It was time for another fellowship gathering at our church and I was looking for something different to take when I found this recipe for Saltine Cracker Toffee at www.iheartnaptime.net.

Saltine Cracker Toffee

INGREDIENTS

—50 saltine crackers (approx.)

—2 sticks butter, cubed

— 1 cup soft light brown sugar, packed

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line 9-by-13 jelly roll pan with aluminum foil.

Spray foil with cooking spray and then line pan with saltine crackers.

Place butter in a medium-sized pot over low medium to low heat.

Stir until butter is slightly melted then add sugar.

Once butter is melted, bring to a boil over medium heat for two to three minutes, or until it thickens. Stir constantly. You want the butter and sugar to be combined and a caramel color.

After three minutes, remove pan from heat and pour evenly over saltine crackers.

Spread mixture with a knife, however it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Place pan in oven and bake for six to eight minutes or until lightly golden brown. Do not over bake.

The mixture will spread evenly over the crackers as it bakes.

Remove pan from oven and then take foil off the pan. Allow the toffee to cool, then break pieces off foil.

I wanted something simple to fix and this sounded simple enough.

On Saturday afternoon I gathered the few ingredients needed and lined a 9-by-13 pan with foil.

I sprayed the foil with cooking spray and then started laying the saltine crackers in the pan.

The recipe called for about 50 saltines and there was no way 50 saltines were going to fit into the pan in a single layer, so I pulled out one of my rimmed cookie sheet pans and started laying crackers on it.

I was doing a test before I lined the pan with foil. This pan wouldn’t hold 50 saltines either. So, I pulled out the biggest rimmed baking sheet I have. I lined it with foil and sprayed it with cooking spray. This pan was going to have to work; and it held almost 50 saltines.

The next step was pretty simple. Melt two sticks of butter and add the brown sugar. Let the sugar dissolve and bring the mixture to a boil over low to medium heat.

It seemed like this took forever. I stirred constantly and waited until the mixture thickened.

Next I just had to let it cook for about three minutes. I didn’t stir constantly during the three minutes, but I did stir it often.

I poured the caramel-colored mixture over the crackers, spread it with a knife and put the pan in the oven for eight minutes.

When the pan of saltines came out of the oven, they smelled really good and I could hardly wait to try one.

I let the cracker toffee cool a bit while still on the pan, then removed the foil and crackers from the pan and placed them on a large cooling rack.

It took quite a while for the crackers to cool but once they did, I broke them apart and I took a bite.

I love sweets and these hit the spot. I knew these would probably be a big hit at our church gathering the next day. Because I had plenty of saltines left and the recipe was so simple, I made another batch.

The second time around, I probably got over anxious and had the heat up a little too high because once the cracker toffee baked, the toffee didn’t look the same as the first batch. The second batch looked crumbly, not the crackers, the butter/brown sugar mixture. They tasted just as good, though.

Sunday evening at the fellowship gathering, almost all of the saltine cracker toffee pieces were eaten. They were a hit.

So of course, this recipe Nailed It.

I won’t be making this recipe very often because I don’t think I could stop eating the toffee if it was sitting around my house.

Sarah Condley is an amateur baker and chef who is compiling a cookbook of her favorite recipes.