Saltine Toffee

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

13 Comments

5 from 8 votes
30 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Cooling Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
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Saltine Cracker Toffee is a quick and easy candy recipe that’s perfect for those new to baking. It is great for gifting during the Holidays!

You’ll love making Candy Recipes during the Holidays to give as gifts, to bring to potlucks, or even just to have around the house for watching Christmas movie marathons with the family. In addition to this delicious toffee, try my Butter Toffee and Buttercrunch Pecan Toffee too!

toffee on a baking sheet
collage of toffee in a bowl and hand holding toffee
toffee packed up in a gifting box
Recipe Snapshot

Why You’ll Love This Toffee?

  • Made with just 5 simple pantry ingredients and will be ready to enjoy with friends and family in under 45 minutes!
  • The perfect recipe for someone who has never made toffee before, plus it’s easily customizable.

Sabrina’s Saltine Toffee Recipe

If this is your first time making your own toffee, then this is the perfect recipe for you! It is easy to follow since it’s so straight forward. You may not immediately think of Saltine crackers when you think of holiday desserts, but the crackers make this treat absolutely irresistible. Cracker Toffee is also a delicious gift you can hand out to your friends and coworkers as fun, decorative treats.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Saltine Toffee Recipe

Saltine Cracker Toffee is a quick and easy candy recipe that's perfect for those new to baking. It is great for gifting during the Holidays!
Yield 30 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
toffee on a baking sheet
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 40 saltines
  • 1 cup unsalted butter , cubed
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup pecans , chopped

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 15Ă—10 baking pan with foil.
  • Place the saltines in neat rows, side by side on the baking pan.
  • Add butter and brown sugar to a medium saucepan on medium high and cook and stir for 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and bubbling.
  • Pour evenly over crackers making sure they are all coated.
  • Bake for 8-10 minutes then remove the pan from the oven and add the chocolate chips.
  • Put the pan back in the oven for 1 minute.
  • Remove the pan and spread the chocolate to evenly coat the melted chocolate, then cover with chopped pecans.
  • Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until fully cooled before removing and breaking into pieces.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 379kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 199mg | Potassium: 150mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 529IU | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 2mg

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Chef’s Note

Be sure to watch your butter and brown sugar mixture very closely when you are heating and combining it. It needs to be stirred constantly and you need make sure to not go over the 2 minute mark because you will run the risk of burning it or making it grainy. This is the trickiest part of the recipe, but don’t worry it will only take a few minutes of concentration.

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About this Recipe

You’d think that the crackers would get soggy as they absorb all the caramel, but instead they keep their delightful crunch and the caramel has a delicious snap to it too! The only thing that can make toffee even tastier is giving it an addicting amount of crunch, which is exactly what you will do with the addition of the chopped pecans on top. This is a really easy treat to make, with a little bit of baking and some chilling time.

Can this be made ahead of time?

Yes! These candies will last for about a week in the fridge if they are stored in an airtight container. It is best to make them the day of or the day before you are planning on eating or gifting them. Be sure to let your gift recipient know that they need to be stored in the fridge or they will only last about a day on the counter (if they even last that long.) These are also great straight from the freezer so if you want to make them and store them in a freezer safe Ziplock that would work too!

Recipe Tips & Tricks

  • You’re going to want to use a cookie sheet or a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. The aluminum foil makes taking the toffee out of the pan, once it’s done chilling, much easier and keeps it from shattering.
  • Another good tip to help keep your toffee flat and even is to start spreading your melted chocolate starting at the center and spreading it outwards with a rubber spatula. Be gentle when you spread the toffee mixture so that you don’t shift the crackers or break them.
  • Place your finished toffee on a cutting board and press down gently with your palms to break the toffee into pieces (that look like the pictures.) If you want more uniform toffee, use a chef’s knife to cut along the lines of the crackers.

How to Store

  • Serve: You can leave toffee out at room temperature for about a day. It can also melt if you run the heat too much in your house, so I recommend keeping it in the fridge. Always keep it sealed in plastic wrap or in an airtight container to keep it fresh longer.
  • Store: If you keep the toffee in an airtight container, it will stay good in the fridge for up to 1 week. Make sure that no moisture gets into the toffee. You don’t need to thaw them out at all when you want to enjoy them, since these toffies are much better chilled.
  • Freeze: Don’t freeze it with the intentions of thawing it out. But do freeze it if you intend to enjoy these frozen because I can tell you first hand these treats are delicious when frozen!

Ideas to Serve

This toffee would be perfect to add to your Christmas Cookie Box that you make for friends, co-workers, and loved ones. Wrap the toffee in some decorative parchment paper, tie them up with a bow, and you’re all set. Or try a small cute decorative box! Either way be sure to let the gift recipient know that it will only last about a day if left out but will last up to a week if it is refrigerated. You could even put this on a tag that includes the recipe ingredients and instructions. Now they can make their own, instead of asking you to make more!

Frequent Questions

Why are saltine crackers called soda crackers?

Saltine crackers are called soda crackers because baking soda is one of the main ingredients in them.

What can I do with stale crackers?

Don’t throw them out! You can use stale crackers to add crunch to a variety of recipes. Make sure to keep them sealed though, you don’t want them molding.

Variations

  • Toppings: You can top your toffee with a variety of ingredients to customize it. Some of my favorites include pretzels, caramel, or sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. You could even add your favorite mini candies like M&M’s or chopped up Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups.
  • Peanut Butter: Another fun variation to try with this toffee is peanut butter. The creaminess of the peanut butter goes perfectly with the crunch of the cracker toffee. Add it underneath your chocolate layer.
  • Chocolate: You don’t just have to use milk chocolate for your toffee. You can also try dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, or white chocolate.
  • Nuts: If you don’t want to use pecans, you could also use walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, or almonds. Or you could do a mix of two of them. You could also make a few batches, with each one having a different nut topping.
  • Elevated Presentation: To make your toffee even fancier, drizzle some Chocolate Ganache over the top to make a simple but beautiful pattern.

More Yummy Toffee Recipes

toffee pin image

Photos used in a previous version of this post:

How to Collage
Collage of Saltine Toffee Photos
Saltine Toffee Collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

    1. We have a lot of goodies type recipes on the site for this time of year! So glad you enjoyed the toffee! Thank you Mary Beth for the 5 star review.

      Reply

  2. I used semi sweet chocolate chips and they didn’t melt at all. Do you know why that would happen?

    Reply

    1. Did you happen to notice if the oven temp was still at 350 degrees when you placed the sheet of Saltine Toffee back into the oven for one minute to melt the chocolate chips?

      Reply

  3. I make this recipe every year. Occasionally, like this year, the semi-sweet chips will not melt all the way to spread smoothly. Leaving it rough in texture. Why would this happen and how do I correct it? It normally always happens if I use milk chocolate chips, so I stick to semi-sweet. Can I use the dark chocolate chips and will that melt better?

    Reply

  4. This is one of the last ‘new’ recipes my Mom made years ago, before she passed away. It’s associated with precious memories!

    Reply