Christmas Crack Cookies
Christmas Crack Cookies are no ordinary cookies! They’re so irresistibly simple, requiring only three magical layers – a buttery Ritz cracker, homemade toffee, and a decadent layer of melted chocolate. They deliver an unforgettable crunch and the perfect salty-sweet balance that will keep you coming back for more!
These unconventional cookies are incredibly easy to assemble with just 4 ingredients! The name “crack” is a playful double meaning, hinting at both the signature crunchy Ritz cracker base and their famously addictive, can’t-have-just-one quality.
What are Christmas Crack Cookies?
Christmas crack cookies are a decadent holiday treat featuring a Ritz cracker base topped with a rich layer of homemade butter toffee and melted chocolate. They are known for their irresistible combination of salty, sweet, and crunchy textures.
Typically assembled in muffin or cupcake tins for easy serving, they are then decorated with festive sprinkles and chilled until set. Since they store so well at room temperature, they make a fantastic option for holiday gifting or making ahead of your Christmas parties.
You can make them in a silicone muffin pan (to prevent sticking), or use heavy muffin liners (opposed to the light, thin ones). Read directions, but make sure the caramel layer is fully set and cooled before peeling.
Ingredients needed to make Christmas crack cookies
- Ritz crackers: Provides the buttery, crunchy base for these Christmas crack cookies.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter since the cracker base provides enough salt in these cookies.
- Brown sugar: Typically used when making homemade toffee.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: Melted from the residual heat of the toffee layer as a decadent topping. Feel free to use dark chocolate chips or milk chocolate instead.
- Christmas sprinkles: Red, green, and white sprinkles are added to melted chocolate topping for festive decoration. These are optional, but they really make these crack cookies pop!
How do you make these Christmas crack cookies
Preheat and prepare:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two muffin tins with cute festive cupcake liners (optional) or use silicone cupcake/muffin pans. You will have less stickiness if you use a silicone pan. Or, use a heavier cupcake liner.
- Place a Ritz cracker in the bottom of each muffin cup.
Make the butter toffee:
- Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
- Add the brown sugar and make sure it’s dissloved before bringing the mixture to a rolling boil, continuing to stir for 3 minutes so that the mixture doesn’t burn.
- Remove the butter toffee from the heat and quickly drop a tablespoon onto each Ritz. A cookie scoop is a helpful way to accurately fill each cup about 3/4 full for even distribution.
Bake the cracker toffee base:
- Place the tins in the oven and bake for 3-5 minutes.
Add the chocolate topping
- Remove the tins from the oven and while the caramel is still very runny from being hot, press the crackers down to the bottom, and they will stay in place.
- Immediately add 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips to each cup.
- Once they melt a little, spread the chocolate, swirling around with the back of a spoon.
Decorate and chill
- Add the Christmas sprinkles. You can use crushed candy canes instead, if you like.
- Place the assembled Christmas cracker cookies in the fridge to cool and set for 2-3 hours. This tip is important. Always make sure the caramel layer is fully set and cooled before peeling the paper liner if you are using.
- Serve and enjoy!
Serving
Enjoy these Christmas crack cookies with a mug of hot chocolate, eggnog, or another favorite holiday beverage.
Since they store so well on the countertop, they’ll make a festive addition to the kitchen for the family to snack on throughout the festive season. Add them to decorative jars as cute seasonal gifts for friends and family!
They can also transform a plain bowl of vanilla ice cream into an exciting holiday dessert. Pair them with Coffee Affogatoas a way to round off your main meal or add it to a Christmas dessert board when hosting parties.
Sandy’s tips and substitutions:
- Storage: Keep leftover Christmas crack cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for a few weeks.
- Freeze: For longer storage, freeze these holiday cookies in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Let them soften on the counter before serving again.
- Melt the chocolate separately: For an extra-smooth, glossy chocolate finish, melt the chocolate chips separately in a double boiler or microwave (in 20-second bursts, stirring between each) before spooning onto the warm butter toffee. This gives you more control over spreading.
- Stir constantly: Stir the butter and sugar mixture constantly for the full 3 minutes once it boils. A minute too short and it’ll be runny; a minute too long and it can burn or become grainy when cooled.
- Work quickly: The butter toffee will begin to set quickly as it cools. Have your cupcake/muffin tins ready and portion it out immediately after removing the mixture from the heat.
- Uniform appearance: A small cookie scoop (about 1 Tbsp capacity) is highly recommended for neat, equal portions of butter toffee.
- Set before chilling: Allowing the cookies to cool at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before transferring to the fridge can help prevent condensation from making the crackers soggy.
- Add sprinkles immediately: Make sure to add the sprinkles over the melted chocolate immediately so that the sprinkles stick. This still applies if you’ve decided to use crushed candy canes instead.
- Paper liner: Always make sure the caramel layer is fully set and cooled before peeling the paper liner if you are using.
Variations:
- Salty-sweet contrast: Add a tiny pinch of flaky sea salt over the chocolate for a more pronounced salty-sweet contrast.
- Chocolate topping: Swap semi-sweet chips for milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or even white chocolate.
- Toppings: Beyond sprinkles, try crushed candy canes, pretzels, pecans, walnuts, toffee bits, Christmas M&M’s, or a drizzle of caramel after the chocolate sets.
- Cracker base: For a different texture, try using saltine crackers.
For more festive holiday cookies, bake up a batch of Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies, Traditional Italian Christmas Cookies, or M and M Christmas Cookies.
More Christmas treats you may want to try:
- Night Before Christmas Coffee Cake
- Candy Cane Pie
- Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
- Hot Cocoa Dip
- Sticky Toffee Cheese Gingerbread Cookies Dessert
Get the Recipe:
Christmas Crack Cookies
Ingredients
- 24 Ritz crackers
- 1 cup butter unsalted
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 Tbsp Christmas sprinkles, optional
Equipment
- Cupcake liners optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two muffin tins with cute festive cupcake liners (optional) or use silicone cupcake/muffin pans.
- Place a Ritz cracker in the bottom of each muffin cup.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the brown sugar and make sure it's dissloved before bringing the mixture to a rolling boil, continuing to stir for 3 minutes so that the mixture doesn’t burn.
- Remove the butter toffee from the heat and quickly drop a tablespoon onto each Ritz. A cookie scoop is a helpful way to accurately fill each cup about 3/4 full for even distribution.
- Place the tins in the oven and bake for 3-5 minutes.
- Remove the tins from the oven and immediately and while the caramel is still very runny from being hot, press the crackers down to the bottom, and they will stay in place. Then add 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips to each cup.
- Allow the chocolate to melt a bit and then spread the chocolate with the back of a spoon.
- Add the Christmas sprinkles. You can use crushed candy canes instead, if you like.
- Place the assembled Christmas cracker cookies in the fridge to cool and set for 2-3 hours. This tip is important. Always make sure the caramel layer is fully set and cooled before peeling the paper liner if you are using.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Sandy’s tips and substitutions:
- Storage: Keep leftover Christmas crack cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for a few weeks.
- Freeze: For longer storage, freeze these holiday cookies in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Let them soften on the counter before serving again.
- Melt the chocolate separately: For an extra-smooth, glossy chocolate finish, melt the chocolate chips separately in a double boiler or microwave (in 20-second bursts, stirring between each) before spooning onto the warm butter toffee. This gives you more control over spreading.
- Stir constantly: Stir the butter and sugar mixture constantly for the full 3 minutes once it boils. A minute too short and it’ll be runny; a minute too long and it can burn or become grainy when cooled.
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I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
Thank you. I will be doing this for Valentine’s Day. I just heard about using the Ritz crackers at Christmas time and heard it is delish! I like the fact these are made in muffin pans.
Toffee was gritty and sugary. So disappointed. Followed recipe to a T
Here is one tip: When you add the brown sugar, make sure it’s dissloved before bringing the mixture to a rolling boil.
can you melt chocolate and pour on top
I always add the chocolate and let it melt, then spread with a spoon. But you can try pouring a little on top? Let us know if it works!
I’ve tried with cupcake liners but the butter seems to separate and make the bottom of the liner soggy, etc. Preferred method is the silicone muffin/cupcake “tin”.
Hi Denise – did you try our recipe and instructions? We didn’t have any problems at all, the cookies came out very easily.We used fairly sturdy muffin liners, so everything held together well. Also they are completely cooled before you remove the liners!