My mother is known for making amazing desserts. Her Strawberry Pie and her Lemon Squares are both famous in my tiny hometown. Her latest creation is this crispy caramel toffee bark. I know, the recipe sounds a little wacky since the crispy center is actually a saltine cracker, but trust us on this one. When I arrived at my parents' home in Maine last week, my Mom had this treat waiting in the fridge, and throughout the weekend I kept catching people sneaking back into the fridge for more.
The butter and brown sugar becomes a toffee that sinks to the bottom of the bark. The saltines add a hint of crunch in the center, and the chocolate and nuts go on top.
This is a very simple recipe that is made with ingredients you might already have at home. It's the type of thing that you can throw together when you need to bring a dessert to a party, without it taking more than 30 minutes of time to prepare. You could also add some pretty packaging and make it as a holiday gift.
While the recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate chips, you can definitely change it up. I think dark chocolate or milk chocolate are fine options too. You can use pecans, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, or hazelnuts. You can opt to omit the nuts if you want to be friendly to those with allergies. (But maybe throw some sprinkles on top to make the bark a bit prettier). When I made this at home, I am going to use milk chocolate and peanuts.
Ingredients
- 4 ounces Saltines
- 1 cup Butter
- 1 cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- ¾ cup Nuts Mom used Slivered Almonds
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Lay a single layer of saltines on a 10x15 inch cookie sheet with edges.
- Place the butter and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir frequently until the mixture comes to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes, continuing to stir.
- Pour the hot mixture over the saltines.
- Bake for 7 minutes, then remove from the oven, and cover with chocolate chips.
- After about 5 minutes the chocolate chips will be melted and you can use a knife to evenly spread out the chocolate.
- Top with the chopped nuts.
- Mom says to take a metal spatula and to run it around the edges of the pan to help loosen it up after 15 minutes. Be very careful since it's still very hot.
- Once the bark has cooled completely, break it into pieces.
