S’more Bars – No Campfire Needed!

My husband went out of town for the weekend a few months ago, and the minute he announced he was going, I knew there were many exciting things for me to look forward to with the house all to myself, including:

-long baths
-long naps
-countless hours of crap tv
-the chance to bake new things- and more importantly, try recipes that I wanted to try and that I could eat all of if the results were positive

…Needless to say, I had a full weekend ahead of me.

First order of business, find some new recipes to try. In my search, I stumbled across this gem of a recipe, promptly made them, and then proceeded to eat over 2/3 of the pan myself. They are delicious, the graham cracker portion stays nice and chewy and overall it’s just a perfect recreation of one of the best summertime desserts – the S’more!

Spring is upon us, and with that brings picnics, campfires, and lots of s’mores. The rest of the year, when making an authentic campfire s’more isnt an option, these are the perfect substitute (in fact, I might even say I like them better than the real thing….I know that’s a strong statement to make, but that is how good these are, no joke)

…They look amazing don’t they? They taste even better than they look!!  Try the recipe out, you won’t be disappointed!

(Recipe Courtesy of Baking Bites)

S’More Cookie Bars
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs*
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)
-Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
-In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.
-In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.
-Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick.
-Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff.
-Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned.
Cool completely before cutting into bars, then devour them. Yum.

Makes 16 cookie bars.

*Note: 3/4 cup crumbs is approx 7 full-sized graham cracker sheets, whizzed in the food processor until fine.