make this every Christmas a tradition in our family
If it were me, I probably (ok, definitely) would have re-made it so it looked perfect. I love that you didn’t do that! Thank you for being real and honest and yourself. 🙂
And thanks for your encouragement!
We love this recipe! It’s so good that I can practically eat a whole tray by myself. I also bring it to holiday get-togethers and people go crazy over it 🙂
We make this too (Christmas crack) but we also spread a layer of peanut butter before the chocolate. Yummy!
Oh yum!!
Yummy!
You kill me! I’ve done that so many times with the easiest stuff! So glad I’m not the only one that lives life on the edge! I think we’ve all eaten sweets in desperation, enough to appreciate your disastrous, but delicious treat. I always sympathize with Miranda on S** in the City when she ate the cake out of the trash… sadly, I’ve been there!
I just made this yesterday to give away at a Christmas lunch today. I always use this same ingredient list and line the pan with foil before placing the crackers on it. I make sure to use crackers with salt on top and salted butter too. It helps to balance the sweetness and brings out the toffee flavors. I also like milk chocolate chips on top or mixing the chips with semi sweet and swirl together as they melt. The recipe I use does give the specific direction to boil the butter and brown sugar together for 3 minutes then pour over the crackers and bake for 5-6. I’m not sure if the 3 minutes affects the end product or not, but it does eliminate the graininess of the sugar completely.
Oh, this happens every.time. I make something for someone else.
Yum! I love this recipe!
Oh yum! My mom use to make this stuff – I haven’t had it in forever and now I’m craving it!
That’s really interesting about the raw sugar too. Who knew? I wonder if pulverizing it in a food processor or blender first would make a difference?
I should have thought to pulverize it first… clearly, I was low on brain cells today! 🙂
Thanks for posting this recipe. I didn’t have any crackers, so I lined the tray with peanuts instead. “Christmas crack” indeed. 🙂
Oh, great idea!
I make this recipe too. Only 3 out of 5 family members like it, but whenever I bring it to a holiday get together it is gone in a snap. I am so glad you post your mistakes. They make me feel so much better. Just this weekend I was making peppermint chocolate sauce (for a post later this week) and the normal pot I make it in was dirty so I decided to use a different pot. As the sauce began to boil I remembered WHY I use the other pot. The pot I was using was too short for the bubbling the sauce does. Oh my the mess was horrible. But the sauce turned out great.
Ha! I made this when you initially posted the recipe.
The verdict:
My husband said, “Well, you know, it’s frugal…”
Maybe we should try again!
I make something very similar, which has the un-p.c. name “Christmas Crack” using graham crackers, brown sugar and butter, sometimes chopped pecans, never chocolate. So I’ll have to try it with chocolate. I bet it would be good with toffee sprinkles too.
Don’t feel bad, the time you did post it. I melted all 3 items together and poured it on the crackers. 😀 I still haven’t made it the right way.
I love that you posted a less than perfect recipe result, thanks for keeping it real Crystal. I always say imperfections show it’s homemade! This time of year especially, there is the temptation to fall prey to the competitive mommy syndrome and provide your family with a “picture perfect holiday memory.” I don’t know about you all, but we’ve yet to have one of those 😉 but we do have hearts full of love, and I’ll take that any day!
Ha ha! I am laughing with you definitely not at you because I make mistakes like that all the time! Thank you for sharing your hits and misses and the yummy recipes all in one. It made me smile 🙂
I make something similar that tastes like toffee candy. Use plain graham crackers and add chopped pecans to the melted butter/sugar mixture. I also sprinkle those colored round sprinkles on top before I freeze for decoration.
I’ve made those a few times, but it has been quite a few years since I last made them! They are fun and easy.
I am going to guess that if you melted the butter and sugar and let it all dissolve before pouring it over the crackers, the sugar you used would have been less grainy.
You can make your own brown sugar: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/194569646377565499/
I am guessing everyone will still enjoy this treat even though it looks different; you could top it with chopped nuts or candy cane bits. 🙂
Merry CHRISTmas.