Christmas Crack Recipe

How to Make the Simplest Christmas Crack This Holiday

My wife arrived home with holiday glee in her eyes and tales of an incredible Christmas treat prepared by her boss that she had to recreate for our family and friends immediately. She could barely set down the bags of ingredients she just purchased for this addictive snack before grabbing our largest mixing bowl and getting to work.

Apparently, her boss prepares this enticing Yuletide nosh that her staff affectionately calls "Christmas Crack” each year during the holiday season.  To some, it is a long-awaited delight. To others trying to be good to their diet, it is a cause of ruination. To all, it is a source of obsession.

I don’t know if this is Kelly’s creation, a secret family recipe handed down through the ages, or something she discovered online, but that doesn’t matter. When Kelly’s Christmas concoction arrives at the office, the entire staff knows the holiday season has begun.

Researching Christmas Crack

I wanted to know where this ingenious concept came from so I quickly searched on Google for “Christmas Crack” and found many versions. Most of them are made with crackers, hence “crack,” and some version of toffee, a concoction of sugar and butter.

When my wife referred to it as “Christmas Crack,” I immediately thought of a reference to crack cocaine because of its addictive characteristics, plus there were no crackers in the ingredients she gathered for her concoction.

A common thread throughout most recipes I found is that they are filled with abundant sweet and salty treats. Go to the supermarket, walk down the snack aisle, and purchase some of your favorite sweet treats like M&M’s, peppermint toffee, or chocolate chips. Then grab some salty favorites, pretzels, chex cereals, or nuts. Now we’re cookin’ – or are we?

Many of the top 10 recipes I found in my search call for heating up the oven and baking the ingredients for 5 to 10 minutes. My wife's recipe has none, although you must melt the chocolate.

You mix all the ingredients in a big bowl, combine them with the melted chocolate, spread them out on a large sheet of wax paper, and let them dry for an hour. Easy peasy.

My Christmas Crack Conclusions

Have fun with this one. The recipe below can be used as a starting point. Follow it to the letter or add some of your own favorite snacks and treats. You may want to make it spicier by adding a hot and spicy treat—or more Christmassy by adding peppermint or roasted chestnuts.

Just make sure they are incredibly sweet and salty and probably not that good for you. Please share some of your ideas in the comments section below.

Also, be sure to check out some of the other recipes on the Internet that suggest crackers, typically saltines, and call for a short period of baking. I don’t think you can go too terribly wrong with any of the tasty examples you’ll find. Just have fun and don’t eat too much of this stuff… it’s addictive.

📖 Recipe

Print Recipe

Kellys Christmas Crack

A Christmas Snack Called Crack

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 people

Ingredients

• 2 cups pretzel sticks or pretzel snaps
• 6 cups Rice Chex with Wheat Chex and Cheerios
• 1 cup salted sunflower seeds shelled
• 3 cups M&M’s
• 24 ounces’ white chocolate we used white chocolate chips

Instructions

• Use a bowl that’s large enough to hold all the ingredients. Combine the pretzels, Rice & Wheat Chex, Cheerios, sunflower seeds and M&M’s.
• Melt the chocolate.

  I find the easiest way melt the chocolate is using a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, fill a larger frying pan with an inch or two of water that you’ll heat up on the stove and place a slightly smaller pan in the larger one where you’ll melt the chocolate chips.
• It is critical you continuously stir the chocolate until it melts. Be patient, it doesn’t take that long.

  And be extremely careful not to let any water get into the chocolate while you are mixing it or it can break.

  As an alternative, you can use a microwave to melt the chocolate but I’m not too fond of this method and suggest using the double boiler method instead.

  If you want to use the microwave, adjust it to heat at 50% strength, heat the chocolate for 30 seconds, remove, stir and repeat as many times as necessary to melt the chocolate.
• Either way, once the chocolate melts and has a smooth consistency, add it to the mixture of sweet and salty snacks and combine with a wooden or plastic spoon. You can use your hands but it gets messy.
• When all the ingredients are coated, transfer them to a large sheet of wax paper to dry. It should take about an hour to cool and firm up.

  At that point “crack” the chocolate-covered treats into medium sized pieces and store in airtight containers until you’re ready for a fix.