This toffee pretzel bark is a holiday favorite.  Toffee pretzel bark aka christmas crack. You can’t stop eating it. It’s that good. It also doesn’t involve a lot of time or ingredients. You can find the cracker recipe version here if you’re so inclined for the original version. I personally prefer the real toffee version.

I don’t know how other recipe bloggers do it. Some seem to effortlessly bang out their “12 Days of Baking” and recipe posts and style their photos to magazine worthy editorials. Me? Meh. I’m lucky I can squeeze my baking into a weekend marathon while snapping some decent photos.

Then I look at my photos, wine in hand, and remind myself not to compare myself to other recipe bloggers. I did manage to get my Hard Tack Candy recipe posted.

Technically, it’s still the holiday season, so I’m going to go ahead and post this Salted Chocolate Toffee Bark anyway. If we wanted to be optimistic, we can say I’m getting a super early head start for next year.

I usually make the saltine cracker chocolate “toffee-like” treat every year. A nursing coworker gave it to me as a gift some years back when we worked Labor and Delivery together. One bite in, and I understood how it got its nickname, Christmas Crack.

Although, I’m never truly satisfied with the “toffee-like” impostor. I mean, why call it toffee, if it’s not really toffee? So this year, I decided I’m just going to go for it. I mean really really go for it and make actual toffee instead.

Rather than use crackers, why not use pretzels?  Heck, if I’m going that far, why not top the warm chocolatey goodness off with some salty crushed cashews? A perfectly salted top and bottom with buttery crunchy sweet sandwiched in. Now that’s what gets me going.

I made two batches to give away as gifts. If you don’t love salty buttery crunchy chocolatey gifts, well, you may be lacking some holiday spirit.

Toffee Pretzel Bark aka Christmas Crack:

Happy Holidays!

Recipe Type: Dessert/Candy

Author: Sherri @ The Kitchen Prescription

Crunchy buttery toffee marries sweet salty. Quick and easy recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 sticks salted butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar ( I use organic)
• 3 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla (***optional)
• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup crushed cashews
• 1 large bag salted pretzels
• ITEMS:
• Heavy bottom sauce pot
• Candy thermometer (not required, but handy ****can use a glass of ice water to test)
• Silicon spatula or wooden spoon
• Silpat or greased baking sheet

Instructions

1. ****Recipe makes enough for one batch.
2. ****Have items and ingredients measured, lined up and ready to go.
3. Line Silpat or greased baking sheet with pretzels
4. In deep heavy bottom pot, add butter, sugar, water,and corn syrup.
5. Fasten candy thermometer to side of pot so that bulb is not touching bottom of the pan. This will cause inaccurate reading.
6. On medium heat, melt mixture stirring until all ingredients are melted and smooth.
7. When mixture reaches 212 degrees it will begin to boil. Try not to stir after this happens.
8. Continue to let mixture boil.
9. As the liquid evaporates the mixture will begin to thicken and get very bubbly.
10. At 285 through 300 degrees will be the crack stage.
11. ***If you don’t have a thermometer, keep a glass of ice water next to you and drop in a small spoonful of the mixture. Give it a second to cool down. If it is chewy and soft, it needs to cook more. When the mixture is has a crunchy texture, it has reached the crack stage.
12. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
13. Pour hot mixture over pretzels and smooth out evenly.
14. Add semi sweet chocolate to top of toffee and let melt for a few minutes.
15. Smooth with a spatula
16. Top with crushed cashews.
17. When completely cooled break apart and store in airtight container.
18. Makes a great holiday gift for coworkers, friends, and family.

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