S'mores Cookie Bars

I have already professed my love for all things S'mores in my very first blog post so it should come as no surprise that I'm at it again. My mom, aunt and cousin were visiting last week and we had some chocolate fondue one night that turned into traditional S'mores (well, as traditional as they get out of the microwave). My nephew saw pictures and was quite peeved he missed out so I went on the hunt for a treat for him that would deliver all that s'mores deliciousness.

A quick google search led me to Baked Perfection and an amazing baked version of a S'more. Warm and chocolately and incredibly gooey, these are everything a S'more should be... minus the campfire songs and spooky stories.

Please excuse the poor presentation, I literally had to shoot these hot out of the oven as they were disappearing pretty fast, only 3 lasted the night and those were gone in the wee light of morning!

the pan about 10 minutes out of the oven!

S'more Cookie Bars taken from Baked Perfection

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 (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 super-sized (5 oz.) dark chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups Kraft 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. Two 5 oz. Hershey’s bars (or 4 regular sized ones) 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 marshmallow fluff evenly over the chocolate layer.

Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. This is most easily done by putting the second half of the dough in a gallon size freezer bag. Use your palms to flatten it out, and then use scissors to cut down both long sides of the bag, so it will open up book-style. Open it up carefully, and the dough will stick on one side of the bag. Then place the bag, dough side down, on the other three layers. From there peel the bag up ad spread the dough where it is uneven.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars

Makes 16 cookie bars.

Rocky Road Brownies

My mom buys the same woman's magazine weekly, and has for years. When I was about 14 I saw an ad for Baker's Chocolate that had me ripping the page out and stuffing into my mom's recipe binder in hopes I'd make it one day (mom was never much of a baker). The recipe was for Rocky Road Brownies. A rich fudgey brownie with nuts and topped with roasted miniature marshmallows and chocolate drizzle. I made them once and loved them!

A few days ago I stumbled upon the ad tucked into an old folder with my gazillion recipe books and I knew it was time to make these again. My memory of these hadn't faded, they were just as good the second time as the first. I sent them into work with my hubby and his co-workers loved them too. Give them a try and let me know if you think they're the yummiest brownies ever!

Baker's Best Fudgey Rocky Road Brownies

4 squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate
1/3 c. butter
2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped almonds
2 c. miniature marshmallows
1 square Baker's semi-sweet chocolate

Instructions:

1. Melt 4 squares chocolate with butter over hot water, and cool.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat eggs and blend in sugar, chocolate/butter mixture and vanilla.
4. Stir in flour mixture.
5. Fold in nuts.
6. Spread into greased and floured 8 x 8 inch pan and bake at 350ºF for 25 minutes or until brownies pull away from the sides.
7. Sprinkle warm brownies wit marshmallows and broil under pre-heated broiler until golden brown.
8. Drizzle with 1 square melted chocolate. Let cool and cut with wet knife.

* Please excuse my pictures not doing the brownie justice, I was too eager to try one and cut them while still hot. They were delicious though!

S'mores Indoors!

I was out walking with the girls today and I could smell someone burning leaves and brush and it made me think of bonfires and how much I love S'mores. So off I headed home to make some!

There could very well be a recipe for something like these somewhere out in cyber-space but I decided to create my own and the result was very yummy! It's a take on Rice Krispie treats:

S'mores Indoors

40 marshmallows (1 bag)
3 tbps butter
1 tsp vanilla
6 cups Golden Grahams Cereal
1/4 c. mini chocolate chips
250g bag of dark chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Melt 2 tbps butter in a saucepan on medium heat.
2. Add marshmallows and stir until melted.
3. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
4. Add cereal and mini chips and stir until combined.
5. Pour into greased 8"x14" pan and using your hands press into the dish. (If you wet your hands slightly this works better.)
6. Put dark chocolate chips and remaining tbsp of butter into a bowl and microwave until melted.
7. Spread melted chocolate over top of cereal mixture and smooth out covering the cereal.
8. Refrigerate until set.