My 4-Ingredient Retro Dessert Is Perfect for the Holidays

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). 

Tips for Making Club Cracker Cookies

• As fond as I am of saving money from buying store brands, 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.