Someone needs to come to my house and rip these crazy addictive chocolate toffee things out of my hands. Now. Please! I’m about 3 bites away from calling my own intervention.
If the saying is 'all things that taste good are bad for you', than these are just pure evil.
Here’s the story: Last night I was enjoying an amazing glass of red wine and was struck by a mean craving for chocolate and “crunchy”. The wine was a very nice Australian Shiraz called The Schnell by Magpie Estate; full-bodied, smooth, delicious. My cupboards, not so nice. All I seem to have on hand are the ingredient to make the homemade treats for others, nothing to quickly treat myself with. I needed chocolate and something crunchy and only had about 15 minutes before Jon Stewart began and I could resume my late night couch position. Digging through the cupboards like a ferocious rodent, I spotted a box of Graham Crackers. Yes. Graham Cracker Toffee Crunch… yes… that’ll do just fine. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.
I’ve seen this recipe done with saltines, matzo cracker and graham crackers. I originally discovered the idea on the website of the brilliant David Lebowitz, where he uses the matzo crackers. There he credits the original idea to Marcy Goldman of Betterbaking.com. Being such a popular recipe across food blogs, I’m not sure who to accredit it to but the blog post consensus is always the same: these cookies are painfully addictive!!!
Please, trust me, these cookies are not intended for the weak-willed-cookie-lover. These cookies will change you.
Very easy to make, very quick. You can use crackers or cookies as the base, load it with the homemade toffee and then top it with chocolate to melt. From there the “Cracktastic Cookie” is your canvas; add sliced almonds, chopped pecans, crushed nuts, candy cane pieces, white chocolate drizzle, coconut…. get creative, have some fun with them.
This is where the magic starts to take place. I believe "toffee" is Swedish for "put it in my mouth".
Graham Cracker Toffee Crunch
Recipe adapted from David Lebowitz.com, Smitten Kitchen.com and pretty much every other food blog I adore. (It’s a popular recipe.)
Serves 1 – if, like me, you have a hard time controlling yourself.
- About 20 Graham Crackers
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 1 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar
- big pinch of sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate)
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a rimmed baking sheet (approximately 11 x 17″, 28 x 42cm) completely with foil, making sure the foil goes up and over the edges. Cover the foil with a sheet of parchment paper.
2. Line the bottom of the sheet with your graham crackers, breaking extra pieces as necessary to fill in any spaces. Do your best to create a solid blanket of crackers across the baking sheet.
3. In a large (3-4 quart) heavy duty saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the butter is melted and the mixture is beginning to boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add the salt and vanilla, and pour over graham crackers evenly, spreading with a heatproof spatula if needed.
4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. As it bakes, it will bubble up but make sure it’s not burning every once in a while. If it is in spots, remove from oven and reduce the heat to 325F (160C), then replace the pan.
5. Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes, then spread with an offset spatula. At this point, you can add any toppings you so desire.
Let cool completely, then break into pieces and store in an airtight container until ready to serve. It should keep well for about one week, as if that’s going to be a problem.
Consider this fair warning. I can only hope that your will is greater than mine. Good luck! (and Enjoy! xo)
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What are you trying to do to me??? You know I’ve gained weight since following your blog??
I will have absolutely no control over myself if I make these. So naturally I’m on the fence between running far far away and diving right in.
Did you have any trouble with them sticking to the parchment paper? I sub’d waxed paper which apparently was a really bad idea. It’s very hard to get the dang things off the paper! It’s a dangerously good recipe, though. I am so glad I am giving these away!
I didn’t have an issue peeling from the parchment but they were still warm as I took them off the cookie sheet. I could see in areas, like the outer corners, where they were cooling faster and beginning to stick. Perhaps the secret is impatience and hunger, to get them off the cookie sheet as soon as cool enough to handle.
Wow…looks amazing!!! I have never seen biscuits like this. We don’t have Graham crackers in Australia. I’m sure there’s something similar that can be substituted. How would you describe these crackers, are they a sweet cracker or savoury? Are they salty or not-salty?
http://www.gormandizewithus.blogspot.com
Hi Em,
Graham Crackers are made with honey, white flour, wheat bran and germ so they give a rich, slightly sweet, wheat flavour. For this recipe, the cracker really only lends itself to the texture. You could use any stable (nothing too thin and fragile)cracker, if unsalted, just add a light dusting of fleur de sel to the top chocolate layer.
Your comment lead me to do some reading on the history and origins of the Graham Cracker, get this:
“The Graham cracker was originally marketed as “Dr. Graham’s Honey Biskets” and was conceived of as a health food as part of the Graham Diet, a regimen to suppress what he considered unhealthy carnal urges. Reverend Graham would often lecture about the adverse effects of masturbation or “self-abuse” as it was commonly called at the time. One of his many theories was that one could curb one’s sexual appetite by eating bland foods. Another man who held this belief was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of the corn flakes cereal.”
I’m going to guess they would be pretty disappointed by how sexy we’ve made the Graham Cracker by smothering it in hot toffee and melted chocolate. Sexy.
I’m not sure whether I like you or not, I saw the picture and I want these, NOW! What the heck, I have all the ingredients, so I guess I can like you! Such a simple list of ingredients and the result is perfection!
Pinning!
Hahaha… perhaps a support group for late night chocolate cravers is required.
I made these for a holiday party and they were a hit. I just made more to give out as gifts. Great recipe, thank you for sharing it.
i loved these, added a little more choc chips. Didn’t have any problems with sticking and did stick the whole pan in the frig for cooling.