Christmas Crunch
Founder / Chef / Everyone’s Best Friend
Andy Hay
Welcome to my kitchen. I hope to inspire you to grow as a home cook!
Christmas crunch is a classic holiday sweet that has been served around North America since the 70’s. Sweet, salty, and crunchy this treat is wildly addicting, super easy to make, and only uses 5 ingredients. Saltine crackers covered in caramel, chocolate, and your favourite Christmas candy— hard to beat that! The perfect Christmas cookie for your cookie exchange this holiday season!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 40 saltine crackers
- 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
Toppings
- 1/4 cup crushed candy canes
- 1/4 cup toast pecans
- 1/4 cup m&m's
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 10X15 inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- Into a pot add the butter and brown sugar oven medium heat. Allow the butter and sugar to melt and then stir until they become combined. After a few minutes the mixture should start to bubble. This is good. Allow the mixture to bubble away for about 5-6 minutes. Try to avoid over stirring or it will separate.
- While caramel is bubbling, line the baking sheet with saltine crackers. You should be able to fit close to 40 crackers on the pan.
- When the caramel is done, pour it over the crackers and using a non stick or off set spatula, smear the caramel to all corners of the pan. Once covered, pop the tray back into the oven for 5 minutes.
- After five minutes, remove the pan from the oven and immediately sprinkle on the chocolate chips evening across the crackers. Allow the chocolate to sit on the hot crackers undisturbed for 5 minutes or until the chocolate chips become shinny. If the chocolate chips have trouble melting pop the tray into the oven for 2 minutes. Once the chocolate is shiny, smear the chocolate across the top of the crackers. Make sure the whole top is fully covered.
- While the chocolate is still melted it's time to decorate. Sprinkle your toppings on and then pop the whole tray into the fridge or freezer until fully set. About 2 hours.
- After two hours, pop the crack out of the tray and using your hands or a knife, break apart and enjoy!
How to make Christmas Crunch
This sweet recipe is really easy and super fun to make. Start by grabbing yourself a large baking sheet and covering it in parchment paper. I also go the extra mile to spray it with some cooking spray to avoid and sticking. From there line the baking try with saltine crackers. Depending on the size of the tray you should be able to fit around 30-40 crackers.
Making your caramel
Don’t stress about this caramel. There is no need for candy thermometer or anything like that. All you need to to is throw 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar into a pot and place it over medium heat. Allow the butter and sugar to melt, and then stir until the two come together. Allow the mixture to bubble away on the stove for about 5-6 minutes, stirring every now and then. Keep an eye on the pot just to make sure the sugar mixture doesn’t boil over. After about 5-6 minutes or bubbling, remove from the heat and pour over the crackers. Smear the caramel over all of the crackers and then pop it in the over for 5 minutes!
Topping Time!
Most of the work is now completed. From here, you are going to remove the pan from the oven and pour 2 cups of chocolate chips over the top crackers and caramel. Spread the chocolate out and let the chocolate chips just sit on the warm crackers for about 5 minutes. Once the chocolate is shiny, smear it over the top of the crackers. How satisfying? If the chocolate is having a bit of trouble melting, you can pop the tray back into the oven for 2-3 minutes.
While the chocolate is still melted, it’s time to add on the toppings. You can take this in any direction you can imagine here. I added on crushed up candy canes, red and green m&m’s, and roasted pecans. The sky is the limit here. This is a great activity to do with the kids! Once you have the toppings on, you can pop the whole tray into the fridge or freezer to firm up, and then time to enjoy!
Once the chocolate is firm and the caramel is set you can break apart the Christmas crunch and enjoy! Sweet, salty, crunchy, chocolatey. Enjoy!
Andy Hay
Andy is the founder of ECK, Chef, and let’s admit it… the reason you’re here. He taught himself to cook, and it all paid off when he secured his spot in the season 5 Finale of Master Chef Canada. Now, Andy uses his big energy to showcase recipes that actually make people want to cook. His brand was built on butter and East Coast charm, and Andy’s kept that same energy ever since. Off-camera, you’ll find him doing what started it all: cooking for his two daughters, wife and the people he loves.
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Will make this for sure Thank you for your useful recipes.
Thanks, Gail!
These are so simple to make and always turn out yummy 🙂
I love that you can make your own variations and my kids love them at Christmas.
So glad they’re a hit—and love that they’ve become a Christmas favorite with your kids!
Hi Andy, love this easy recipe. Does it keep well in the freezer?
So glad you loved it, Meg! You can definitely freeze this. Just store it in an airtight container or freezer bag, and it’ll keep for several weeks.
Can’t wait to make this for the holidays. Will comment back to let you know of the results. Thanks for posting this !
Can’t wait to hear how it turns out—hope it’s a hit at the holidays! Thanks for giving it a try!