Warning: This Christmas bark is SUPER addictive! Saltines are covered with an easy caramel sauce, two types of chocolate, crushed and chopped peppermint, and assorted holiday sprinkles. Try my peppermint bark next.
I’m sure you’ve seen something like this before – saltines coated in butter and sugar, and topped with chocolate. Saltine cracker toffee is a common holiday staple.
I’m not going to pretend I’m being revolutionary here, waving this around all “Look at how creative I am!!!”
Nope, this Christmas crack recipe is just something that’s easy to prepare, makes enough to serve a bunch at a party, and is super customizable.
Don’t freak out over the name
I know some people will get sensitive over the name of this: Christmas Crack. It’s a long standing, trending name that I personally attribute to the fact that you literally crack the finished product into pieces, so I used it.
If it really bothers you, you can call it Christmas Bark. Or if using the word “Christmas” bothers you, too, you can call it Holiday Bark. Or a Magical Festive Sweet Sheet.
I’m not very good at being a politically correct person, so that’s about all the guidance I can give with regard to the naming convention here.
[insert shrug emoji here]
How to make Christmas Crack holiday bark
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and then place saltine crackers in a single layer.
- On the stovetop in a medium saucepan, heat butter, brown sugar and salt until it comes to a boil. Then remove it from the heat and stir in vanilla extract.
- Immediately pour hot mixture over the crackers on your prepared pan in an even layer.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes.
- While the pan is in the oven, melt chocolate according to package directions in a microwave safe bowl or using a double boiler.
- Remove pan from oven and immediately pour the melted chocolate on top in an even layer, using a spatula to spread it across the top evenly.
- If you’re going to add while chocolate, you’ll melt that and add it now.
- Add anything else you want at this point – sprinkles, chopped Andes mints, crushed peppermint, chopped nuts, etc.
- Let the pan cool to room temperature and then place in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.
- Use a knife to cut into pieces – it won’t break evenly and that’s completely expected and okay!
Variations and substitutions
- Don’t like dark chocolate? Use milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate.
- Don’t have any white chocolate? That’s cool, leave it off.
- Have an aversion to holiday themed sprinkles because they remind you of that one time you chugged a bottle of them on a dare and now they make you queasy every time you see them? Omit those, or trade them for some holiday neutral sprinkles.
How to store holiday bark
It can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Is there such a thing as too much chocolate?
I mean… probably. I’ve been known to make several different chocolate layers (one of them being melted Nutella because NUTELLA), but that involves pouring the hot chocolate on top, letting it set and chill, adding more chocolate on top, setting and chilling, etc.
You can totally do that if you want, but it’ll take up more time than we’re talking about in this recipe.
Whip up a batch, crack it, package it up in cute containers and gift them to some friends.
And then make another batch for yourself because you’ll have some serious FOMO if you miss out on this.
After you’ve made this recipe, please consider coming back to share your experience with others by leaving a comment below with a star rating!
Christmas Crack (Holiday Bark)
Ingredients
- 40 saltine crackers
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 20 ounces dark chocolate
- 4 ounces white chocolate
- Crushed peppermint, chopped Andes mints, other various sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and then place the crackers in a single layer (5 across, 8 down – or whatever fits your pan).
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and salt. Heat over medium, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil and starts to get darker. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
- Immediately pour this mixture over the crackers on your prepared pan in an even layer. Use a spatula to spread it evenly if need be.
- Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes.
- While pan is in the oven, melt chocolate according to package directions in a microwave safe bowl or using a double boiler.
- Remove pan from oven and immediately pour the chocolate on top in an even layer. Use a spatula to spread it across the top evenly.
- Melt white chocolate according to package directions and place in a piping bag to drizzle across the top. Add anything else you want at this point – sprinkles, chopped Andes mints, crushed peppermint, etc.
- Let the pan cool to room temperature and then place in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.
- Use a knife to cut into pieces – it won't break evenly and that's completely expected and okay!
- Store in fridge until ready to serve, and enjoy!
Anne Sharkey
Gotta love some Christmas Crack! This definitely is the closest I normally get to baking, and everyone loves it. Merry Monday’s starting soon in my office and this is my recipe of something totally doable!
Leslie Kiszka
Yaaaaay love that tradition!
Anne Sharkey
And the response from my colleague- “Holy crap that is amazing. Would you mind sharing the recipe? … that stuff made my day” — link and recipe shared!!!
Leslie Kiszka
Yessss! That’s what I like to hear!
Jenni
The crackers add such great salt and texture to this. I love the cookies with crackers inside, so I bet I would love this too!
sugarlovespices
What an inventive use of saltines! Looks totally yummy and yes, addictive! :-)
Jenna
Yay to the fresh brown sugar but boo to the mouse. We had a super unfortunate incident where I actually saw a mouse during a 2 am bathroom trip. I screamed so loud I woke the house. Mouse was later…um aprehended. Lol. Not a fan.
Totally a fan of this Christmas crack though! Looks delish. Love sweet and salty.