Chocolate Saltine Peanut Butter Toffee {Christmas Crack}

This Chocolate Saltine Peanut Butter Toffee is so easy to make and so addictive, you’ll quickly see why it’s affectionately referred to as “Christmas Crack”.

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Eight days til Christmas! Are you done shopping? I ordered my last present (I think) yesterday and it should be here tomorrow. Christmas really snuck up on me this year.

Kinda like this baby seems to be doing. I never had six months go so quick.

Anyway, I was helping to cater a party for my mom and decided to make this “Christmas Crack” last minute in addition to the peanut butter balls.

I had everything on hand in my pantry, maybe you do too. You only need really basic ingredients – saltines, brown sugar, butter, chocolate, and peanut butter.

Many versions of Christmas Crack don’t include peanut butter but I think pretty much *all* things should include peanut butter, so mine does.

Such simple things but together – so good! I like it best straight from the fridge so it’s cold.

It doesn’t have to Christmas-y. You could use any kind of sprinkles. Or no sprinkles.

But, really, what’s life without sprinkles?

Tips to make this Christmas Crack a success

• Make sure you use a lipped pan for this recipe. It could get really messy without a lip.
• I also highly recommend using a silicone baking mat (or parchment paper) to help with clean up. Toffee is sticky.
• Not everyone uses peanut butter in their Christmas Crack recipe. You could skip it if you don’t like it (but I’m not sure we can still be friends).
• I haven’t tried it yet, but you can swap out the saltines with pretzels or graham crackers to add some variation.
• I recommend using a good chocolate (you know I love Ghirardelli baking chips) but you could use semi-sweet, milk, or even white chocolate, if that’s what you like.
• I always top with sprinkles to make it fun but you can skip that layer altogether or…fancy it up with other toppings. Like maybe mini M&Ms, or chopped nuts, use your imagination.
• This Chocolate Saltine Peanut Butter Toffee keeps really well, up to two weeks, in an airtight container. I like to keep mine in the fridge & eat it cold.

Why is my Christmas Crack chewy?

Your Christmas Crack might be chewy if you didn’t use real butter or if you didn’t let the butter and brown sugar mixture boil for the full three minutes, as indicated.

Tools found on Amazon to help you:

• A lipped pan – you don’t want all that hot goodness oozing off the pan.
• Heat safe spatulas for spreading the hot goodness
• Sprinkles! to make it festive

Chocolate Saltine Peanut Butter Toffee {Christmas Crack}

This Chocolate Saltine Peanut Butter Toffee is so easy to make and so addictive, you'll quickly see why it's affectionately referred to as "Christmas Crack".

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Chill Time 2 hrs

Total Time 2 hrs 20 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12 servings

Calories 483 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 40 saltine crackers (one sleeve)
• 1 cup brown sugar I used dark
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 2 ½ cups chocolate chips I used Ghirardelli baking chips
• 6 Tablespoons peanut butter melted
• various sprinkles optional

Instructions

 

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a lipped baking sheet with tin foil and generously spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.
• Line your crackers in the pan, leaving a little space between each one.
• In a large sauce pan, over medium heat, add the butter and brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring to break it up. Once it starts to boil, leave it alone for about 3 minutes, without stirring. Pour the boiling mixture over the crackers and bake for 5 minutes.
• While the toffee is baking, melt the peanut butter in the microwave (it will probably only take about 30 seconds, stir, maybe another 15-20 seconds).
• Remove the pan from the oven and pour the peanut butter on top (the toffee will be bubbly; I had to “dunk” some of the crackers under the toffee & straighten them back up before I poured the peanut butter on top). Smooth it into an even layer with a spatula.
• Evenly sprinkle on the chocolate chips and put the pan back in the oven for 1 minute.
• Remove the pan from the oven and smooth the chocolate chips into the melted peanut butter into one smooth layer.
• Sprinkle with various sprinkles. I made strips of different colors/shapes so when I broke it up, there was a variety.
• Put the entire pan in either the freezer for at least an hour or the fridge for two hours.
• Once cold and set, break up the toffee into random sized pieces.

Notes

Store in an airtight container for up to 10 days. I like it cold, so I keep it in the fridge.

You can skip peanut butter if you don’t like it (or have allergies).

Serving size will depend on how you break up the toffee.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 483kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 5gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 16gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 305mgPotassium: 97mgFiber: 2gSugar: 42gVitamin A: 557IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 69mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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