You can’t beat this Keto Toffee for a holiday treat. Sweet sugar free toffee baked on a layer of crisp keto crackers, all topped off with low carb chocolate and toasted pecans. It’s a healthy twist on the beloved Christmas Crack!
What’s that sound? That thumping, bumping sound? That’s the sound of jaws hitting the floor.
And that is the sound you hear when you serve your friends this buttery Keto Toffee and then tell them it’s low carb and sugar-free. You’ll may also hear a few gasps and possibly a disbelieving snort or two. Really, you’re going to hear a cacophony of startled and surprised sounds. And you are going to feel that warm inner glow of knowing you just totally crushed it. And that’s a pretty great feeling, I must admit.
Cracker toffee is a traditional holiday treat for many. And I love nothing more than re-creating holiday classics in a healthier form. It actually makes me giddy with excitement!
Overly dramatic? Perhaps, but I don’t apologize for it. I mean, we are talking about Keto Christmas Crack, how can we not be excited??? It’s a must-make keto candy recipe.
Why you will love this recipe
This toffee recipe has all the buttery, rich flavor of the original, but with no sugar and a mere fraction of the carbs. It contains only 3.6g net carbs per serving. That’s about 35g fewer carbs than in a standard toffee recipe!
And it’s almost as easy to make as the sugary kind. I say “almost” because it depends upon whether or not you choose to make your own keto crackers as the base. I often like to use my keto graham crackers, but I also provide a basic almond flour cracker in the recipe below.
But you can make them even easier by using store-bought keto crackers. When I first started making this keto toffee recipe, there was no such thing. But a number of brands have come out with them and many are quite good.
My favorite by far is RealPhat Foods crackers. They are thinner, crisper, and lower in carbs than any other pre-made brand. And you can get 10% off any order with code FOODDREAMER.
Ingredients you need
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- Keto crackers: You can use homemade crackers or store-bought crackers. Making your own is easy, although it does add time to the toffee recipe. I have a basic almond flour cracker recipe built into the recipe below. See expert tips for other options.
- Erythritol sweetener: Be aware that you won’t get crisp toffee with anything other than erythritol. I like to use a mix of Swerve Brown and Swerve Granular for a richer color and color.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter, as the crackers already have salt, and a little salt is added to the toffee as well.
- Sugar free chocolate: You can use your favorite brand of keto chocolate. Just be sure to chop it up and melt over a double boiler for a smooth consistency.
- Toasted, chopped nuts: I like the classic toasted pecans on my keto toffee, but any nuts will work. You could also try adding sugar-free sprinkles for a fun holiday twist.
- Pantry staples: vanilla, salt.
Step by Step Directions
1. Make the crackers: If you are making your own crackers, do this first and let them cool completely before proceeding with the toffee.
2. Arrange the crackers: Line a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper and grease lightly with coconut oil spray. Arrange the crackers in a single layer so that they cover the bottom of the pan fully. Use a few broken pieces to cover any gaps.
3. Cook the toffee: In a medium heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat, combine the sweeteners and butter and stir until the sweeteners dissolve. Bring to a boil and cook without stirring until mixture darkens to deep amber, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and salt. If the mixture appears to be separating, stir in 2 tablespoons of powdered Swerve Sweetener until it comes back together.
4. Bake: Pour the hot toffee immediately over the crackers as evenly as possible to cover. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes, until just bubbling. Remove and let cool while melting the chocolate.
5. Melt the chocolate: Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan over barely simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth. Drizzle the chocolate over the cooled toffee and spread evenly. Sprinkle immediately with the chopped pecans.
6. Chill: Refrigerate 20 minutes to set the chocolate is firm and then break apart into pieces (it will typically break up along the lines of the crackers).
Expert Tips
Use ONLY erythritol-based sweeteners. The sugar free toffee will not harden properly with any amount of allulose, xylitol, or BochaSweet. Brands that work include brands like Swerve, Lakanto, and So Nourished. “Monk fruit sweetener” is usually erythritol with a little monk fruit so those work as well. Read more in my detailed guide to keto sweeteners.
If you are making your own keto crackers, you will only need about two thirds of the recipe to cover the pan. It’s hard to make a smaller amount since the cracker recipe takes one egg. But the leftover bits and pieces are delicious on their own!
Options for keto-friendly crackers
Do be aware that almost all store-bought keto cracker brands do add some garlic and/or onion powder to the plain sea salt varieties. But you won’t really taste it in the completed keto toffee.
- Keto Graham Crackers (homemade)
- RealPhat Foods (sea salt or cinnamon)
- HighKey Snacks Sea Salt
- Keto Naturals Sea Salt
- Fat Snax Sea Salt
For a nut-free option, try my sunflower seed crackers and leave out the parmesan and rosemary.
Frequently Asked Questions
This keto toffee recipe includes erythritol sweetener, butter, sugar-free chocolate, pecans, and low carb crackers. It’s a sugar-free version of the famous Christmas Crack!
Keto cracker toffee has 7.5g of carbohydrate and 3.9g of fiber per serving. That amounts to 3.6g net carbs.
This is a great recipe for making ahead for the holidays, as it freezes really well. Simply store the cooled toffee between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container. Freeze for up to 2 months.
Keto Cracker Toffee
Ingredients
Basic Almond Flour Crackers
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoon salted butter melted
Topping
- ½ cup Swerve Granular
- ¼ cup Swerve Brown
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon powdered Swerve Sweetener if needed
Topping
- 4 ounces sugar-free dark chocolate chopped
- ¾ cup chopped toasted pecans
Instructions
Crackers
- Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir in the egg and the melted butter until the dough comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and pat into a rough rectangle. Top with another piece of parchment paper and roll out to a ⅛ inch thickness, as evenly as you can. Remove the top piece of parchment paper.
- Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, score the dough into 2-inch squares. Transfer the parchment to a large cookie sheet and bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the crackers are firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before breaking apart into individual crackers.
Toffee
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper and grease lightly with coconut oil spray. Arrange the crackers in a single layer so that they cover the bottom of the pan fully. Use a few broken pieces to cover any gaps. You will end up using about two thirds of the cracker recipe from above.
- In a medium heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat, combine the sweeteners and butter and stir until the sweeteners dissolve. Bring to a boil and cook without stirring until mixture darkens to deep amber, about 5 to 7 minutes (time may vary depending on the quality of your cookware).
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and salt. If the mixture appears to be separating, stir in 2 tablespoon of powdered Swerve Sweetener until it comes back together.
- Pour the hot toffee immediately over the crackers as evenly as possible to cover. Bake for 3 to 5 minutes, until just starting to bubble. Remove and let cool while melting the chocolate.
Topping
- Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan over barely simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth.
- Drizzle the chocolate over the cooled toffee and spread evenly. Sprinkle immediately with the chopped pecans. Refrigerate 20 minutes to set the chocolate is firm and then break apart into pieces (it will typically break up along the lines of the crackers).
Nova says
I tried the Swerve brown and the granulated on their own but the texture is always grainy. The brown had a very weird after taste the white granulated left the grainy texture. I tried monkfruit classic that left the same texture. After so many peanuts, butter and sweeteners I’ve almost given up. There is no much conflicting information on all these sweeteners, others say allulose is the only one that makes hard crack. That is the last one to try after that I’m going to stop wasting ingredients
Carolyn says
I can save you some trouble here and say I have tried multiple times to get allulose to the hard crack stage. It stay soft and sticky every time!
Gina says
I made this yesterday. Hated having to wait for it to set. My butter sat on the top.
I am truly enjoying this. And the folks at work loved it too. They ate all that I brought with me.
Loved that it harden. And thank you for letting me know how the texture would be. It hit the spot.
I love your recipes and your video.
Pam Forrester says
I have made regular English Toffee for Christmas gifts for years. I tried a “keto” one, a couple of years ago and it was a fail. This was excellent even though I know it will be even better when I use crackers instead of High Key snickerdoodle cookies. I didn’t really like them b/c they were not crisp so i decided to use them up by subbing them for the crackers.And it was more like an English toffee cookie! Very good.
However, i did have trouble with the chocolate. I tried to melt sugar free chocolate chips. It didn’t really work so I used it in clumps and put the pan under the broiler until melty then spread it out over the toffee. i also sprinkled more chocolate chips on the hot toffee. That is how I always got the toffee to melt with regular toffee. So next time I will try just sprinkling chocolate chips on the hot toffee first and if they don’t melt enough to spread, I’ll put them under the broiler.
Jeff Seaman says
I had a serious problem with this recipe. I can’t stop eating it.
Carolyn says
It does have that effect sometimes!
T Nguyen says
The taste is good, but I can’t seem to prevent the toffee from crystalizing once it’s cooled. Does anyone have suggestions for me?
Carolyn says
It’s supposed to crystallize! Otherwise it wouldn’t be hard like toffee. Even sugar crystallizes in English toffee recipes.
Nova says
Actually I disagree with this statement that all sugar crystallises in English toffee. I make toffee all the time for my family with regular sugar and it never crystallises…ever. The problem with unsweetened sugars is the chemical makeup which changes the way these sugars deal with heat. I’ve had to limit my sugars and peanut brittle was something I made a lot for my family. Since going Keto and trying to create something similar has been frustrating as no sugar sweetener creates that same hard crack that English toffee has…I’ve tried them all except allulose
Anna Wisner says
Just made these! The crackers are really good on their own (I had a few leftover pieces to taste). In retrospect, the most difficult part was finding non-sugar sweetened dark chocolate. All I had were the Lily’s dark chocolate chips. They melted well at first, but I wasn’t yet ready to pour them onto the toffee. When I reheated them, they became grainy. I managed to save the day by using 5 of those cocoa butter discs, and it came together, however, by THAT time, the chocolate was on a layer of toffee and crackers that was not that hot, so it cooled as I tried to spread it. I wasn’t able to put the pecans on, however the rest of my family will probably be more than okay with that, since 2 out of three don’t want nuts!
Carolyn says
Oooooh yeah. Keto chocolate is finicky and does not enjoy being reheated!
Julie says
my tofffee separated in the pan so I used powdered… then it separated again in the oven so there was a layer of butter on top… I used brown and granular erytritol based sweeteners and swerve powdered to save but I will try again with all swerve and hope the the best… 2nd attempt at Christmas crack (keto focus’ recipe posted last week) and same thing happened the first time but didn’t know about the powdered sweetener tip… so next i will try actual swerve for it. I have lankanto regular and golden i could try… I used Purecane erythritol based sweeteners which I’ve had great success with in baking and in coffee. the top remained greasy… still tasty of course…
Carolyn says
Okay so here’s what I suggest. Definitely use the Swerve but also… cook it a bit less in the first stage (it tends to separate more when over-heated). Then keep a close eye on it in the oven and take it out just as it starts to bubble. Personally, I do not like the way Purecane bakes so it could be part of the issue. The reason Swerve works is that besides erythritol, it also contains oligosaccharides, which is a form of fiber. The fiber helps keep things from separating.
Chris says
Thank you for posting this. I had the same problem with the toffee separating in the oven. I’m pretty sure I left it boil too long and too hard. I’m going to try again.
Carolyn says
Try taking it off heat a bit on the early side… then just place in the oven and keep your eye on it, and the minute it bubbles a bit, remove it!
Kim says
I followed your recipe When I pour the toffee mixture my crackers floated up . Toffee mixture is all on the bottom and looks super thin
Carolyn says
That’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s all going to harden together when baked. That’s the point.
Kathi S. says
Will this work without the cracker layer? I used to make toffee with nuts and chocolate but never crackers. I stirred chopped, toasted almonds into the toffee syrup, poured it out on a silpat, sprinkled chopped chocolate over the hot mixture so it would melt, then dusted it with finely chopped nuts. Does the keto toffee need the crackers for some kind of support or structure? Thank you!
Carolyn says
It does but the crackers help to give it more crispness, to be honest.
Kathi S. says
Thank you. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
Adrienne Eastwood says
Would this work with Lakanto Brown?
Carolyn says
Please read the blog post! I already discuss what sweeteners work. 🙂
Denise says
Hello! I love all of your recipes, thanks for all you do! I tried making this and it tasted burnt. Is there a specific temp I should bring the toffee to to avoid burning it again? Thanks!
Carolyn says
You don’t need to do this by temp… but you do need a good pan. Lightweight pans make it more likely to burn. Keep the heat a bit lower maybe, and possibly take it off sooner. Once it’s a nice deep amber, remove it from heat immediately.
Candace says
In the non keto version that I’ve made in the past, you just toss chocolate chips onto the hot toffee when it comes out of the oven, they melt and then you spread. Would this work or does keto chocolate act differently so you need to pre-melt? Thank you! ☺️
Jeff Seaman says
I melted my chips in the microwave. 30 seconds, stir, 30 seconds, stir, repeat until it was pourable.
Marcy says
I am so excited to make this!!!!!!!!! I loved the non-keto version, and it’s just not the holidays without it. Thank you so much for this.
Leanne W. says
Can you leave the cracker layer and put the rest on top without breaking up the crackers?
Carolyn says
Sure… the only issue is that the cracker layer isn’t a nice even thing. It has weird edges from being rolled out so getting all your toffee on top properly is not easy. I’d really recommend breaking them up.
Kathleen says
Delicious!!! Love these during the holidays every year!
Jodi says
My toffee did not thicken
Carolyn says
What sweetener did you use? Do you mean it didn’t harden?
Jeff Seaman says
When heating mine in the saucepan, I stirred until the melted butter was incorporated well and then stopped all stirring. The color was already dark amber, but I waited until the entire mixture top bubbled. Made a perfect toffee after it baked with the cracker layer.
Barb says
I wanted to post my results today with using Swerve Brown…delicious!! Set up beautifully and had that rich, caramely (is that a word) flavor. Thanks for this fantastic recipe to help keep us on track through the holidays!!
Carolyn says
Fantastic!
Sheri Gartman says
I am laughing so hard!!!! I love your introduction to the candy!!!!! I can just see the jaws dropping in disbelief!!!!!! Too funny….I can’t wait to try these delicious candys and deserts!!!!!
Zina Miller says
Hi Caroline
What is your opinion on using Splenda instead of Swerve or other sweetness? I don’t like any of the other ones. I want to use it for this recipe. I use it for your brownie brittle and it turns out great.
Carolyn says
it won’t work in this recipe because it doesn’t caramelize and harden.
Sharma Dutton says
Can I use BochaSweet or Allulose (or some combination of them) instead of Swerve? I am not a fan of Swerve and usually use alternative sweeteners with your recipes (though your recipes are fantastic!!).
Carolyn says
Sorry but it won’t harden properly and you will have gooey mess on your hands.
Sharma Dutton says
Bummer, but thanks for replying! I really love your recipes!
Carolyn says
I know, it’s frustrating the limitations all of these sweeteners have! I do plan on playing more with allulose to see if I can get it to the “hard crack” stage. But I’ve tried before and ended up with caramelized goo. And I was afraid of burning it!
Angela says
Would brown sugar swerve work or a mixture of regular swerve and brown sugar swerve?
Carolyn says
It should!