These Saltine Cracker Toffee Cookies will knock your socks off! They combine the buttery crunch of Christmas Cracker Toffee with gooey brown butter chocolate chip cookies for your new favorite cookie, that has the perfect sweet and salty flavor.
We’re browning butter, and making a half batch of cracker toffee for this recipe to fill the cookies with the perfect caramel flavor and crunchy texture in every bite. It only takes an extra 30 minutes or so, but is so worth it for these amazing cookies!
Why make this Recipe
- Amazing Texture Combination: The soft and chewy cookies are studded with chunks of crispy toffee! You’ll get chewy, crunchy, and gooey in every single bite! Yes please!
- Sweet and Salty Goodness: The mix of the buttery brown sugar toffee topping the salty crackers, paired with the buttery sweet cookies takes the classic to a new level!
- Crowd Favorite: These cookies are unique enough to stand out, but without too many extra steps, or weird flavors – so they will be well loved!
Ingredients Needed
This is a quick overview of the ingredients you’ll need for this Saltine Cracker Toffee Cookie Recipe. Specific measurements and full recipe instructions are in the printable recipe card below.
- Saltine Crackers – These are the bade of the homemade toffee recipe. I haven’t tried it with another cracker, but let me know if you experiment.
- Unsalted Butter – We use butter in both the toffee, and the cookie recipe. If you use salted butter, consider cutting down on the amount of added salt.
- Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar – A balance of the two. We use more brown sugar because the toffee is made with brown sugar, and brown sugar gives a nice chewiness to the cookie base. The granulated sugar balances the brown sugar and crisps up the cookie edges a bit.
- Chocolate Chips – I recommend using a high quality chocolate chip for the best flavor in your cookies. I used Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips for the toffee and cookies.
- Vanilla Extract – Use a high quality real vanilla extract over an imitation extract. Or make your own with a bit of planning.
- Eggs – Use large, room temperature eggs for the best results. They’ll help bind everything together.
- All Purpose Flour – Creates the foundation of the cookie.
- Baking Soda – Gives the cookies rise by reacting with the brown sugar.
- Salt – Balances out the sweetness, and flavors the cookies.
How to make Christmas Crack Cookies
Step 1: Brown the Butter. Heat the butter in a medium pan over medium heat. The mixture will begin to melt, and then it will bubble up. Eventually it will foam, make sure to stir the whole time so the butter at the bottom doesn’t burn. It will eventually turn a deep amber, golden color, and start to smell a bit nutty, like toffee. Remove from the heat and pour it into a separate bowl, making sure to scrape all those brown bits for flavor, then let it cool for a bit.
Step 2: Make the Toffee. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper then saltine crackers, and set aside. Melt the butter and brown sugar in a medium sauce pan (the same one you used for browning the butter works great). Stir occasionally, bringing it to a boil. Once boiling let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract and pour it over the top of the crackers. Bake for a few minutes until the toffee bubbles.
Step 3: Add the Chocolate. Remove the toffee from the oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let the chocolate chips set for 2 to 3 minutes on top, and then use a flat spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the top. Let the toffee cool at room temperature for a few minutes, then transfer to the fridge or freezer to chill quicker.
Step 4: Mix the Wet Ingredients. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a large bowl for 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the eggs, and vanilla extract and mix until their are no longer yellow streaks of the egg.
Step 5: Mix in the Dry Ingredients. Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until you have a soft cookie dough. Chop the toffee into pieces, and add in the toffee pieces and chocolate chips, and fold them evenly into the dough. Chill the dough for 2 hour, up to 24 hours.
Step 6: Bake the Cookies. Scoop the dough into 2-3 TBS portions and roll into balls. Place a few onto a cookie sheet, at least 3 inches apart from each other. Bake until the edges are golden brown and the tops are just set. Remove from the oven and top with each cookie with extra toffee pieces and chocolate chips. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tips and Tricks
- Extra Toffee – If you want extra Saltine Toffee to snack on, use our Cracker Toffee recipe and make a full batch (not quite double the saltines) and bake in a 10×15 pan. This will give you enough for the recipe and enough to snack on.
- Chill the Dough – We can’t skip chilling the cookie dough for recipes like this, made with brown butter. Like my favorite Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies. This ensures the cookies will hold their shape, and keeps them nice and thick, without spreading too much. I promise the extra time is worth it.
- Large Cookie Scoop – Use a large baking scoop, or spoon out about 3 to 4 TBS of dough per cookie. This keeps the cookies nice and big, and that means extra chunks in each cookie too.
- Don’t Over Bake – You want to bake your cookies until they just start to look done. The tops might still look a little underdone, and not set, but they’ll keep cooking on the cookie sheet as you take it out of the oven. This keeps the cookies nice and soft throughout!
- Add Chocolate on Top – Reserve a few toffee pieces, and chocolate chips for on top of the cookies after they’re baked. It makes sure the cookies have lots of chocolate pieces, and makes them extra pretty.
Storage Instructions
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 or 5 days.
You can also freeze the cookies by flash freezing them on a lined cookie sheet, then once frozen transfer to a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Personally I like to freeze the cookie dough in scoops, on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Freeze for 1 hour, then transfer the balls to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 4 months. Bake from frozen, by adding about 2 minutes to the baking time.
These Christmas Crack Cookies are the perfect blend of sweet, salty, and chocolatey goodness. With their unique twist on two classic treats, I promise they’ll impress anyone who is lucky enough to enjoy one! Bake up a batch and get ready for rave reviews! And sharing the recipe 😉
More Cookie Recipes
If you try these Saltine Cracker Toffee Cookies, please leave a 🌟 rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Saltine Cracker Toffee Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 TBS vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled, or weighed)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
For the Saltine Cracker Toffee:
- 20 Saltine Crackers
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Instructions
Brown the Butter:
- Put butter in a large pot. Heat over medium heat. 1 cup unsalted butter
- Allow the butter to continue cooking, stirring often as it melts, then it will bubble and then foam. Scrape the sides and watch for it to get a nutty smell, and start to turn to an amber color. Remove from heat.
- Pour butter into a separate bowl and allow to sit for about 30 minutes. While the butter is cooling, making the toffee.
For the Saltine Cracker Toffee:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9×13 baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray.
- Spread the Saltine Crackers in rows on the pan, filling the pan as much as you can with them. 20 Saltine Crackers
- Add the butter and brown sugar to a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Let the butter melt and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture is a nice caramel brown color. 1/2 cup unsalted butter , 1/2 cup brown sugar
- Remove the toffee from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- Carefully pour the toffee over the crackers slowly, trying not to move the crackers around too much as you pour.
- Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 3 to 5 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly. Remove the pan from the oven.
- Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the toffee and let them sit for 1 to 2 minutes until you can tell they are starting to melt and lose their shape. 1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Spread the chocolate slowly over the toffee until melted using an offset spatula or rubber spatula covering the toffee completely.
- Let the pan cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a freezer to cool another 15 minutes or so.
- Remove the toffee from the freezer and use a sharp knife to chop it into small pieces.
For the Cookies:
- Cream together the butter (still partially melted) sugar, and brown sugar for 2-3 minutes until it starts to get smooth. 1 cup brown sugar , 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and stir until just combined, when there is no longer any yellow steaks of the egg. 2 large eggs, 1/2 TBS vanilla extract
- Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until combined. 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda , 1 tsp baking soda
- Add in the Chocolate Chips, and about 2 cups of the toffee pieces (reserving the rest to place on top of the cookies after baking). 1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Cover the dough and place it in the fridge for 2 hours, up to 24 hours. If longer than about 12 hours, the dough may need to sit out for 20-30 minutes to be workable.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, or silicone liners, and set them aside.
- Scoop the dough by 3-4 TBS portions and roll them into balls.
- Place 6 to 8 cookies on each cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies until the edges are golden brown, and the tops are just set, about 10-13 minutes. Bang the pan, a couple times half way through baking to help the cookies flatten a bit.
- Remove the pan from the oven. Top each cookie with 2-3 pieces of toffee, and chocolate chips.
- Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to continue cooling completely.
Notes
- Extra Toffee – If you want extra Saltine Toffee to snack on, use our Cracker Toffee recipe and make a full batch (not quite double the saltines) and bake in a 10×15 pan. This will give you enough for the recipe and enough to snack on.
- Chill the Dough – We can’t skip chilling the cookie dough for recipes like this, made with brown butter. Like my favorite Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies. This ensures the cookies will hold their shape, and keeps them nice and thick, without spreading too much. I promise the extra time is worth it.
- Large Cookie Scoop – Use a large baking scoop, or spoon out about 3 to 4 TBS of dough per cookie. This keeps the cookies nice and big, and that means extra chunks in each cookie too.
- Don’t Over Bake – You want to bake your cookies until they just start to look done. The tops might still look a little underdone, and not set, but they’ll keep cooking on the cookie sheet as you take it out of the oven. This keeps the cookies nice and soft throughout!
- Add Chocolate on Top – Reserve a few toffee pieces, and chocolate chips for on top of the cookies after they’re baked. It makes sure the cookies have lots of chocolate pieces, and makes them extra pretty.
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