Salty Toffee Bark

I was going to post something savory until I realized that its getting painfully close to Christmas and it is my duty to supply you with as many potential cookie tray desserts as possible. Plus, at work today the office was gifted 3 enormous tins of treats—so I've been thinking about holiday treats pretty much all day.

I first came across this delicious creation while shopping with my family in Ellicott City, an amazing antique shopping destination in Maryland. A lady that owned one of the stores there offered us some delightful looking toffee and staying true to our policy of never refusing dessert, we gave it a try. It was incredible! Granted, anything sweet AND salty is pretty much heaven in my book, but these just really yummy.

I asked her for the recipe and she scratched it down on a sticky note for me. Luckily it didn't disappear into the bottomless hole that is my purse because I still have it today! I hope that it makes it on to a few of your cookie trays this year!

Super simple cast of characters here.

Salty Toffee Bark
Ingredients:

• 40 salted saltine crackers or enough to line your pan
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• ½ to full bag of chocolate covered heath bits

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees and line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. You really want to go with a rimmed jelly roll pan on this one because using a cookie sheet could get very messy. Line saltine crackers in a single layer on the pan.

In a small pot, combine butter and sugar and bring to a boil. Once the mixture has come to a boil, continue boiling for 3 minutes, giving it a few stirs here and there. It should become a deep and beautiful caramelly color. At this point, pour over saltines and spread with a spatula to cover the crackers. Don't leave any gaps!

Now pop it in the oven and bake for 5 or 6 minutes. It will bubble. Then remove it from the oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. At first it will look as though the chocolate chips are rock solid, but mine softened nicely after a few minutes. If you're nervous that they won't, you can stick them in a bowl and nuke them in the microwave for about a minute before lopping them on top.

Once the chocolate is all melty, spread it on evenly and top with lots of delicious heath bits! Because heath bits make pretty much every dessert better. 

Cool completely. (I almost always stick these in the fridge or even the freezer for a couple of hours...they break better that way) Then simply break them into pieces! They will look all jagged and rustic like tree bark. It ends up giving a nice festive look to your cookie tray. In this case, I combined them with chocolate chip cookies and gave them away in little bowls for friends. 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!