If you think chocolate chip cookies are as addictive as cocaine...

I should be ashamed of myself for making this for Christmas gifts every year, but I always make something called Christmas Crack to give as gifts.

[This started several years ago when DH had been permanently laid off (and when he finally found a job 2 years later, he was still only making roughly half of his previous income), so I was desperately looking for something inexpensive to make as Christmas gifts for friends, and extended family, something that was quick enough to make that I could fit it in around my erratic work schedule.]

The "crack" in the name comes from the fact that the bottom layer in this sugary/starchy/chocolate treat is made from crackers, and that once the concoction has cooled, you "crack" it apart into irregular sized pieces for serving... although calling it "crack" is also applicable because everyone I've given it to says it's so darn addictive.


If you're easily triggered by descriptions of high carb treats, for the sake of your LC diet, please skip over the rest of this post!


There are loads of recipes for Christmas Crack on the internet. It's a layered concoction - crackers (most recipes call for saltines, but I've always used club crackers, since I thought they'd make a more delicate base), toffee (boiled brown sugar and butter), chocolate (semi-sweet chips), and chopped nuts (any kind will work - I always use pecans). You have the starch and salt in the cracker layer, butter and brown sugar in the toffee layer, then the sugary semi-sweet chocolate layer, and finally chopped nuts on top.

A couple of my great-nieces/nephews are allergic to chocolate, so in an effort to keep them from feeling so left out when everyone else in the family was raving about how good the Christmas Crack was, I eventually developed a non-chocolate version for them, using vanilla chips (they used to make real white chocolate chips, but I haven't been able to find any for years), with macadamia nuts. Yeah... everyone who's tried that version tells me it's just as addictive as the chocolate and pecan version.

Even with all these years of making it for Christmas gifts, I've still never tasted it. When I started making it, I'd been LC for several years already, and the thought of even tasting something so sugary and starchy sounded gross, so it's never been a temptation to me. I would definitely not suggest someone who is still tempted by carbs to ever make this stuff.