This cracker candy or "crack candy" is a fun and EASY recipe to celebrate the Mardi Gras season. With the flavors and colors of a king cake recipe, everyone will keep snacking on this king cake cracker candy!
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Cracker Candy is a toffee bark recipe made with a base of saltine crackers. It's a sweet and salty snack that you can't stop eating! Also known as "Crack" candy or cracker bark, it is typically popular during Christmas time, but today we are adding it to our Mardi Gras recipes! My recipe for EASY King Cake Cracker Candy only takes a few minutes to prepare.
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EASY King cake cracker candy recipe
This recipe has the same flavors of king cake, but is much easier to make. Here's what you need:
- Saltine crackers -- serves as the base and the salty of this sweet candy.
- Brown sugar -- I typically use light, but dark works, too.
- Unsalted butter -- we're melting this with the sugar to make toffee.
- Ground cinnamon -- because King Cake has cinnamon and who doesn't love a cinnamon sugar combo?
- White chocolate chips -- these will melt and spread over top as your King Cake "icing".
- Sanding sugar -- you'll need purple, yellow, and green. Separately, not combined.
How to make cracker candy:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place saltine crackers in a single layer on the baking sheet.
- In a medium nonstick saucepan, melt the butter, sugar and cinnamon over medium heat. Allow to boil 3 minutes without stirring.
- Pour hot toffee mixture over the saltine crackers and use a rubber spatula to evenly spread. Bake 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle white chocolate chips evenly over top. Bake another 2 to 3 minutes, until chips soften and can spread.
- Remove from the oven and use a rubber spatula to evenly spread the white chocolate.
- Sprinkle with sanding sugar in diagonal pattern.
- Freeze for 30 minutes, until hardened and can crack into pieces.
This king cake cracker candy will not last long. No one can resist that sweet and salty snack! And, with the cinnamon added in, you better believe this is going to be a favorite.
The "crack" candy you see during Christmas is made with chocolate chips, but for this king cake version we are using white chocolate chips with a decorative sugar topping.
Tips and tricks:
Spreading the white chocolate -- The white chocolate chips may be hard to spread at first, but keep going! You can place the pan back in the oven to melt a minute or two longer, if needed. It's probably easier to use chopped white chocolate baking bars, but that's more expensive.
Sanding sugar -- You can find sanding sugar at any store that carries baking products. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby in a carousel that had all three colors. Michael's and Walmart carries sanding sugar, too.
Homemade sanding sugar -- If you absolutely cannot find purple, yellow and green sanding sugar, you can easily make your own with granulated sugar and food coloring. See my recipe for king cake with instructions on how to make your own sanding sugar.
How long to store cracker candy -- Cracker candy can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator or at room temperature. It should last for up to 2 weeks, but you'll never know because it's going to be gone within a day or two. 😉
Recipe variations
Christmas cracker candy -- I first made cracker candy for Christmas two years ago using this recipe.
Ritz crackers -- I make my Christmas crack recipe with Ritz crackers just because I love Ritz crackers. You can try it with this recipe, too, but I think using saltines might be better since they are white.
Valentine's Day cracker candy -- Instead of purple, yellow and green sanding sugar, top this same recipe with red and pink! Maybe some red hot candies, too!
Other recipes for Mardi Gras:
Printable recipe is below. Leave a comment and/or star rating to let me know what you think! Enjoy!
EASY King Cake Cracker Candy
Ingredients
- 40 saltine crackers
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 12 oz. bag white chocolate chips , about 2 cups
- purple, yellow, and green sanding sugars
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line the bottom and sides of a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. (Tip: Spread butter on bottom of baking sheet to help hold down the paper.)
- Place crackers, salt side down, on baking sheet side-by-side in single layer; set aside.
- In a medium skillet, melt the sugar, butter and cinnamon over medium heat. Once melted, increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 3 minutes, without stirring.
- Pour hot toffee mixture onto crackers in pan. Use a rubber spatula to evenly spread. Bake 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle white chocolate chips evenly over top. Return to oven for another 3 to 4 minutes, until chips will spread. Spread evenly with rubber spatula. (The chips might not spread easily at first, but keep going!)
- Decorate top with sanding sugars, alternating colors in a diagonal pattern. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the counter then freeze for 30 minutes or until hardened.
- Remove from freezer and crack into bite sized pieces. Store candy in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition
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Hayley Costanza says
This King Cake Cracker Candy is AMAZING! My family can’t stop eating it! I’m a Louisiana girl so I love king cake but I do get tired of too much dough. This is a great option for a party snack. It’s crispy and buttery and so pretty on the table. It would be perfect for any special occasion just change the colored sprinkles!
I’m so thankful for this blogger for all the tasty treats!
Nikki Gladd says
Thank you, Hayley!