This is the best Christmas crack recipe because it's easy to make, super delicious, and quick to make in 15 minutes! The ultimate holiday dessert for your Christmas celebrations, holiday potlucks, and cookie exchanges!
My mom taught me how to make this recipe at least 15 years ago and I've been making it since then! It's a true staple every Christmas and I usually make 2 or 3 batches of it because it's everyones favourite so I always want there to be extra!
It's one of the holiday treats that take up most of the space on the cookie trays I make for Christmas every year...it's usually just a mountain of Christmas bark in the middle of the tray, but no one ever complains lol!
Some other holiday desserts I love adding to my Christmas trays and that you may also enjoy are these shortbread pecan bars, chocolate peppermint kiss cookies, shortbread cookies recipe, and thumbprint cookies with jam recipe too!
Ingredients
- CRACKERS: Soda crackers/saltine crackers with salted tops are the best crackers to use for Christmas crack. They have virtually no flavour, and the salt helps balance out the sweetness of the caramel and chocolate.
- BUTTER: Salted or unsalted butter will both work just as well. Choose your preference. This butter will help make the caramel layer.
- BROWN SUGAR: This gets melted with the butter to make the delicious caramel in this recipe. U
- VANILLA EXTRACT: This will add a hint of vanilla to the caramel.
- CHOCOLATE CHIPS: This recipe uses semi-sweet chocolate chips because the caramel is quite sweet. So to avoid this recipe being overly sweet, semi-sweet chocolate seems to be the perfect option. For people who prefer milk chocolate, go ahead and use that instead. It tastes amazing, but it's just a tad sweeter. The choice is yours!
- PECANS: This might be the best part! Highly recommended to roast the pecans in the oven beforehand, the roasted nutty flavour makes this recipe taste so much better.
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat oven to 350° F and prepare two baking sheets with tin foil and spray. Lay out the crackers on one of the prepared baking sheets and set it aside.
- Roast:Â Chop the pecans and place them on the other baking sheet. Roast them in the oven for 3-5 minutes and then set them aside.
- Cook: In a small pot on medium heat, add the butter and brown sugar and stir constantly until melted. Once it reaches a boil, boil and stir for 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and stir for 1 more minute. Pour the caramel over the crackers and use a rubber spatula to distribute it evenly.
- Bake:Â Bake the crackers for 3-5 minutes (until it starts to bubble), then immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips over the hot caramel. Give the chocolate chips a few seconds to start melting, then slowly spread them out. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the melted chocolate.
- Chill:Â Rest at room temperature for 5 minutes and then place in the freezer for 1 hour or until completely frozen. Crack into pieces and store in an airtight container.Â
Storage
Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Print📖 Recipe
Best Christmas Crack Recipe
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 40 pieces
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This is the best Christmas crack recipe because it's quick and easy to make and incredibly delicious!
Ingredients
- Soda Crackers with Salted Tops (1 pack)
- Butter (1 cup)
- Brown Sugar (1 cup)
- Vanilla Extract (1 teaspoon)
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (1 and ½ cups)
- Pecans (1 cup, chopped)
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat oven to 350° F and prepare two baking sheets with tin foil and spray. Lay out the crackers on one of the prepared baking sheets and set it aside.
- Roast: Chop the pecans and place them on the other baking sheet. Roast them in the oven for 3-5 minutes and then set them aside.
- Cook: In a small pot on medium heat, add the butter and brown sugar and stir constantly until melted. Once it reaches a boil, boil and stir for 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and stir for 1 more minute. Pour the caramel over the crackers and use a rubber spatula to distribute it evenly.
- Bake: Bake the crackers for 3-5 minutes (until it starts to bubble), then immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips over the hot caramel. Give the chocolate chips a few seconds to start melting, then slowly spread them out. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the melted chocolate.
- Chill: Rest at room temperature for 5 minutes and then place in the freezer for 1 hour or until completely frozen. Crack into pieces and store in an airtight container.Â
Notes
Roast the pecans. This really elevates the flavour of this Christmas crack. It gives a warm, toasty, festive roasted nut flavour that everyone is looking for during the holidays.Â
Wait for the dessert to cool before cracking. It won’t crack properly and probably create quite a mess if you try to crack it while it's still warm and not fully solid.Â
Keep the Christmas crack stored in the fridge or freezer. It's best to do this so the chocolate doesn’t melt at room temperature. It will be ready to eat from the fridge, and it will be ready in 5 minutes if taken to eat from the freezer.Â
Alternative toppings that also taste delicious are peanuts, almonds, walnuts, crushed candy cane, sprinkles, m&ms, pretzels etc.Â
Nutrition facts are estimates only.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dessert, holiday
- Method: Bake, stove top
- Cuisine: American
Susan says
My chocolate chips did not melt.Could they be old? Package says 2023.
Andrea says
Hi Susan! I'm so sorry to hear that this didn't work out for you. I don't think it would be the chocolate chips, they don't seem too old! The chocolate chips need to be sprinkled over the boiling caramel immediately after pulling it out of the oven (while it's super hot)! Usually the chocolate chips need 10-15 seconds to get melty and become spreadable, but it can take a little time to do the spreading as the chocolate chips are melting at the same time!