Made with just 5 ingredients, my Ritz Cracker Toffee is sweet & salty, and totally addictive. It’s made with a layer of Ritz crackers, an easy homemade caramel made from butter and brown sugar (no candy thermometer needed!), and a layer of melted chocolate chips. I like to finish it off with a sprinkle of sea salt flakes, but you can opt for festive sprinkles to add holiday cheer!
Be A CHristmas Cookie Platter Queen; My Ritz Cracker Toffee Makes It So Easy!
My mom wears the crown: Queen of the Christmas Cookie Platter. As soon as the Thanksgiving dinner table is cleared away, she’s bustlin’ in the kitchen baking cookies and making other sweet treats. Growing up, my sisters and I never wished to be anywhere else.
Mom’s cookie platter reign has always included some recipes that are especially easy and terrifically FUN. Like marshmallow caramel rice krispies puffs that make any adult feel like a kid again. And mini homemade peanut butter cups that she’d mail off to her nieces and nephews in college; I’m still super nostalgic to make them in the same little holly & berries paper cups I grew up with!
When I was first introduced to cracker toffee, it was made with saltine crackers. And while I certainly enjoyed it, I was longing for something more with the cracker itself. All I could imagine was how much better it would be if I made it with Ritz crackers because of how crisp and flaky, rich and buttery, and lightly salty they are. So that’s how I started making them, and my family refuses to have it any other way!
My Ritz cracker toffee recipe is also a snap to make. It’s basically a shortcut recipe for homemade toffee that doesn’t require a kitchen thermometer. I need only 5 simple ingredients and about 20 minutes to assemble a pan. Then it goes into the freezer for an hour to get it thoroughly frozen, so it breaks into jagged, irregular pieces (so easy and satisfying to do!).
This treat freezes really well, so in early November I make a double batch of it at the same time as my chocolate peanut butter Ritz cookies and freeze so I can effortlessly set it out on Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It also makes for a great homemade gift, a cinch to package up on the fly; all I need is a cute jar or tin, or a cellophane bag tied with a pretty ribbon.
Here’s How I Make It:
Super Simple Tips That Make All The Difference.
The first time I made this cracker toffee, I failed to line the baking pan with parchment paper. This caused me unnecessary pain, as the slab of toffee did not break into pieces and lift from the pan cleanly. Parchment paper takes away that stress!
Once you spread the melty chocolate chips into an even layer, let the warm chocolate cool for 2 minutes before you sprinkle it with sea salt flakes. This allows the chocolate to set enough for the salt to stick and stay on top, without sinking and disappearing into the chocolate.
To get clean lines when you break it into pieces, freeze the assembled cracker toffee on the pan until it’s thoroughly frozen.
Get Creative. Sprinkle On Some Festivity!
It’s easy to change up the appearance and flavor of this recipe. Instead of sea salt flakes, I often add red and green mini M&Ms or sprinkles to one half of the pan for Christmas festivity. You can customize it to fit whatever you’re celebrating, with different colored sprinkles and candies. Chopped nuts or pretzels are also great!
Sweet-N-Salty Ritz Cracker Toffee
Ingredients
- 50 Ritz crackers
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 cups good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like Guittard brand)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt flakes (I like Maldon brand)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and line a rimmed 12" x 17" baking pan with parchment paper.
- Place Ritz crackers on prepared pan, in a single layer.
- Once oven is preheated, stir together butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium to medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Then stir gently and constantly for 2-3 minutes, until caramel mixture is thickened.
- Pour hot caramel mixture over Ritz crackers, as evenly as possible. Then use a spatula to spread it out evenly
- Bake for 5 minutes, or until the edges start to bubble and brown.
- Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the top, in an even layer. Let sit for about 5 minutes, until chocolate chips are glossy and super melty. (If they don't melt enough from just sitting on top of the hot baked caramel mixture, place the pan back into the warm oven for a minute to coax along the melting.) Then use a spatula or the back of a spoon to spread the melty chocolate evenly over the top.
- Let sit for 2 minutes to let the chocolate set a bit, and then sprinkle sea salt flakes over the top.
- Place pan in freezer for 1 hour, to set firmly. Then use your hands and/or a sharp knife tip to break the slab of cracker toffee into pieces. I aim for pieces about 2" in size. (Whenever I've made them bigger, people tend to break them in half because they want to try other sweets on the Christmas cookie platter, too!)
I can’t resist these!!