Mandy's Bytes: S'more Bars

I recently made the discovery that Betty Crocker has a Flickr photostream devoted entirely to recipes. It was here, in the desserts sections, that I disovered these:

www.bettycrocker.com

Entitled "Warm Toasted Marshmallow S'more Bars" (original recipe can be found here) I knew I had to make these, I mean, just look at them!



The instructions sounded too simple to be true and they don't even require that many ingredients:

• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 3 cups milk chocolate chips (18 oz)
• 4 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

I didn't realize until I started lining up for this picture that I only had the "Small Batch" size cookie dough mix, so I ended up reducing the recipe by about a third and using a 9x9 pan instead of 9x13.

First things first, you want to preheat your oven for 375 degrees. Now for those of you who may not be as kitchen inclined as myself, let me make the case to you for making your own graham cracker crumbs. I bought plain old graham crackers and made my crumbs myself, not only because I can't justify paying an extra dollar for the same amount of crackers just because they are pre-crumbled, but because it's fun. I'm not kidding. Not only is it fun, but if you've had a long day, week, whatever, it will make you feel sooo much better to take your blunt object of choice and have at those crackers. Trust me.

Once you have the 1 cup of crumbs, whether you made them yourself or not, you are going to mix them with the 1lb 1.5 oz Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix and a large mixing bowl.

 Stir them together until they are evenly mixed, and then pour 1 cup of melted butter all over this mixture. The dough is easily stirred with a mixing spoon, just make sure to get all the crumbly bits off the sides of the bowl. Then scoop it out into an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. When you first put it in the pan it will look like a hot buttery mess, probably because it is.

I spread the mixture over the bottom of the pan with my spoon first but it didn't cover very well so I evened it out by using plastic wrap to cover the dough and flattening it with my hands.

After your dough is all flattened out, pop it in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until set, when the dough is done it should be golden brown and not wiggle when you shake the pan.

Now you have to do some quick work, when you take the pan out of the oven you want to sprinkle 1 cup of chocolate chips evenly over the dough. Let them hang out for a few minutes and get nice and melty (yeah I know that's not really a word). While you're waiting, kick the oven up to broil. Once the chips are melted you can spread them around with a spatula to cover any bare patches of dough.

 

Now you can take those 4 1/2 cups of fluffy mini-marshmallow goodness and sprinkle them over the top of the chocolate, spreading them around until they are even dispersed.

This next part is a little scary, but don't worry, if I can make these with out lighting anything on fire, then so can you! You're oven should be set on broil, and you want to stick the pan back in the oven with the tops of the marshmallows about 4 or 5 inches from the top oven coil.

 The most important part of this step is not to go ANYWHERE!

Don't try to do a few dishes. Or have a snack. Or think about anything but the MALLOWS! Seriously. You have to stand at your oven and watch these babies like a hawk or they will burn. It only takes a few second for the marshmallows to brown and then you have to take them out immediately. Have your fan on high if you have a touchy smoke detector because I'd be willing to bet these would set it off in a heartbeat. Mine came out a little dark, but that's how I like my s'mores, with a little char.

So there you have the final product, let them cool for a good 10 minutes before you try to cut them.

Have a big glass of milk ready because every bite is a gooey, chewy mouthful of pure AWESOME.

Looks like this recipe has earned it's place in my recipe box. Cami got this recipe box for me for Christmas from a fellow Etsy artist Debby Arem who makes all sorts of awesome stuff out of old computer parts.

S'more Bars, I welcome you to Mandy's Bytes.