Caramel Marshmallow Cookie Bars

While I know that not everyone is back in the full swing of baking and that sort of thing, it’s been cold here and that just makes me want to bake! I was basically housebound for a couple of days, and I asked my husband which of several recipes I should make. He chose these, and I agreed!

These cookies are quite different from anything I had made before. I looked through the ingredients and realized that I had most of the needed ingredients, but not in the quantity that I needed. That’s always a problem that I face when I bake! I had mini marshmallows and caramel bits, and they don’t last forever, so I was eager to use them as soon as I could. I ended up making a half quantity of these bars. I made this in an 8” square pan, which was very close to half of the size of the 9” x 13” pan. The main difference is the baking time might vary by a minute or two, so if you decided to use a different pan, please keep that in mind.

The dough came together with little issue, although it looks a little lumpy in the beginning. You bake the bars and the top them and broil. I didn’t need all of the mini marshmallows I had, so just use what you need. These bars are extremely sticky, so a knife that you warm up is very helpful. These bars taste a lot like smores, because of the toasted marshmallow, even though they contain no chocolate. These bars are very tasty but they dry out quickly, so make sure you eat them right away!

Caramel Marshmallow Cookie Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
11 ounces caramel bits
10 ounces mini marshmallows

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then mix in the vanilla. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and mix on low until almost incorporated. Add the 1 cup of caramel bits and 1 cup of marshmallows and stir with a spatula until the dough is fully together and the caramel and marshmallows are evenly distributed.

Spread the dough into the prepared pan, making sure that the mixture is even.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, until set and beginning to turn golden brown.

As soon as the pan comes out of the oven, turn the oven off and turn on the broiler.

Top the bars with the remaining caramel bits and mini marshmallows. Return the pan to the broiler and broil until the marshmallows look toasted. This might be 30 seconds or up to 2 minutes. Keep watch on the marshmallows to ensure that they don’t burn. Once the marshmallows are toasted, remove the pan from the broiler.

Allow the bars to cool before cutting into squares.

Recipe from Will Cook for Smiles