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Transform 4 ingredients into Ritz Cracker Cookies, one of the easiest no-bake desserts ever. Customize this Christmas cookie recipe with team colors or seasonal hues to make this an any-season sweet.
More like a holiday “candy” recipe than a cookie per se, this no-bake dessert recipe tastes heavenly. Sandwich a dollop of nut butter between two Ritz crackers, then dunk all of that deliciousness into melted white or dark chocolate.
Since all the cooking takes place in the microwave, kids can absolutely act as sous chefs to help prep this easy cookie recipe.
Actually, calling it a “recipe” is a bit of a stretch. This is more like a super-fun arts and crafts project that yields a masterpiece you can eat. Sweet!
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Creamy peanut butter: Buy a jar of your favorite brand. Or if you make your own peanut butter, it’s a breeze to customize it with honey, chocolate, or cinnamon. Almond butter, cashew butter, Nutella, or sunflower seed butter taste incredible, too.
- White and chocolate candy melts: Choose four 12-ounce bags of either or two 12-ounce bags of both.
Step by step instructions
- Spread about 1 teaspoon peanut butter on a cracker. Top with a second cracker. Repeat with all remaining crackers and peanut butter until you have about 70 sandwich cookies. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil and freeze while melting candy melts.
- Meanwhile, set white candy melts in a bowl over a pot of simmering water (double-boiler method) or melt in the microwave at 50% power in 30-second increments. Stir until smooth. Repeat with chocolate candy melts.
- Using a spoon or a fork, dip each cracker sandwich into a bowl of melted chocolate, turning to coat.
- Set on prepared baking sheet and top with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining cracker sandwiches, dipping approximately 35 into each kind of chocolate. Chill until completely cool, at least 30 minutes
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This no-bake dessert recipe makes 70 stuffed sandwich cookies. These fly off the cookie platter fast and leftovers last nicely, but you can certainly start with a half box of Ritz (two sleeves of crackers) for a 35-cookie batch.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator (or in your cold garage or patio in winter) for up to 1 month.
- Make ahead: These treats have serious staying power if you keep them cold. They’re great to make ahead and then pull out for your holiday cookie plate.
- Freezer: For best results, freeze the cookies on a plate or tray until individually frozen solid, then transfer to freezer-safe bags (so the cookies don’t stick to each other). Thaw at room temperature.
Recipe FAQs
Your decor choices can tell any story you like. Opt for red and green sprinkles for a Christmas food gift, blue and white for Hanukkah, red and pink for Valentine’s Day, green for St. Patrick’s Day, pastels for Easter or Mother’s Day, red and blue for 4th of July, team colors for a tailgate buffet, orange for Halloween, or the birthday celebrant’s favorite hues.
This lower heat level allows the chocolate to temper at a slower rate, which prevents the chocolate from getting too hot (and, in turn, clumping up). Stopping to stir at 30-second intervals also aids in even cooking and a smooth texture.
Christmas Crack
You’ll love this salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy saltine cracker candy, sometimes known as Christmas Crack, and you can make it in 15 minutes with just 5 ingredients! I grew up eating Saltine Cracker Candy every…
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Ritz Cracker Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (see note 1)
- 1 box Ritz crackers 4 sleeves, about 140 crackers
- 2 (12 ounce) bags bright white candy melts (see note 2)
- 2 (12 ounce) bags chocolate candy melts
- sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Spread about 1 teaspoon peanut butter on a cracker. Top with a second cracker. Repeat with all remaining crackers and peanut butter until you have about 70 sandwich cookies. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil and freeze while melting candy melts.
- Meanwhile, set white candy melts in a bowl over a pot of simmering water (double-boiler method) or melt in the microwave at 50% power in 30-second increments. Stir until smooth. Repeat with chocolate candy melts.
- Using a spoon or a fork, dip each cracker sandwich into a bowl of melted chocolate, turning to coat. Set on prepared baking sheet and top with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining cracker sandwiches, dipping approximately 35 into each kind of chocolate. Chill until completely cool, at least 30 minutes.
Notes
- Creamy peanut butter: Buy a jar of your favorite brand. Or if you make your own peanut butter, it’s a breeze to customize it with honey, chocolate, or cinnamon. Almond butter, cashew butter, Nutella, or sunflower seed butter taste incredible, too.
- White and chocolate candy melts: Choose four 12-ounce bags of either or two 12-ounce bags of both.
- Yield: This no-bake dessert recipe makes 70 stuffed sandwich cookies. These fly off the cookie platter fast and leftovers last nicely, but you can certainly start with a half box of Ritz (two sleeves of crackers) for a 35-cookie batch.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator (or in your cold garage or patio in winter) for up to 1 month.
- Make ahead: These treats have serious staying power if you keep them cold. They’re great to make ahead and then pull out for your holiday cookie plate.
- Freezer: For best results, freeze the cookies on a plate or tray until individually frozen solid, then transfer to freezer-safe bags (so the cookies don’t stick to each other). Thaw at room temperature.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Hi Meggan, these look so good will be trying these this way. I have made these but dipped the whole cracker in white and dark chocolate and you can decorate as you like. There is just something about a Ritz. Georgie
Do you think they would taste as good with milk chocolate?
YES. Absolutely. My husband prefers them that way. I’m obsessed with the white chocolate, but they are great with any/all the chocolates!
You had me at 3 ingredients! These look so yummy and simple to make. I’d dip mine in dark chocolate since my family is a bunch of chocoholics ;) I can’t wait to try them out!
These were SO delicious. I’m not a big fan of white chocolate, but paired with ritz and peanut butter…mike drop…!
LOL… so funny, Meggan! (I assume you were referring to MY probable bemusement in this post!)
Actually, though, you might be surprised at this one. We do have Ritz crackers here, and the whole sweet-savoury thing has crossed the pond little by little.
Although I must admit this isn’t something you’d generally find in a British kitchen, I’m sure it’s something most Brits would enjoy and like being introduced to!
Personally, I love them. I can’t get enough of these sorts of simple, almost non-recipe recipes!
I’m excited to try these. I have all the ingredients except the melts. Can I use chocolate chips or other kind of brown chocolate for this?
Hi Tai, absolutely yes! Hope you enjoy them! – Meggan