Neighbor Christmas Gift: Saltine Toffee.
This saltine toffee is an amazing-tasting treat!
It is well known as, ‘Christmas crack’ because the toffee cracks when you lift it out of the pan… and maybe because of how addicting it is.
It makes great neighbor Christmas gifts.
It is easy to make and is relatively inexpensive.
You can provide neighbors and friends with a lot of it for just a few dollars for each gift. See the cost breakdown below.
I made the recipe a little different than most by adding Heath Bits O’ Brickle English Toffee Baking Bits.
It was a good call. The toffee bits were added to both the brown sugar/butter mixture and on top for garnish and flavor.
This made this dessert next level, so I highly recommend trying it as written below.
Supply List for this Neighbor Christmas Gift: Saltine Toffee
46 Saltine Crackers I used Nabisco Premium Original Saltine Crackers from Sam’s Club and they held up well. I can’t vouch for generic brands as the crackers get boiled in toffee… so I’d just stick with the brand name on these.
1/2 bag (4 oz) Heath Bits O’ Brickle English Toffee Baking Bits, Bag 8 oz reserving 1/4 C of Heath bits per batch for garnish. Please note that there are two varieties of Heath baking bits and you want to purchase the ones without the chocolate added to them—just toffee bits.
18 oz Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips- You want to use good chocolate for this toffee. I tried more expensive and less expensive and trust me the difference between the Ghirardelli batch and the Kroger chocolate chip batch was worlds different—the Kroger tasted worse.
1 1/2 C packed Light brown sugar
1 1/2 C Butter, salted
Optional- You can add nuts as garnish on top as well
Saucepan
cookie/baking sheet
silicone baking mat or aluminum foil or wax paper for the baking sheet
hot pads
plastic plate- salad ~7.5″
Food-grade gloves (so you don’t leave fingerprints on the chocolate)
Cost Breakdown for this Neighbor Christmas Gift: Saltine Toffee
46 Saltine Crackers (40 lined up full crackers and 3 cut up to fit the rest of the baking sheet) each gift gets 8.5 crackers= .09 for each gift
1/2 bag (4 oz) Heath Bits O’ Brickle English Toffee Baking Bits (not the chocolatey toffee bits), Bag 8 oz $2.48/2= $1.24 makes 1 batch= 6 neighbor gifts= .20 for each gift
18 oz Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips or Nestle Toll House- You want to use good chocolate for this toffee; trust me on this. I made a batch with Ghirardelli and Nestle and one with Kroger and the difference between the Ghirardelli/Nestle batch and the Kroger chocolate chip batch was sadly noticeable… the Kroger tasted much worse.= .13 oz x 18= /6= .40 for each gift
1 1/2 C packed Light brown sugar .07 oz one batch takes 11 oz= .77/6= .12 for each gift
1 1/2 C Butter, salted (Costco) $13.00 for 4 lbs 12 oz $2.43 each batch/6= .40 for each gift
plastic disposable plate, salad = Costco salad plates in their packs of 50, on sale for $10 a pack = .20 a plate
cellophane over 2 mil thick= .05 for each gift
Christmas string= .02 for each gift
The total cost for a 7.5″ plate stacked high (or one column of 8.5 crackers) of saltine cracker toffee= $1.48
Directions on how to make this Neighbor Christmas Gift: Saltine Toffee
Continue reading and/or watch the video tutorial on this page
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Start melting the butter and brown sugar on low to medium heat while you prep the cooking/baking sheet
Quickly line a baking sheet with tinfoil, a silicone mat, or wax paper. Check and stir the butter and brown sugar mixture often.
Set out 46 Saltines. Lay out 42 in rows and columns; if there is extra room at the end of the 6 columns, using a sharp knife, cut them in half and line the cookie/baking sheet with the 1/2 pieces to fill the whole thing (please watch the video if this is unclear). Check and stir the butter and brown sugar mixture often.
Once you have the baking sheet ready to go, turn the stovetop heat up to medium-high (8 or 9), and stirring often bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil/bubble. Set the timer for 3 minutes and allow it to cook/boil for 3 minutes, stirring infrequently once it starts to boil.
Remove from heat
Gently pour the mix onto the saltine crackers and spread evenly.
Sprinkle about 3 oz or about 1/2 the bag reserving 1/4 C of Heath bits per batch over the top.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle 18 oz of semi-sweet chocolate evenly over the top of the toffee and put it in the oven for 2 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt.
Remove from oven.
Spread the chocolate evenly over the crackers.
Sprinkle with the remaining Heath bits.
Allow for 15 minutes to set. Afterwards, the toffee can be put in the fridge or left out for a few hours for it to fully cool.
I just let mine set overnight.
Score the edges and using a spatula, lift the saltine crackers and with gloves on, crack up the toffee (it is still pretty soft) into pieces and set them on a nice sturdy plastic/disposable plate.
If making this for neighbor gifts as I was, give 1 full column—8.5 saltines to each neighbor. This is a generous amount of toffee and yet these gifts cost less than $1.50 each to make.
Wrap with cellophane and tie with a Christmas string.
That’s it.
It is an easy recipe that goes fairly quickly. If one had multiple cookie/baking sheets or borrowed a few, one could make two batches at a time and stagger two more batches (make a doubled recipe while a doubled recipe is in the oven) to get Christmas gifts made quickly.
Enjoy this delicious and addicting saltine toffee… or give it to your neighbors to enjoy.
Saltine Toffee
A delicious buttery toffee with a top layer of chocolate atop Saltine crackers.
Ingredients
- 46 Saltine Crackers I used Nabisco Premium Original Saltine Crackers from Sam's Club and they held up well. I can't vouch for generic brands as the crackers get boiled in toffee... so I'd just stick with the brand name on these.
- 1/2 bag (4 oz) Heath Bits O' Brickle English Toffee Baking Bits, Bag 8 oz reserving 1/4 C of Heath bits per batch for garnish. Please note that there are two varieties of Heath baking bits and you want to purchase the ones without the chocolate added to them—just toffee bits.
- 18 oz Ghirardelli or Nestle Semi-Sweet chocolate chips- You want to use good chocolate for this toffee. I tried more expensive and less expensive and trust me the difference between the Ghirardelli/Nestle batch and the Kroger chocolate chip batch was sadly apparent—the Kroger tasted worse.
- 1 1/2 C packed Light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 C Butter, salted
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Start melting the butter and brown sugar on low to medium heat while you prep the cooking/baking sheet
Quickly line a baking sheet with tinfoil, a silicone mat, or wax paper. Check and stir the butter and brown sugar mixture often.
Set out 46 Saltines. Lay out 42 in rows and columns; if there is extra room at the end of the 6 columns, using a sharp knife, cut them in half and line the cookie/baking sheet with the 1/2 pieces to fill the whole thing (please watch the video if this is unclear). Check and stir the butter and brown sugar mixture often.
Once you have the baking sheet ready to go, turn the stovetop heat up to medium-high (8 or 9), and stirring often bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil/bubble. Set the timer for 3 minutes and allow it to cook/boil for 3 minutes, stirring infrequently once it starts to boil.
Remove from heat
Gently pour the mix onto the saltine crackers and spread evenly.
Sprinkle about 3 oz or about 1/2 the bag reserving 1/4 C of Heath bits per batch over the top.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle 18 oz of semi-sweet chocolate evenly over the top of the toffee and put it in the oven for 2 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt.
Remove from oven.
Spread the chocolate evenly over the crackers.
Sprinkle with the remaining Heath bits.
Allow for 15 minutes to set. Afterwards, the toffee can be put in the fridge or left out for a few hours for it to fully cool.
I just let mine set overnight.
Score the edges and using a spatula, lift the saltine crackers and with gloves on, crack up the toffee (it is still pretty soft) into pieces and set them on a nice sturdy plastic/disposable plate.
Notes
If making this for neighbor gifts as I was, give 1 full column—8.5 saltines to each neighbor. This is a generous amount of toffee and yet these gifts cost less than $1.50 each to make.
If you are looking for any other neighbor Christmas gifts for around $2.00 check out that post or this post about unique neighbor gifts as well.
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