S’mores Cookie Bars

I had purchased graham crackers for a different recipe, and I had hoped that there would be enough left for me to also make some s’mores bars. Well, there probably would have been if the extra graham crackers hadn’t been eaten (hey-they’re tasty!) I bought another box of graham crackers and thankfully I had all of the other ingredients on hand. I often keep marshmallow fluff around as it is very useful in recipes and also if I make fudge.

This recipe calls for a lot of ingredients in an 8” square pan. I followed the original recipe exactly, and in the end, I do think I would change some of the ingredient quantities. I think you could decrease the amount of graham crackers and chocolate, maybe using ¾ cup for the dough and ¼ cup of each for the topping. I had hoped that I had dark chocolate chunks, but I didn’t so I chopped the chocolate by hand. It makes a mess, and I don’t get the chocolate as evenly chopped as I’d like, but it works. Any type of chocolate (milk or semisweet) would work in this recipe.

The biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to get all of the chopped graham crackers and chocolate on top of the bars! With so many elements topping the bars, it is really difficult to tell when the bars are done baking. Thankfully, s’mores are usually gooey and that was true for these bars as well. I baked them for a longer time and that seemed ok. You do want the bars to be very cold when you cut them, and mine did better when I stored them in the refrigerator. If you are looking for something that tastes exactly like a s’more, these bars are about as close to the real thing as possible!

S’mores Cookie Bars
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
¼ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1egg + 1 yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 cups chopped graham crackers, divided
1-1/2 cups chopped dark chocolate, divided
About 7 ounces marshmallow fluff

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until the mixture almost comes together. Add 1 cup of chopped graham crackers and 1 cup of chopped chocolate and turn the mixer on for a moment to bring everything together.

Press half of the dough into the prepared pan. Top with dollops of marshmallow fluff. With a hot knife, spread the marshmallow fluff into an even layer. It won’t be perfect but do the best you can do. Break the remaining dough into pieces and top the marshmallow fluff. Sprinkle the remaining graham crackers and chocolate on top of the bars. This top layer will not fully cover the marshmallow fluff and that is what you want.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are browned, and the marshmallow has puffed. Cool to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours before cutting into bars.

Recipe from The Scran Line