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Skip the candy making! These Crack Cookies give you all the buttery, chocolatey, toffee filled flavor of Christmas crack in one easy cookie recipe. Gooey, salty, and completely irresistible.
Why You’ll Be Obsessed With These Cookies
- No separate candy making step. You get all the buttery, toffee like flavor of Christmas crack, without having to make the crack first.
- Perfectly balanced flavor. Browned butter, toffee, and chocolate create deep, nutty sweetness that’s cut with flaky salt and crisp crackers.
- Texture perfection. Every bite hits gooey, chewy, and crunchy all at once, for the ultimate Christmas crack cookie texture.
Christmas Crack Cookies Ingredients
- Saltines & Swaps: Leave saltines in medium chunks for texture, or use pretzels, graham crackers, Golden Grahams, cornflakes, Biscoff, or small oyster crackers.
- Butter: Browning butter adds a rich, nutty flavor that deepens the toffee flavor. I think it’s worth the extra step.
- Toffee: Use toffee bits, chopped bars, or crushed Werther’s Originals. Larger chunks add crunch. You can even use homemade toffee!
- Chocolate: Semi-sweet works best, but any type is fine. Use quality chocolate (Guittard or chopped bars) for better melting and flavor.
- Flaky Sea Salt: Don’t skip this! The salt balances the sweetness and enhances the crackers’ saltiness. Keep some flakes whole for texture.
How to Make Christmas Crack Cookies
This crack cookie recipe is so easy! You don’t have to make Christmas crack first. I wanted to give all of the flavors without the extra work.
Brown Butter & Combine
- Brown Butter: Preheat the oven to 350°F, then line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Cut the butter into pieces, then cook in a medium saucepan over medium heat for about 8 minutes. Whisk often, until foamy, nutty, and golden brown. Remove from heat, then transfer to a heat safe dish to cool to room temperature.
- Dry Ingredients: Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to a medium bowl and whisk to combine, then set aside.
- Combine Sugar & Butter: Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and the cooled browned butter to a large bowl. Beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 1-2 minutes, until combined.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and sour cream to the sugar mixture and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
Combine, Chill, Bake
- Combine Dry & Wet Ingredients: Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix until all the flour has been incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Chill Dough: Stir in the chocolate chips, toffee bits, and the crushed saltine crackers. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, then chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Bake: Once chilled, use a medium cookie scoop to scoop 1 ½ tablespoon sized cookie dough balls onto the baking sheets. Leave about 2 inches between them. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the centers still look slightly underbaked. Immediately upon removing the Christmas crack cookies from the oven, sprinkle each with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Then let them cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Alyssa’s Pro Tip
“Instagram-Worthy” Cookies: Gently press a few extra bits of toffee, chocolate, and cracker pieces into the tops right after baking. Move fast, hot toffee sets quickly.
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Christmas Crack Cookies
Chewy, buttery Christmas Crack Cookies packed with toffee, chocolate, and flaky sea salt. The perfect mix of sweet, salty, and totally irresistible.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
- ¾ cup toffee bits or crushed toffee candies
- ½ cup lightly crushed saltine crackers
- flaky sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Cut 1 cup unsalted butter into pieces, add it to a small saucepan, and heat over medium heat. Cook for about 8 minutes, whisking frequently as the butter browns. It will get quite foamy and bubble up a bit before it starts to smell very nutty and turn golden brown in color.. Remove from the heat and transfer to a small heat-safe dish to cool to room temperature.
- Add 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Add 1 cup packed light brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, and the cooled browned butter to a large bowl and beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 1-2 minutes, until combined.
- Add 1 large egg, 1 egg yolk, 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon sour cream to the sugar mixture and mix until combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix just until all the flour has been incorporated, again scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Stir in the ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks, ¾ cup toffee bits, and ½ cup lightly crushed saltine crackers. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Once chilled, use a medium cookie scoop to scoop 1 ½ tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between them.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the centers still look slightly underbaked. Immediately upon coming out of the oven, sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of flaky sea saltflaky sea salt before letting the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Storage & Freezing Instructions
- Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
- Freezing Baked Cookies: Let cookies cool completely, then layer them with parchment paper in an airtight container. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Freezing Cookie Dough: Scoop dough into individual portions on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid (about 2 hours). Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
- To Bake from Frozen: Bake dough straight from the freezer—just add a few extra minutes to the baking time.
Nutrition
Calories: 213kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 2gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 118mgPotassium: 60mgFiber: 1gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 300IUVitamin C: 0.02mgCalcium: 18mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!
I love your recipes but get tired of having to copy and paste because of the extra verbiage in the instructions. Am I the only one that doesn’t like to have the ingredients listed again in the numbered steps? Thank you. (probably most people use their tablet for recipes. I guess I am just old fashioned and like a printed recipe. :O) Thankyou, I am probably the odd man out.
I Tracey, I totally understand. At the top of the page is a pink rectangle that says Jump To Recipe. If you click on that, it will take you straight to the “recipe card.” Then click on the pink “Print” button. That will open up a page with all of the ingredients and instructions ready for you to print! I hope this helps!
Awesome recipe! Tastes great.
Yes, the dough got crumbly when it was cold, but it came together fine. They baked up great.
I put the dough in the refrigerator and it got all crumbly and dry. I let it come to room temp and then back on the mixer and added a teaspoon of vegetable oil. That didn’t bring it together so then I added a 1/4 cup of warm water and mixed with the mixer again until the dough came back together. Baked them for 12 minutes and let them cool on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes before putting them on the cooling rack. Very tasty but not as chunky as I would have liked them since I had to mix them again.
I’m sorry it ended up crumbly. I would recommend reducing the flour to 2 cups even. I bet the climate where you live affected the amount of moisture. So reducing the flour slightly should fix that! And if you want more chunks, you could totally up the chocolate chips and toffee bits to 1 cup each, and the saltine crackers to 2/3 or 3/4 cups!
Do the saltines get mushy?
Nope! They stay crunchy!