Many of my favorite dessert recipes originated from my Grandma. This is another of those. She was an outstanding cook and whenever we’d visit at Christmas, I’d sneak cookies out of the back room where she kept them. It didn’t matter that some cookies were already set out, I wanted to see what other kinds were there as well. 🙂 I also copied a few recipes each time we visited. When she passed, I was given her much treasured recipe box. She made two kinds of cracker cookies. One was with graham crackers and called Sunshine Crisps; this one is made with saltines and simply called cracker cookies. They take a couple of minutes on the stovetop and 10 minutes in the oven.
Gather together a sleeve of saltine crackers and lay them out on a 10.5″ x 15.5″ (27 x 39 cm) stoneware dish with a short lip if you have it. Otherwise, a jellyroll pan or other pan with sides will work fine, but you will want to cover the bottom with parchment or heavy duty foil.
Next you’ll gather together vanilla extract, butter, brown sugar, and chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet for this recipe.) If you’d like to make these Christmasy, also put a couple of candy canes in a zip-closed bag and smash them with a sturdy saute pan to crush them.
You’ll need a small saucepan to melt together your butter and sugar. Once melted you simply add the vanilla and pour the mixture over the saltines. Pop it in the oven for 10 minutes, remove, and add your chocolate and mint if desired.
Separate and cool in the fridge and you’re done!
Here are the details:
Ingredients:
About 40 saltine crackers
1 c. butter (1/2 lb, 227 g)
1 c. lightly packed light brown sugar (200 g)
9 oz chocolate chips (255 g)
1 tsp vanilla (5 ml)
candy canes or peppermints, optional.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C).
Lay saltines out on a 10.5″ x 15.5″ (27 x 39 cm) stoneware jelly roll pan or other pan with a short lip around the sides. If you do not use stoneware, line your pan with parchment or heavy duty foil before laying out the crackers. If you don’t they will stick big time.
Put butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan on medium heat. Melt completely and remove from heat; this takes 1-2 minutes. Stir frequently, do not boil, and do not leave this on the heat too long or it will thicken and burn.
Add the vanilla extract to the butter and brown sugar mixture and pour over the saltines.
Put in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Remove, add chocolate chips and let them rest a moment. You’ll see them turn glossy. Spread them to cover the crackers. Sprinkle with crushed mints if desired (To crush: throw them in a zip-closed bag and smash them with a sturdy saute pan.).
To cool, remove them from the stoneware to either a large plastic container or lined cookie sheet (wax paper, parchment, or the glossy side of freezer paper all work well) and put it in the fridge. I don’t recommend cooling first and then separating as they’ll stick together.
Enjoy!
thebakingbooth 