The delicious Christmas Bark recipe you’ve been looking for! Your family and friends won’t be able to resist these saltine cracker and chocolate snacks!

If you’re reading this post, I’m guessing it’s because you once tried Christmas Bark and now you just need to make it again! Am I close? lol. If that’s the case, then you already know how delicious this recipe is! If this is your first time hearing about Christmas bark, then you’re in for a treat! This recipe is so good. You’re going to make this one year, and then want to make it every year after (or at least your kids will want you to! lol).

Is there anything more special than a homemade gift? When someone puts so much thought into a personal gift, its more meaningful than anything that any store can offer!

My grandma has been passing on these joys to her grandchildren for years. She is the queen of homemade gifts. She has always gifted us with knitted items, or homemade treats. One gift stands out as the best one of all though. She made us a recipe book one year that included all of the recipes that her grandchildren loved.

The recipe book was written by my grandma on the computer – I’m talking about someone who didn’t grow up with a computer or Microsoft Word! It probably took her ages to type out all of the recipes and then to get all of the recipes on their own pages. Then my grandpa spend time cutting and binding all of the pages for her. It’s the cutest thing I can imagine and makes me smile every time I think about it. I bring this recipe book out every year to make my collection of Christmas treats.

The bark recipe I’m sharing here is one of my favourites from her book. It may sound strange to make Christmas cookies with saltine crackers, but the mixture of salt and chocolate is just OH SO GOOD! I used to eat these Christmas cookies every single year when my grandma made them, and I honestly had no idea that they had crackers in them at all, until I was an adult and wanted to make them for myself!

Ingredients for Christmas Bark

There aren’t too many ingredients needed to make these guys happen! My grandmother always put slivered almonds on top of hers, which I loved. But Christmas is also the time of year when red and green M&Ms are available everywhere, and they are another perfect addition to this recipe if you prefer more chocolate, like our family does :)

• 1 package of salted soda crackers
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 pkg chocolate chips
• Red and green M & M’s (or slivered almonds if you prefer)
• Tin foil

How to Make Christmas Bark

All of the steps are shown in order below! If you want to print the recipe, a printable version is available at the bottom of the post as well.

Cover a large cookie sheet with tin foil. Place crackers on cookie sheet (touching side by side).

Melt butter and brown sugar together, boiling until mixture becomes a light caramel colour (it will also give off a nice smell!) – about 5 minutes.

While still hot, pour mixture over crackers. Spread it around evenly with a spoon or spatula so that it covers all of the crackers.

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes, or until caramel is bubbling.  

Remove from oven and spread the chocolate chips over the top right away. Spread chocolate flat with a spatula as it melts. The chocolate will basically start melting as soon as it hits the warm caramel, and it’s easiest to spread when it’s very warm, so do this step as quickly as possible for best results.

Put M & M’s on top (or slivered almonds). Since M&M’s don’t come crushed, we would typically throw a bunch in a ziploc bag and crush them on a cutting board by smashing them with a cup, or something else hard, lol. Put the cookies in the fridge until hardened.

Once hard, remove and break into small pieces. Makes about 80 pieces. Place in a container lined with wax paper and keep in the fridge until they are ready to eat. Keep them cool in between serving them as well to make sure they don’t melt.

I only made these a couple of days ago, and I think between my husband and my kids, half of these Christmas bark cookies are gone already! Hope you enjoy them as much as we do :)

If you like hosting during the holiday season, you’ll LOVE this Crock Pot Hot Chocolate Bar idea!

Print The Recipe for Christmas Bark