Every other holiday season I make these Saltine Toffee Cookies and have been trying to make these salty, sweet, crunchy, toffee cookies incrementally better than past renditions. I first learned about these easy, but multi-dimensional cookies in junior high home economics class. I would watch our jolly instructor pour the toffee syrup onto the saltines and spread the melted chips onto the cookie. What would to result is a fast, but complex holiday cookie.

Some new tips to offer, include make sure the salt side is pan side down, so when one bites into the cookie, the salt flavor directly hits the tongue and counteracts the chocolate and sweetness of the toffee.

Dark or light brown sugar do not make the best caramel, flavor, I think regular brown sugar makes the toffee the perfect flavor.

Finally, the recipe used to have 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 cup is perfect. Just a thin layer of chocolate enables the salty and sweet to sing through versus be overly burdened by sweet chocolate.

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

• 4 oz (1 sleeve) saltine crackers
• 1 C (2 sticks) butter
• 1 C regular brown sugar
• 1 C semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with the saltine crackers in a single layer. Combine the sugar and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Immediately pour over the saltines and spread the mixture to cover the crackers completely. Bake for 5-6 minutes. Removes from the oven and sprinkle on the chocolate chips evenly. Let sit for 5 minutes. Spread the melted chocolate chips. Cool completely and break into pieces.

Boiling toffee mixture

Pour toffee mixture over salt side down saltines

Sprinkle and melt chocolate chips for an additional 8 minutes in the oven

Spread thin layer of melted chocolate over saltine toffee cookie.

Let chocolate cool and add chopped nuts (optional). Break cookie in pieces.