Magic S’mores Bars

There are some foods that are so intertwined with an event or holiday that it’s hard to separate them. Take fruitcake and Christmas, for instance. Or hot dogs and baseball games. Or s’mores and camping. S’mores, while outrageously delicious, are something that most of us only have a few times a year while we’re sitting around a campfire somewhere. But no longer! Our Magic S’mores Bars take that timeless trio of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate and bring it right home into your kitchen in one oven-baked, sliceable cookie bar that’s easy to share but not so easy to stop devouring.

So here’s the rundown on these – You have a chocolate-marshmallow sandwich, just like a s’more, but the graham cracker layers are more of a graham cracker cookie, where graham cracker crumbs are folded into a simple cookie dough. What that means for you is that there’s a little bit of a soft cookie bite along with the expected crunch, and it’s a very good thing.

That graham cracker cookie situation is a rolled out dough. Basically, you divide the dough into two balls and roll each into a rectangle the size of your baking pan. The first layer goes in the bottom of the pan and then gets lined with chocolate bars and spread with marshmallow fluff.

The final layer of cookie dough is where things get a little tricky. You have to roll out your dough, and then transfer it to the pan to cover the marshmallow layer. There are a couple of ways to go about this. You can cut the dough into four equal pieces, and transfer each piece individually. Or you can invert the entire rectangle onto the top. It’s not as scary as it sounds – just roll it out on some parchment paper and use that paper to carry the dough over to your pan and then flip.

Then the whole thing bakes. And as it does it gets all oeey-gooey and melty just like a good s’more should. (After all, I never claimed these weren’t messy.) You slice, you (hopefully) share – and best of all – you get to enjoy a delicious s’more in bar form whenever you like, no campfire needed.

Magic S’mores Bars

45 minutes to prepare serves 8-10

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 Hershey's milk chocolate bars
  • 3 cups marshmallow fluff

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Line with parchment paper so there is a bit of overhang over sides. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a separate large bowl, beat together the butter, white and brown sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
  4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until well combined. Divide dough into two balls.
  5. Press one ball into prepared pan so it evenly covers the bottom. Cover dough with chocolate bars in a single layer.
  6. Spread marshmallow fluff evenly over chocolate bars.
  7. Place a large piece of parchment paper onto the counter and roll out other ball of dough into a rectangle the size of your baking dish.
  8. Using parchment paper, invert dough onto marshmallow cream layer.
  9. Bake until top is golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Adapted from The Baking Chocolatess.

Whizzco for LPE