Mama's Chocolate Bark

BEWARE this stuff is easy to make and highly addictive - an extremely deadly combination if you ask me - so of course I decided to make it my last night home. I mean, I needed one last sweet fix because Lord knows, I have not had enough of those lately...Although my mom usually makes this special treat around Christmas time to give to neighbors and friends, it's a great and simple sweet that you can make year round - at least while it's still freezing outside!

You'll need just 4 ingredients that you'll most likely already have in your pantry and fridge:

• 1 sleeve of saltines
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 bag of chocolate chips (I prefer the dark, semi-sweet variety!

Now there aren't many steps in this recipe either, but timing is everything! Here's the exact recipe Mama Sweeney uses so be sure to watch the clock - no one wants burnt bark :(

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees - I ALWAYS forget to preheat and our oven takes foreverrr to heat up so hopefully you've remembered this step.

2. Cover a cookie sheet with non-stick foil + Pam - the stuff can be sticky so best to take every precaution so you'll have less of a mess to clean. Also, it's really best to use a cookie sheet with edges so the caramel doesn't drip in the oven, but if you don't have one, simply make sure to bend up with edges of the foil and put a sheet of foil in the bottom of your oven too, just in case!

3. Next, in a small pot on low heat, combine the 2 sticks of butter with the 1 cup of brown sugar. Slowly stir this together as it slowly melts.

4. Once the mixture starts to bubble, keep stirring it for another 3 minutes. After the 3 minutes are up, pour the caramel mixture over the saltines, covering the entire sheet of crackers. The crackers are bound to float around out of the perfect rows you've created, but don't worry - we'll fix this at the end.

5. Place the cookie sheet with the saltines and caramel into the oven for 7 minutes - make sure to set your timer because this is easy to forget about, and you don't want it to be in the oven a minute longer - trust me, I have learned this the hard way :)

6. Once the timer goes off, take the sheet out of the oven and quickly pour the entire bag of chocolate chips over the saltines. Give the chips a few seconds to soften and then slowly start to spread them over the saltines and caramel. Don't worry about the caramel and chocolate mixing, it will turn out fine - this is also a time where you can rearrange the crackers back together, moving them around with your chocolately spoon while trying not to lick your fingers. (tip: if it seems that the choc chips aren't melting and are hard to spread, briefly place the sheet in the warm oven for a few seconds to help the chips heat up)

7. After you've completely covered the crackers with the chocolate chips, place the cookie sheet in the fridge to cool and harden. This is the hardest part for me because I am SO impatient. Give it at least an hour to harden before taking it out.

8. Now that you have so patiently waited for your bark to harden, you now get to reap your reward and break apart the massive piece of chocolately, caramel, cracker goodness into bits and pieces to snack on whenever you so please.

Hope you enjoy it- 

I certainly did...a bit too much!