If you’re ready to take the classic salty-sweet crunch of traditional cracker candy to a whole new level, you’ve come to the right place. This bumped-up version of cracker candy combines the crispness of saltine crackers with a rich, buttery toffee, a smooth layer of melted chocolate, a colorful shower of sprinkles, decorative Milk Chocolate M&M’s, and crunchy unsweetened shredded coconut. And, the best part is, you can swap out the sprinkles and M&M’s for any color combo your lil’ heart desires, which means this treat is ready to easily dress up for any holiday, birthday, or random Wednesday that needs a little extra sweetness.
Around here, when it comes to dessert, the one thing I have always, always, always been known for is my “Crack.” Otherwise known as cracker candy. But somehow or other, sadly, it seems that I haven’t made it for years. I can’t quite put my finger on exactly when my beloved cracker candy slipped quietly out of rotation. Maybe it was the whole COVID situation, or the fact that B.O.B. Bob changed jobs and it was no longer an expected and demanded treat, or maybe it was just me, suddenly working from home, with zero coworkers to now foist my latest batch of sweets upon. Heck, perhaps it was simply that I became obsessed with Christmas Cookies Week and let one of my favorite sweet treats slip through the cracks. No pun intended. Whatever the reason, it’s one of those desserts that, overnight, simply seemed to disappear from our lives for absolutely no apparent reason.
But this Easter season, I suddenly got a big ol’ bee in my bonnet and decided that “Crack” needed to happen again. Now, of course, things totally went awry, as things tend to do, when I’m spending time in the kitchen. When I went to open up and crush a bag of Cadbury Royal Dark Mini Eggs, my lovely neighbor, Sandy, had recently gifted me, all of my plans for decorating the top of this batch of cracker candy for Easter were instantly abandoned. Unbeknownst to me, I’d only ever had the milk chocolate version, so I wasn’t prepared for the completely odd, and so not very spring-like colors the dark chocolate version has compared to the milk chocolate version. One look at those suckers and I instantly thought, ” Nope, nope, nope, that’s so not gonna work.” If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, look it up online. Their colors are horrendous, and any Cadbury Easter Bunny who thinks that they are acceptable for spring should be fired immediately.
Anyway, after realizing that my first plan was a total no-go, I dug through my baking jar and found a random bag of Milk Chocolate M&M’s I had purchased sometime recently, containing bright blue, pale blue, and white colored M&M’s. I figured that I could pick out all of the bright blue ones and set them aside for the 4th of July, while using the pale blue and white ones for this recipe. Annoyingly, after adding them to the cracker candy along with the sprinkles, I still felt like something was missing. So, I quickly rummaged through our pantry looking to see what we had to jazz things up. I settled on unsweetened shredded coconut because, to me, coconut always screams Easter, and it adds great flavor and a ton of texture. Now, I totally get it if you aren’t a coconut fan, but around here, we certainly are. If you find coconut off-putting, just omit it from the recipe. Don’t let it stop you from making this dreamy, sweet treat. Either way, cracker candy is “Crack,” so I know for certain you’ll instantly fall head over heels for it.
Ingredients:
- 1 Sleeve Saltine Crackers
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 (10-oz.) Bag Miniature Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
- Miscellaneous Pastel Sprinkles
- 1/2 Cup Pastel Blend Milk Chocolate M&M’s
- 1/3 Cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap a cookie sheet in tin foil. Line the cookie sheet with the saltine crackers, making sure that they touch one another. Don’t worry if part of the sheet is empty.
- Place the butter, sugar, and sea salt in a heavy-bottomed, nonstick-coated medium saucepan over high heat. Stir constantly for five to seven minutes with a silicone spatula. The mixture should be thick and bubbly. Turn off the heat, add the vanilla, and stir until incorporated.
- Carefully pour the mixture over the crackers, then use a spatula to spread it evenly.
- Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, or until medium golden brown.
- Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and place it on top of the stove. Use a fork to push all of the crackers back together. Sprinkle the mini chocolate morsels over the crackers, then allow them to rest for 5 minutes.
- Use a cake spatula or silicone spatula to spread the melted chocolate over the crackers. Toss on the sprinkles.
- Arrange the M&M’s evenly over the cracker candy, then sprinkle with shredded coconut.
- Allow to rest for several hours or until the chocolate has hardened, or place the cookie sheet in a fridge or freezer to quicken the process.
- Cut or break the cracker candy into pieces and then store them in an airtight container.
Suggestions:
- Using a heavy-bottom, nonstick-coated medium saucepan is a must. You don’t want the butter and sugar mixture to burn, and you definitely don’t want to spend hours cleaning the saucepan used for this recipe. Make sure to place every item used for cooking this recipe in hot water as soon as you are done using it. It will make the cleanup process much easier.
- Spreading the mixture over the crackers with a spatula will help to distribute the butter and sugar evenly. You want every cracker to develop a “toffee” topping; otherwise, someone will just be eating a cracker coated in chocolate.
- You can find more tips and techniques for making cracker candy right HERE. I’ve broken down the steps even further to ensure absolute success with cracker candy.
- Our original cracker candy recipe calls for a 12-oz. bag of miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips. As with most products, the size of a bag of chocolate chips has been reduced over the years. Fewer chocolate chips won’t hurt this recipe.
- Because of the large amount of butter in this recipe, I prefer to store cracker candy in the fridge and bring it out half an hour to an hour before serving.
Improvements:
- Before making your cracker candy, toast the unsweetened shredded coconut in the oven. When the oven is preheated, spread the coconut evenly on a sheet pan. Bake for 2 minutes, stir, and repeat in 2-minute intervals until the coconut is golden brown.
- Sprinkle on a few mini marshmallows to symbolize bunny tails.
- You can swap in any color blend of sprinkles and/or M&M’s to customize this recipe for any holiday or occasion.
- Drizzle the chocolate-covered cracker candy with a little melted white chocolate before decorating it with the sprinkles, M&M’s, and shredded coconut.
Ingredients:
- 1 Sleeve Saltine Crackers
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 (10-oz.) Bag Miniature Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
- Miscellaneous Pastel Sprinkles
- 1/2 Cup Pastel Blend Milk Chocolate M&M's
- 1/3 Cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap a cookie sheet in tin foil. Line the cookie sheet with the saltine crackers, making sure that they touch one another. Don’t worry if part of the sheet is empty.
- Place the butter, sugar, and sea salt in a heavy-bottomed, nonstick-coated medium saucepan over high heat. Stir constantly for five to seven minutes with a silicone spatula. The mixture should be thick and bubbly. Turn off the heat, add the vanilla, and stir until incorporated.
- Carefully pour the mixture over the crackers, then use a spatula to spread it evenly.
- Bake for 5 to 7 minutes, or until medium golden brown.
- Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and place it on top of the stove. Use a fork to push all of the crackers back together. Sprinkle the mini chocolate morsels over the crackers, then allow them to rest for 5 minutes.
- Use a cake spatula or silicone spatula to spread the melted chocolate over the crackers. Toss on the sprinkles.
- Arrange the M&M's evenly over the cracker candy, then sprinkle with shredded coconut.
- Allow to rest for several hours or until the chocolate has hardened, or place the cookie sheet in a fridge or freezer to quicken the process.
- Cut or break the cracker candy into pieces and then store them in an airtight container.
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