Easy Sweet Treats Recipes
Favorite homemade sweet treats
I want to share 3 of my favorite easy sweet treats with you guys. These are the recipes I used on my rustic Christmas dessert table and they’re SO delicious. They make great gifts to give, and you can add them to your Christmas cookie exchange party.
Two are similar – the Ritz cracker candy and graham cracker toffee. And one combines sweet & salty, which is my favorite flavor combination. If you like these, you must try my classic saltine cracker toffee recipe too!
The brownie button bites are a classic brownie with a twist. You can make any of these recipes for girls night in parties, game day parties, or cocktail parties.
These graham cracker bars are divine! I first had them when I was 10 years old and they were so delicious that I literally remember the day vividly! A friend made them for us but didn’t give us the recipe and I longed for more of these bars all the way up to adulthood. I finally found the recipe in an old cookbook and happily share it with you.
These are also known as pecan graham cracker brittle, or Kentucky pralines. They’re greats for Christmas cookie parties too!
Graham Cracker Toffee bars
- 15 cinnamon graham crackers broken into squares {you could also use regular flavored grahams}
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans {I use the small packets of pecan “chips”}
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 13 x 18-inch sheet pan with aluminum foil and place the graham squares in a single layer to fill the pan.
In a sauce pan, melt butter and sugar together over medium-low heat.
Once melted, increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil; Cook for 1 to 2 minutes stirring constantly. The consistency will be like caramel.
Drizzle the sauce mixture all over the graham crackers and spread with an offset spatula or knife to cover them. Sprinkle with pecans and bake for 10-12 minutes.
Let cool and separate the squares to serve.
This cracker candy is the perfect blend of sweet and salty. I could eat the whole batch! Although they are made similarly to the graham toffee above, the taste is quite different.
Ritz Cracker Candy
- 40 Ritz crackers
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans {I use the small packs of pecan “chips”}
- 1/3 cup peanut butter chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 x 18-inch baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper and place crackers in a single layer to fill the pan.
In a sauce pan melt butter and brown sugar together over medium-low heat. Once melted, increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until smooth and with a caramel texture. Pour mixture over crackers and spread to cover.
Bake for 5 minutes and remove. Turn oven off.
Sprinkle crackers with chocolate chips & return to oven for 3 minutes until they soften.
Spread the chocolate over crackers and top with pecans and peanut butter chips.
Cool completely and break crackers apart to serve.
Everyone loves brownies and these brownie buttons have a surprise inside! Made in a mini muffin pan, they are the perfect size to enjoy!
Brownie Button Surprise
- 1 box brownie mix + ingredients to make brownies {or your favorite homemade recipe}
- Mini Reese’s cups
- Rolos
Line a mini muffin pan with paper liners and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare your brownie mix according to directions and spoon into muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes; Unwrap candies while waiting.
Remove brownies & let cool in pan for about 2 minutes. Press a peanut butter cup or caramel candy into the center of each brownie until the top is even with the top of the brownie. Let cool in pan for 10 more minutes then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.
I have been making the graham cracker cookies since 1964. My next door neighbor came me the recipe and she called them Kentucky Pralines. I have given the recipe out to lots of people and some have changed the name. At any rate they are some of the best Christmas cookies ever.
I tried the Ritz cracker version. While the flavor was tasty, it was almost inpossible to break apart and I think its because while I covered the bottom of the pan with tinfoil and then ritz, I beleive the quantity of the butter/brown sugar mix might have been too much? Did anyone else have this issue? I probably should have carefully drizzled and not just put it all on there just because it was made. That might help. I’ll try it again though! The pieces I could get off the pan were yummy!! Thanks!
Shannon, I’ve not had that happen before so I’m not sure why it did. I think you’re right about the amount you poured over though. You can split it into another batch if you have too much.
I stumbled on your site via Pinterest while looking for a recipe for cracker candy, which I’ve made before (with Saltines) and love (and so did everyone else). I was going to take a batch to a potluck at work this week, but now I think I’ll have to try the graham cracker one too…
Thanks for the recipes! I look forward to making them with my girls. Love your blog!