Busyness and Christmas Crack

Sorry for the non-posting. I've been unbelievably busy. I have:

-Survived the Thanksgiving housecleaning, shopping, cooking, eating and leftovers. Thankfully (HA!), Justin's wicked stepsister decided not to come, making dinner actually a pleasant experience.
-Survived shopping and decorating for the ward Christmas Breakfast (I was on the activities committee) and made 8 dozen caramel pecan rolls (recipe is on the sidebar).
-Crocheted 5 hats for Justin's cousin (she's in the oncology ward), 1 for Alana and 1 for me.
-Finished Mindy's scarf (can I get a picture of that? I forgot to get one before I posted it)
-Knitted scarves for Liam and Alana. Alana loves her and Liam hates his.
-Finished Christmas shopping for all my siblings and their brood. Thank goodness for Costco.
-Half finished Christmas shopping for Justin and the kids.

So on to the fun stuff. I've heard of this recipe and I needed a quick treat for an event, so decided to give it a shot. It's great because it uses stuff most people keep in their pantry. I used a half sheet pan, so it ended up being a little thinner. I'd do it in a regular cookie sheet or double the recipe. It's called Christmas Crack for two reasons. One is that you "crack" it like toffee and the other is that it's very addictive like, well, crack.

Christmas Crack


About 1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar (dark brown apparently does make a lot of difference, we made it with light brown and it was still good)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans


1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C)


2) Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and line saltine crackers in single layer


3) In a saucepan combine the sugar and the butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes (Do not stir). Immediately pour over saltines and spread t cover crackers completely.


4) Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let sit for 5 minutes. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts. Cool completely and break into pieces. (We threw it into the freezer to cool it down faster. Took about an hour)

Other ideas I had for variations:

-Substitute saltines with 2 cups crushed pretzels mixed with 1 cup melted butter.
-Melt the chocolate in advance and mix a some creamy peanut butter in.
-Use butterscotch chips instead of or in addition to the semi sweet
-Use mint chocolate chips
-Substitute peanuts, cashews, almonds, etc for the nuts.