Saltine Toffee is seriously the best. With just 4 ingredients and in 30 minutes, you can make these delicious, addictive cookies that are nearly impossible to stop eating.
The toffee is crisp and crunchy to start, but mellows out into a pleasant chewiness. It's delightful!
Truly, this is a dangerous recipe. When I make these, Alex and I polish them off in a day. Sometimes the toffee doesn't even make it into a container.
There's lots of recipes out there for these candy-cookies. Sometimes they're called Christmas Crack. I originally called this recipe Chocolate Toffee Cracker Cookies, but that's a mouthful. I found I started calling it Saltine Toffee in the last several years - a nice, succinct name.
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As often happens, I originally made this recipe because I had an ingredient to use up - saltines, leftover from making a Vegan Pecan Pie one Friendsgiving. The Saltine Toffee recipe jumped out at me when I looked through the Quick and Easy Christmas cookbook (affiliate link) a friend/coworker gifted me for Christmas several years ago. I made it 3 times that year.
As a note, I loved the recipe so much that I wrote about it in 2013... only to have my website crash when I hadn't done a backup. I finally wrote about it again in 2017, but now several years later, it's time for a very helpful redo!
I hope you love this crunchy, sweet, addictive Saltine Toffee as much as my family does!
Ingredients
Saltine toffee only takes 4 ingredients!
- Saltine crackers
- Unsalted butter
- Brown Sugar
- Chocolate Chips
Saltine crackers are the base of this recipe. I prefer saltines with salted tops, because the salt balances all of the sweetness. Generic saltines work fine.
I use unsalted butter in all my baking and cooking. It takes a lot, so I expect salted butter would make these a bit too salty. Only use sticks of butter, not butter/spread from a tub.
Both light and dark brown sugar works fine.
Both milk and semisweet chocolate chips are delicious here. I usually prefer semisweet chocolate chips.
Instructions
Line a 15x11 inch jelly roll pan (affiliate link) with foil. Create a lip with the foil along the edges to contain the toffee.
- Spray the foil with cooking spray (which makes removing the toffee easier). Line the saltines in a single layer on the baking sheet.
- Heat the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir together as the butter melts. You want the brown sugar to dissolve into the butter before it boils.
- Bring the mixture to a full, rolling boil. The mixture will have large bubbles everywhere, including the middle. Boil for 3 minutes. DO NOT STIR.
- After the 3 minutes, pour the mixture over the saltines. Use a clean spatula to scrape out your pan and spread the toffee over every cracker. (If you reuse your previous spatula, your toffee may become grainy and crystalized.)
Work quickly, so the toffee cooks properly and doesn't lose any heat.
- Bake for 5 minutes in your preheated oven. At the end of the 5 minutes, the entire toffee mixture will bubbly all over, including in the center.
- Remove the pan from the oven. Sprinkle (don't pour) the chocolate chips all over the top. (If you dump chocolate chips in a single spot, it may push away the toffee, leading to thin spots.)
- Let the chocolate chips soften on the hot toffee for about 5 minutes.
- Use a rubber spatula to spread out the softened/melted chocolate.
Top with sprinkles or nuts or anything else you'd like while the chocolate is still wet.
Let the chocolate set before breaking the toffee into pieces. Use a butter knife to score, if even pieces are important to you. Once the toffee is broken into rows, I usually flip over the pieces to break each saltine apart.
Store cooled, broken toffee in an airtight container.
Variations
My best friend has always made a version of these cookies with graham crackers instead of saltines.
The recipe originally called for topping the toffee with walnuts. I don't think it needs it! But add nuts if you'd like.
Sprinkles are always a festive addition!
FAQ
Saltine toffee can become grainy if you haven't dissolved the brown sugar into the melted butter before it boils; if you stir the mixture while it boils; or if you reuse the stirring spatula to spread out the toffee. This is true for most candy-making.
Saltine toffee usually starts off with a good crunch, but becomes chewy by the time you're done chewing.
If the toffee starts off chewy, it could be undercooked; that's why it's so important to get the toffee mixture to a full boil on the stove, and for the entire surface to be bubbly when you remove it from the oven.
Chewy toffee also can happen if you're making the candy in high humidity, or if your saltines are stale and have absorbed too much moisture over time.
You need to stir the butter and brown sugar together after the butter melts, before they boil. The sugar will dissolve and mix into the butter. Keep stirring, and turn down the heat if necessary before the mixture boils so that everything can be mixed together.
Other Addictive Bar Cookies
Interested in other recipes? I save and share recipes I like or want to try on my Pinterest page - follow me there! You can also check out my Facebook page for more recipes and helpful tips. I'm also happy to try to help troubleshoot my recipes there.
Have you tried this recipe? Or have a question about it? Rate it or leave a comment below! (PS: rating my recipes helps other people find them, too!)
📖 Recipe
- 35 saltine crackers (1 sleeve/110 grams)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks/227 grams)
- 1 cup brown sugar (200 grams)
- 2 cups milk or semisweet chocolate chips (1 bag/12 ounces/340 grams)
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Preheat oven to 375F.
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Line a (15x10 inch) jelly roll pan (affiliate link)/baking sheet with foil, being sure to make lips along the edges to contain the toffee. Spray foil and lay saltine crackers out in a single layer.
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Combine butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat to melt the butter, and stir together the mixture so the brown sugar melts.
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Over medium high heat, bring mixture to a full boil; there will be large bubbles in the center. Boil for 3 minutes. DO NOT STIR.
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Immediately pour mixture over saltines. Use a clean spatula to spread the mixture to cover all the saltines.
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Bake for 5 minutes. The entire pan will be bubbly.
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Remove from oven, and immediately top with chocolate chips. Wait 5 minutes to let the chocolate soften, then smooth melted chocolate over crackers.
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Optional: Top melted chocolate immediately with nuts, sprinkles, or any other additions.
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Chill or cool completely. Score the toffee with a butter knife. Break into 36 pieces.
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Store toffee in an airtight container. Should last about a week at room temperature (in low humidity), if you don't eat them first.
You can use saltines with salted or unsalted tops. Graham crackers are also a good substitute for saltines.
Use stick butter, and not butter spread. Salted butter will likely be too salty.
Both dark and brown sugar work fine.
You can top the toffee with 1 cup walnuts, or some sprinkles if you'd like. I prefer it unadorned.
Toffee can be grainy if you do not stir to dissolve the brown sugar in the melted butter; if you stir while the toffee boils; or if you use the sugary spatula to spread out the boiled toffee mixture.
Toffee can be chewy if you make the candy on a humid day; if you undercook the toffee by not getting it to bubble fully on the stove or in the oven; or if your saltines are stale.
Adapted from the Quick and Easy Christmas Cookbook (affiliate link), although there's a ton of other recipes out there.
Originally written 2017. Rewritten and updated in November 2024.
In the past:
Originally published December 4, 2017. Rewritten with new instructions and photographs in November 2024.
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