It’s a little unusual to call a candy recipe easy, but this one is! Toffee Saltines are a simple recipe with a base of saltine crackers that taste like someone spent hours on them. The salty, sweet combination of the crackers and the toffee with the decadent chocolate and crunchy nuts are close to being the perfect holiday candy bite.
I will admit I’m not a great baker, but this recipe is very close to foolproof. The directions are simple, and in my experience they’re correct. One of the keys is to watch the toffee mixture very closely on the stovetop. You really shouldn’t stir it. Just put the butter and sugar in a saucepan and let it come up to a boil. It’s difficult, I know, but it’s so important.
Once the toffee mixture comes to a boil, set a time for exactly three minutes. When those three minutes are up, pull the saucepan immediately off the stove. You should have your pan full of saltines all ready to go. Pour the toffee directly over the saltines. If it doesn’t spread out evenly on its own, I take a silicone spatula and help it spread to the edges, careful not to dislodge any crackers as I do it.
After the toffee is spread, put the pan directly in the oven, but whatever you do, don’t wander away! The recipe says to bake for five minutes, but that may be too long depending on several factors. Peek through your oven window every minute or so and if the toffee begins to darken significantly, take it out before it scorches.
Remove the pan from the oven, then immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top so that they can melt before the toffee cools. If your chocolate chips fail to melt to a spreadable consistency just from the residual heat of the toffee, you can pop the pan briefly back in the oven for a minute to help the chocolate melt. Then spread the chocolate out.
Ingredients
4 ounces 4 saltine crackers
2 cups 2 chocolate chips, semisweet
1 cup 1 butter
1 cup 1 dark brown sugar
3/4 cup 3/4 almonds, chopped
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C).
- Line jelly roll pan, or baking sheet pan with sides, with aluminum foil. Grease foil with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place saltines in single, non-overlapping layer on bottom of pan.
- Combine sugar and the butter in small saucepan. Do not stir. Bring mixture to a boil. Boil for precisely 3 minutes only. Immediately pour mixture over saltines. Spread with spatula if necessary to cover crackers completely.
- Bake in preheated 350° F (175° C) oven for 5 minutes, watching carefully for signs of burning. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let chips sit for 3 minutes to soften, then spread melted chocolate to cover toffee.
- Sprinkle chopped almonds over chocolate before chocolate cools, pressing nuts lightly into chocolate if needed. Cool cookies completely and break or cut into pieces.
Notes
- Dark brown sugar can be substituted with light brown sugar or golden brown sugar. Flavor will be slightly altered.
- Pecans, walnuts, peanuts, or any nut of your choice can be used to substitute for chopped almonds.
- Dark or milk chocolate chips can be substituted for semisweet. Flavor will be altered.
- Pan should be lined with foil and greased. If non-stick cooking spray is unavailable, grease liberally with softened/melted butter.
I like chopped almonds with this fabulous dessert. They’re meaty and a little crunchy. Feel free to substitute with your favorite nuts, though. I think most nuts would taste good in this recipe — nuts, toffee, and chocolate are always a classic combination. Pecans, walnuts, or peanuts are natural fits here, but if you want to try something more creative like macadamia nuts, cashews, or pistachios, those could work too!
Generally, I recommend buying nuts whole and chopping them yourself. Buying pre-chopped is fine, but I always feel like the flavor is a little better when I cut up whole nuts. That’s about personal preference, however, so choose whole or pre-chopped as you wish, or just use what you have on hand.
How coUld you subst the butter to make it somewhat health
Thank you
I really wouldn’t recommend using any substitute for the butter, Eileen, although I certainly understand why you would want to try. I think any fat substitute would probably net you the same amount of calories but cost you in flavor. Personally, when calorie intake is a concern, I make my dessert recipes the usual way but eat a smaller portion in keeping with my overall nutrition goals — to me, it’s more satisfying to get a smaller portion of the real thing than a larger portion of something less delicious, but you should do what’s best for you!
You can substitute matzo pieces for the saltines for a great dessert during passover.