The original recipe is called Confetti Crisps and can be found in the Delightful Desserts cookbook.
First off use a large bar pan and line it with 40 saltine crackers. These will be a tight fit but you want it that way. make them as flat as possible; you want them all touching the bottom of the pan. You will learn as I have that a lot of saltine crackers are actually rectangle and not square as they seem, for this reason you might have to rotate some to make them fit.
See how my large bar pan is very dark? That's how you want your stone to look; the darker the better and it takes years to make it look this good! Although mine does have circles all over it from how often I bake cookies on them.
In a 2qt saucepan put 3/4 cup butter (do not use margarine), 3/4 cup brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, with a mix n' scraper until the mixture boils. Once it starts to boil start a 4 minute timer, I had mine set beforehand to make things move smoother, and stir constantly the entire time. Be prepared, your arm will get tired!
This is a video I took while stirring right before my timer went off. It's not the best quality, but I was taking it while stirring. I just want to show you what the color and consistency now looks like.
It is rather thick and sticks to itself, so your pan and scraper will stay very clean the further you go. When I poor mine out, everything comes out.
Once the timer goes off immediately pour the mixture onto the saltine crackers in your bar pan. Because the mixture is so thick you will be able to spread it evenly.
Let it fill in all the cracks and be sure to get all the way to the edge on every side.
After this, put your pan in the oven at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes until the mixture has hardened and browned. Remove pan from oven and set on your cooling rack. Immediately sprinkle an entire bag of chocolate chips on the crackers. Leave for a few minutes, the heat will melt the chocolate enough for you to spread it out.
See the pretty golden brown color? That's what you want.
Using your scraper, again, spread out all the chocolate. Again, you'll want to make sure you get to all the edges and fill in any gaps.
At this point my friends recipe calls for nuts and The Pampered Chef's recipe calls for all sorts of things to be dumped on top while the chocolate is soft. You can try:
Nuts
Toffee bits
Raisins
Mini M&Ms
Pretzels
Allow the pan to cool before placing it in your refrigerator for the chocolate to harden. I made mine right before I went to bed so I actually just left it on the cooling rack all night.
Once everything has cooled and hardened go ahead and cut the saltine crackers apart from each other. It's ok if you can't keep each one a pretty square, just break it up into bits to serve. I placed mine in my Pampered Chef mixing bowl that has a lid so I could leave it in the refrigerator, but I'm sorry it's not available anymore. Here is another bowl that also has a lid.
The saltine cracker is completely soaked through and coated with a yummy toffee flavor and the chocolate really is the perfect mix. I love these cracker candies just the way they are, but if it's for a special occasion by all means try all the toppings. Or try toppings on just half to see what you think.
Let me know how they turn out! Enjoy!
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