My 4-Ingredient Retro Dessert Is Perfect for the Holidays

They take just three steps to make.

Buttery and light Club Crackers are one of the few crackers I will happily eat straight-up, no spreads or toppings required. They’re delightfully self-contained. Even so, when I ran across a recipe for an easy sweet snack with Club Crackers as the base and crunchy toffee on top, I had to try it. I’m so glad I did.

These Club Cracker cookies aren’t really cookies, but they’re not quite crackers or candy, either. Whatever you call them, know that it takes a lot of willpower to eat just one.

In the early 2000s, I worked in the marketing department at a small artisan chocolate factory. We had a service, WebClips, that sent us press clippings every month mentioning our business. The sheaf of newspaper and magazine articles mainly contained recipes mentioning our brand, but that did mean I got to browse through lots of recipes for chocolate.

Somehow, the one recipe I set aside for myself contained no chocolate at all. All it said at the top of the page was “Winner, Easy Cookies. Judy Beaudoin of Bedford says she got this winning recipe from her sister in Dickinson, N.D., but adds that it’s ‘a good Texas recipe’ because it doesn’t get messy in hot weather.”

Why You Should Make These “Cookies”

Judy’s recipe intrigued me, and while I added it to my accordion file, I didn’t get around to making it for a good 20 years. After making Club Cracker cookies, I can vouch that they are both easy and worthy of winning a recipe contest. 

All you do is simmer butter and sugar together for a few minutes, pour it over a grid of Club Crackers, sprinkle nuts over the whole works, and bake it until the topping bubbles. The result is akin to Christmas cracker candy or matzo toffee, yet the absence of melted chocolate somehow heightens the contrast of the brittle toffee and the salty, crispy crackers. I love how the exposed edges of some of the crackers get a little browned and toasty in the oven and how the toffee coats some of the crackers more than others.

They’d be excellent for packaging up as gifts for the holidays or as an addition to a cookie tin to add an element of intrigue. They’d also be good for making with kids (something Judy noted in the original recipe clipping). 

How To Make Club Cracker Cookies

For about 42 cracker cookies, you’ll need:

• 42 Club Crackers
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, such as almonds or pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with greased foil or a silicone baking mat. Arrange the Club Crackers in a grid, 6 crackers wide and 7 crackers long. Close any gaps so the crackers touch each other as much as possible.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the sugar and salt and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes, still stirring, reducing the heat as needed to maintain a strong simmer. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Working quickly, drizzle the topping over the crackers and use an offset metal spatula to spread it as thinly and evenly across as many crackers as you can. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Sprinkle the nuts over the cookies and then bake until the topping is bubbling, 8 to 12 minutes. Judy’s recipe says to transfer the cookies to a cooling rack at this point, but I let them cool on the sheet and then broke them apart into individual pieces with no problem.

Store the cookies in a tightly covered container for up to 4 days. The topping will get a little softer each day, but the cookies will still be tasty.

Tips for Making Club Cracker Cookies

• As fond as I am of saving money from buying store brands, I will say there’s a marked difference in quality between Club Crackers and fake Club Crackers. The real thing is worth splurging on for this super simple recipe. 
• I used chopped almonds, but any nut you enjoy would work here–pecans, walnuts, pistachios, or hazelnuts.
• If you don’t like nuts, don’t use them.
• Should chocolate feel necessary, drizzle melted chocolate over the cookies after they come out of the oven and have had a chance to set.