Brickle

A few weeks ago, I went to a barbeque. On the table there was plate of what looked to be a chocolate type dish that was crumbled up. I grabbed a piece, ate it, had eight more pieces, and then went on a mad hunt throughout the barbeque to see who brought the stuff and how much I would have to pay them for the recipe.

After not too much work I tracked it down, and trust me. You want to make this.

This will blow your mind.

What’s fantastic about this stuff is many things. First, it marries salty and sweet perfectly which is my favorite. Second, it is super easy to make. Third, it is best kept and eaten frozen so it is awesome for summer time.

Brickle (Thanks Meredith!)
Feeds a party… or one.

- 40 Saltine crackers (one sleeve about)
- 1 Cup salted butter (don’t substitute)
- 1 Cup brown sugar
- 1 12 ounce package of chocolate chips
- 5-6 Heath bars, crunched up for topping

This is all you need! The Saltine crackers are the key to the saltiness and they are kind of hard to identify in the final product because it is all broken up.

Simple ingredients actually.

The next part is simple. Take your largest sheet or baking tray (make sure it is rimmed) and line it with foil. Then toss down your crackers. Make sure that they don’t overlap. That’s pretty much the only rule. The crackers should fill up the baking sheet perfectly. If you have a smaller baking sheet, then you will obviously need less crackers.

Crackers laid out.

Ok. Now the only actual hard part in the whole recipe and it isn’t that hard: making the caramel. Just melt your butter in a saucepan and then stir in your brown sugar. Once it starts bubbling, turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir continuously or it might burn.

Stay close to this stuff.

The caramel will be pretty runny and that is good. Once it has simmered for a few minutes, pour it straight on the crackers. Try to get it kind of even, but don’t worry about covering everything.

Doesn't have to be even.

Next, stick your baking sheet in the oven at 325 degrees for 5-10 minutes. The original recipe called for 5 minutes, but mine took 10. Basically, you want the caramel to spread out nicely over the crackers. It should bubble a bit.

When you take it out of the oven, pour your chocolate chips on the tray right away. The residual heat from the oven will be more than enough to melt the chocolate. Let it sit for 5 minutes to melt.

Don't worry it will all melt.

You can use those 5 minutes while the chocolate melts to crumble up your Heath bars. Again, don’t worry about making them even or anything. Part of the charm of this dish is the random sizes of everything.

After 5 minutes, use a spatula to spread out your chocolate and make the chips flat. Then sprinkle on your Heath pieces.

Perfection is not essential.

Then just stick this whole thing in your freezer! You have to make sure you give this stuff time to freeze solid. I let mine sit for about 4 hours in there and that was more than enough time.

Then take it out and if your brickle is rock hard, flip it over and peel of the foil which should come off in one full sheet!

Cool.

Then just bust the stuff up! Take out some aggression! One note though… make sure you take the foil off before you break it up. That is, unless your idea of a good time is peeling hundreds of tiny foil pieces off of candy.

Um. Yes please.

Store this stuff in the freezer. It will keep for a month I’m sure. Not that anyone has ever actually let it sit that long. Mine was gone in a few days without any problem at all.

This will go quick at parties.

An easy recipe and a delicious dessert. It’s a perfect dessert for a party.

Make the brickle. Eat the brickle. Share the brickle. Love the brickle.