Crackle

There’s a choose-your-own-adventure aspect to making crackle: you can opt for your favorite flavorful snack food, or use up the end of a box of something that needs eating from the pantry.

Credit: Christina Tosi

• makes

  4 cups

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Because just about every moment we’re not eating family meal together, we’re making, tasting, or snacking on dessert, we rarely have dessert at family meal. But every once in a while we just can’t help ourselves. That vat of crack pie filling waiting to be baked into toasted oat pie crusts stares you down, and you can’t help but wonder, “What if...” Crack pie® meets brittle = Crackle. It’s a candy-like, mini version of crack pie filling, baked in a pan rather than a pie crust, yet just as addictive as its big sister.

Ingredients

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1¼ tsp kosher salt
• 4½ tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2 large egg yolks
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flavourful pantry item (cereal, crackers, chips, pretzels, snack mix, granola, etc. – nuts and seeds work well here too!)

Instructions

Heat the oven to 175ºC (350ºF). Spray or grease a 23 x 33 cm (9 × 13 inch) baking pan, or line with a baking mat.

Whisk together the sugars, flour, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter, heavy cream, egg yolks, and vanilla and whisk until smooth. 

Pour the mixture into the baking pan and spread it out with a spatula until ½ cm (¼ inch) thick. Crush up and sprinkle your selected pantry item over the mixture. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until dark brown (at golden brown, it will still be a little chewy, which is okay, but I like to get real colour on my crackle). Let cool completely.

Remove the crackle from the pan and break it up into medium to small pieces with a meat pounder or a heavy rolling pin. Store the brittle in an airtight container and try to gobble it up within a month (or, try not to gobble it all up immediately).

Recipe and image from Milk Bar Life by Christina Tosi (Crown Publishing, $59.99, hbk). 

View our Readable feasts review and more recipes from the book here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Because just about every moment we’re not eating family meal together, we’re making, tasting, or snacking on dessert, we rarely have dessert at family meal. But every once in a while we just can’t help ourselves. That vat of crack pie filling waiting to be baked into toasted oat pie crusts stares you down, and you can’t help but wonder, “What if...” Crack pie® meets brittle = Crackle. It’s a candy-like, mini version of crack pie filling, baked in a pan rather than a pie crust, yet just as addictive as its big sister.