S’mores hold a special spot in my heart. We had them at every girl scout camp out and many times as a teenager hanging out at a friend’s house. Our family camping trips with our boys featured the yummy and messy treat at almost every campfire. I love seeing our boys’ messy smiles while eating them. S’mores always conjure up a smile.
What’s a girl to do when a goof old fashioned campfire s’more isn’t an option? We often make them in a cast iron pan and use graham cracker sticks to scoop out the chocolate-marshmallow goodness. Sometimes we even make them as cookie bars. These, my friends, are a little piece of heaven. You can make them at home or in the RV and they will disappear in a flash. Even better, there is no fancy equipment. You can even get out some aggression when crumbling the graham crackers.
I can taste their gooey goodness as I type, clearly it’s time to make them again. Let’s get baking!
There are three parts to these bars; the graham cracker layer topped with the cookie layer topped with the gooey layer.
Let’s start with the graham cracker layer. You need ¾ cup which is about a sleeve. I like to put them in a freezer zip loc bag and mash them with a rolling pin, see my note above about taking out some aggression. You can also use a food processor. Stir the crumbs together with some melted butter and sugar. Press this mixture into the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan sprayed with cooking spray.
Now it’s time for the cookie layer. Stir together flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside. Beat together sugar and butter in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until just combined. Add the flour mixture and mix until fully combined.
Grab a small amount of the cookie dough, flatten it with your hands and place on the graham cracker mixture. Do this with all the dough. It might not completely cover the grahams.
It’s gooey time! Spread out the chocolate chips and mini marshmallows then top with the sweetened condensed milk.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350° oven for 22-25 minutes until edges are a nice golden brown. Mine was right at 25 minutes, your oven may cook differently.
Here’s the hard part, they need to cool for several hours before cutting. Or you could neatly have at it while it’s hot before letting the rest of the pan cool. No judgement here.
S’Mores Cookie Bars
Graham Layer
- One sleeve graham crackers (9 crackers)
- 6 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
Cookie Layer
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
Gooey Layer
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips (6 ounces)
- 1 cup mini marshmallows (2 ounces)
- 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350° and spray a 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray.
Graham Layer: smash the graham crackers and stir in the sugar and melted butter. Press into 13 x 9 pan.
Cookie Layer: stir together flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl, set aside. In a medium bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg then mix just until combined. Add flour mix and slowly mix until well combined. Flatten a small amount of dough in a disc and lay on graham mixture. Repeat with all the dough.
Gooey Layer: Spread chocolate chips and marshmallows evenly on top of cookie dough. Top with sweetened condensed milk.
Bake for 22-25 minutes until edges are golden brown. Mine took 25 minutes. Let cool overnight before cutting. Store in a sealed container.