Quick & Easy Skinny Dessert (72 calories Chocolate "Crack")

Saltines? As a dessert? Bear with me here--it is so so good! This dessert is called "crack" and I can totally see why. It's the easiest dessert to whip up for a last a minute party (who is going to parties right now?!) or if you just have a hankering for something sweet in a hurry. And it is SO GOOD.

This dessert is perfect. It's salty, sweet, and so satisfying. The good news? You probably already have everything you need in your kitchen right now. Go check!

All you need is one sleeve of saltine crackers, two sticks of unsalted butter, one cup of dark or light brown sugar (whatever you have in your pantry), and chocolate chips. 

Basically, you drench the saltines in thick caramel and then spread chocolate over top and decorate with whatever you want. See? I told you it was easy.

First, preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with foil. I spray the baking sheet and both sides of the foil with nonstick spray to ensure that I'll have no issues with removing the foil later. Fill the baking sheet with a single layer of saltine crackers. This recipe is so easy to scale if you need to make lot. 

Then prep your caramel sauce. This is what gives the bottoms their ooey gooey delicious caramel bite.

For the caramel, melt two sticks unsalted butter with one cup brown sugar in a small saucepan, stirring frequently until you see a beautiful darker brown caramel sauce appear. It only takes a few minutes and should be slightly thickened. Pour the caramel evenly over your saltine crackers and use an offset spatula to ensure each saltine is coated with the delicious sauce.  

Bake for 3-5 minutes. Don't walk away from your oven! Keep an eye out and when the caramel looks bubbly remove it from the oven. Mmmm, it should smell heavenly! 

Sprinkle your chocolate chips over top of the saltines (I used the whole bag but you can use as much or as little as you want). Wait for the chips to soften and then use your offset spatula to spread the chocolate into an even layer on top. If you want to add anything additional on top--like nuts, sprinkles, jimmies, fruit, etc--add that now. I added rainbow sprinkles.

Take your pan and freeze it for about 15 minutes (or longer if you really want it to firm up). Then crumble, crackle, or cut up with a knife however you want. I like a uniform look so I cut them into squares. My baking sheet was too big for my freezer so I cooled them in the fridge until they were firm, cut them into squares and transferred them to smaller plates, and then froze until they were completely cool.

The best part about this dessert is that they are only 72 calories per piece! No really. Read that again. 72 calories. per. piece. 

This dessert is also totally customizable! You could easily use these for a bridal shower by using white chocolate or use food coloring to make them blue/pink for a baby shower. Or even try one of these:

*White chocolate marble swirl

*Dark chocolate with diced strawberries

*Walnuts (or any nut you like) 

*Shredded coconut 

The possibilities are endless! You can really get creative with it and make it your own. If you make these be sure to let me know and share photos! Tag #ThatProgress on Instagram or send me an email!

1. What toppings would you add to this Dessert Crack?
2. What is your favorite dessert to make?
3. Have you tried any new recipes recently?