Gooey Chewy S'mores Bars

Smores Bars with a chewy graham cookie base, followed with a thick layer of chocolate, then topped with two types of marshmallows. Each bite is reminiscent of a campfire treat.

I had my first smores bar only recently from a bakery that just opened. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a smores bar, crazy huh? The top of this bar was light tan in spots and the edges were super crispy. You could see the little bumps of tan mini marshmallows on the top. It was sticky, gooey, and chewy. They were good, but the mini marshmallows turned taffy-like and almost pulled my teeth out.

The base is basically butter, brown sugar, an egg (I asked the bakery owner), flour, and crushed graham crackers. I don’t see the need for leavening here so even if it was in that bar, I’d leave it out.

The middle layer has to have a good layer of chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips work best because milk chocolate would make it too sweet. This would also work well with dark chocolate.

The marshmallow topping needed some tweaking. The topping is where it’s at for these smores bars. I first made these with just mini marshmallows scattered on top then baked. Marshmallows are covered with starch which keeps them from sticking to each other. The starch also helps it keep its shape. Just like when you toast a marshmallow over a fire, the outer edge gets dark and slightly crispy (sometimes burnt) and the inside gets gooey. Of course, using marshmallow Fluff (or creme for all of you not located in the northeast US) would give me gooey, but it wouldn’t have the crispness from the mini marshmallows like the bakery. So let’s use both.

A simple hack to easily spread the Fluff...

It gets a little tricky spreading the fluff over the chocolate chips. To get around this, spray or grease a 2 cup measure with oil or butter. If using a 7 ounce jar of creme, transfer the whole thing into the measuring cup. If you’re using fluff, measure about 1 ½ cups of fluff into the measuring cup or 1 heaping cup. Place in the microwave and heat it for 15 to 30 seconds. Now you can pour the fluff over the chips and spread it evenly. The whole thing should pour out easily from the cup because it was greased. I don’t recommend microwaving in the plastic marshmallow creme jar. I can’t tell you how happy I was to figure out this simple step because the worst part of making these smores bars was spreading that fluff! It was basically a dope slap on the head attached with a “Duh!”

A few things you should know before making these smores bars…

1. These smores bars need to be completely cooled before slicing and I recommend keeping them in the fridge for at least 4 hours to overnight. Otherwise, it will get messy and harder to eat. The drooping marshmallow is great for pictures, but not for eating without getting it all over you. Unless you’re into that stuff. 🙂
2. If you cut them right out of the fridge, you’ll need to push down hard on that knife. You may want them come to room temp before slicing. I slice them cold.
3. Once these are sliced and come to room temperature, they will go back to being gooey. I didn’t skimp on ingredients here so these are thick bars with a good layer of chocolate and marshmallows.

Love bars? Try my:

Congo bars
Cocoa brownies
Peanut butter and jelly bars
Chocolate ganache peanut butter bars
Homemade larabars
Honey nut granola bars

Life is too short for mediocre food.

Smores Bars

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These Smores Bars are best when completely cooled. Put them in the refrigerator to cool completely. I find it best to refrigerate them overnight then slicing. They will soften again when they come to room temperature. They’re still good while warm, although difficult to eat because the chocolate and marshmallow will be soft and gooey.

You can slice these into 16 bars or 12 larger bars.

Course: Bars, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Bars, Smores

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 16 bars

Author: Natalie Gregory

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter melted
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or bourbon
• ½ teaspoon fine salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs 9 full sized crackers, crushed
• 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 heaping cup marshmallow Fluff or 7 ounce jar marshmallow creme
• 2 cups mini marshmallows

Instructions

• Preheat oven 350 degrees.
• Spray or grease an 8x8 baking dish. For ease of slicing, line the pan with parchment with a little overhang.
• Whisk together butter and brown sugar until combined. Whisk in the egg, salt, and vanilla.
• Stir in the flour and crumbs and mix until combined.
• Press ⅔ of the dough evenly into the pan.
• Sprinkle the top evenly with the chocolate chips.
• Spray or grease a 2 cup measure with baking spray and measure the Fluff. If using a 7 ounce jar of creme, transfer the whole thing into the measuring cup. For ease of spreading, microwave the fluff for 15 to 30 seconds. Now you can easily spread the fluff over the chocolate. It should come out of the measuring cup easily because it was greased.
• Sprinkle the mini marshmallows evenly over the creme. Break off pieces of the remaining dough and scatter it evenly over the marshmallows.
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Start checking after 23 minutes.
• Let cool, then refrigerate until firm - at least 4 hours - or it will be very messy and soft. Slice and enjoy.

Notes

For a cleaner slice, wipe down your knife between each slice to remove the sticky fluff.

Did you make this recipe? I would love to see how it turns out. Tag me on Instagram @thegeneticchef or tag #thegeneticchef and tell me all about it!

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