Chocolate Peppermint S'mores Bars

Now that Christmas is over it's a great time to use up all of that peppermint bark you've got sitting around... and I've got a perfect recipe for it! These are a spin on one of my favorite treats, Hershey's Chocolate S'mores Bars. You start off with chocolate graham crackers as the base, then scoop mounds of chocolate cookie dough on top, then cover the cookies with chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers, peppermint marshmallows and a whole lot of peppermint bark. They're best served straight out of the oven when they're all gooey and warm, because that's just how s'mores should be eaten! I prefer piling up a plate full and eating mine with a mug full of cocoa, but a glass of milk would do too! I can't tell you just how good these are- even the hubby who doesn't care for peppermint was seriously digging 'em! I made us a standard batch, but next year I'll be doubling this for sure! Enjoy!!!

Chocolate Peppermint S'mores Bars

Ingredients
1 c. all-purpose flour
¼ c. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
½ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
⅔ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. peppermint extract

1 sleeve chocolate graham crackers, more if needed
1 c. miniature peppermint marshmallows
½ c. regular miniature marshmallows
½ c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 Ghirardelli peppermint bark baking bar, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 or a quarter baking sheet with parchment paper. Use the chocolate graham crackers to cover the parchment, set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, sugars, vanilla and peppermint for 2-3 minutes. Add melted chocolate chips, mix until combined. Add egg, then egg yolk, mixing just until combined.
3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixing speed on low, add dry ingredients. When no flour pockets remain, turn off and remove bowl from stand. Spread cookie dough over the graham crackers, in an even layer.
4. Place in oven and bake for 6 minutes, remove and gently press in remaining graham crackers (broken into pieces), marshmallows, chocolate chips and baking bar pieces. Place in oven and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes or until the marshmallows become lighty golden in color. Remove and allow to cool in pan for 25-30 minutes before removing and cutting into bars.
Yield: Approximately 15 bars (but depends on how big or small you cut them)

Hershey's Chocolate S'mores Bars

Happy National S'mores Day!!! I'm super excited to share this recipe with you today. It's inspired by the graham cracker s'mores bars I made a few years back, only these bars are all chocolate! I was trying to come up with something to "snack on" over the weekend, something that would last a few days and that wouldn't require a lot of work. These bars were the perfect solution. All you need to do is whip up a batch of chocolate cookie dough and assemble the bars as you go. They only take 18 minutes to bake and are perfectly gooey and toasty when they come out of the oven- no campfire needed! I cut our bars into generously sized squares, but these are rich, so miniature squares would be perfect too. I hope you eat something wonderful today, even if it's just a classic s'more!

Hershey's Chocolate S'mores Bars
Ingredients
¾ c. all-purpose flour
¼ c. cake flour
¼ c. Hershey's natural unsweetened cocoa powder
½ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. vanilla
⅔ c. Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
½ c. Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips
⅓ c. miniature marshmallows

1 sleeve chocolate graham crackers, more if needed
1½ c. miniature marshmallows
1 Hershey's milk chocolate candy bar
1 Hershey's dark chocolate candy bar

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 or a quarter baking sheet with parchment paper. Use the chocolate graham crackers to cover the parchment, set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, sugars and vanilla for 2-3 minutes. Add melted chocolate chips, mix until combined. Add egg, then egg yolk, mixing just until combined.
3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixing speed on low, add dry ingredients. When no flour pockets remain, turn off and remove bowl from stand. Fold in ½ c. chocolate chips and ⅓ c. miniature marshmallows. Spread cookie dough over the graham crackers, in an even layer.
4. Place in oven and bake for 6 minutes, remove and gently press in remaining graham crackers (broken into pieces), marshmallows, and candy bar pieces. Place in oven and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes or until the marshmallows become golden brown in color. Remove and allow to cool in pan for 25-30 minutes before removing and cutting into bars.
Inspired by Graham Cracker S'mores Bars | Makes approximately 12 bars

S'more Ice Cream

It seemed so silly to me that I had never thought about making s'more ice cream, so yesterday I made some! Yes, Stephen and I are a little obsessed with anything to do with s'mores, but who isn't? For me, I love anything with crunch in it, and Stephen loves anything with marshmallows, so this ice cream is kind of a match made in heaven. We think you'll love it too!

S'more Ice Cream
Ingredients
2 c. heavy cream
1 c. whole milk
3 tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
¾ c. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
5 egg yolks
¾ c. sugar
Pinch of salt
¹⁄₈ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. vanilla extract
6 graham crackers, crumbled
2 c. mini marshmallows, divided
½ c. mini semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium saucepan, warm 1 c. of heavy cream with the cocoa powder, whisking to blend cocoa.
2. Bring mixture to a boil, remove from heat and add in 3/4 c. of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate. Stir until smooth. Then add remaining cup of heavy cream, stirring until smooth. Pour mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan to remove all chocolate. Set a mesh sieve over the bowl.
3. Warm the milk, sugar and salt in the same saucepan.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks lightly. Slowly pour the warm milk, sugar and salt mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then pour the mixture back into the saucepan to cook. Constantly stir the mixture over medium heat with a heat resistant spatula, scraping the sides and bottom. The mixture will begin to thicken and coat the spatula (it should also reach 170 degrees on a thermometer). Remove immediately and pour through the mesh sieve into the chocolate mixture. Stir in vanilla and cinnamon.
5. Place the bowl over an ice bath to cool and then place in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly (approximately 25-30 minutes).
6. Pour mixture into ice cream maker according to the manufacture's instructions. Churn for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile (towards the end of the churning process), in a double broiler, melt 1 c. mini marshmallows until smooth. Set aside.
7. Remove bowl from mixer, fold in melted marshmallow. Add whole marshmallows, mini chocolate chips and graham cracker pieces. Mix until incorporated.
8. Store mixture in an air-tight freezer safe container and freeze for 4-6 hours before serving.
Stephen + Natalie | Makes approximately 4-6 servings

S'mores Parfaits

As you can probably tell, Stephen and I love anything that has to do with s'mores. So when we were trying to think of something cold to make that wouldn't take as much time or work as ice cream, we came up with these parfaits. I used my Chicago Metallic Mini Cheesecake Pan to shape them- it works well because you can pop them out from the bottom (this can be a little tricky but after the first few you'll get the hang of it). If you don't have the same pan, don't worry, you can always prepare them in regular glasses, jars or in plastic cups. If you need them to stay colder for a little longer, you can always make them ahead and freeze them overnight.

S'mores Parfaits
Ingredients*
18 graham crackers squares (9 full sheets)
1/3 c. butter
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4. c. heavy cream
2 c. mini marshmallows
1 1/2 c. whole milk
1 box (3.9 oz) Jello instant chocolate pudding
1 1/2 c. whipped cream or Cool Whip
1/4 c. semi-sweet mini morsels

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place graham crackers into a zip-lock bag, seal. Using a rolling pin or cup, smash the crackers into fine crumbs. Melt butter and add to graham crackers. Divide evenly and place into each cup. Press firmly. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine milk and pudding packet. Stir with a hand held mixer for 2 minutes until combined. Add 1 c. of whipped cream or cool whip. Stir until incorporated. Chill until needed.
3. In a double broiler, combine 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips and heavy cream. Heat until mixture becomes smooth, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Pour over each crust (dividing evenly).
4. Remove chilled pudding mixture and place into a pastry bag or zip-lock bag. Pipe mixture into each cup, making sure to fill in any cracks. Smooth off the top. Place in freezer for 2 hours.
5. Before serving, remove from freezer. Let sit for 2-3 minutes, then remove from pan. Top with remaining cool whip and mini marshmallows. Sprinkle with mini chocolate morsels. Enjoy immediately.
*You may want to consider using a larger box of pudding and more cool whip if you are using something other than the mini cheesecake pan or if you are serving a bigger crowd.

Graham Cracker S'mores Bars

I came across this recipe one afternoon and immediately knew I had to make it. Something about baked s'mores just intrigued me. Also s'mores bring back a lot of good memories for me... like bonfires in the canyon with roommates and friends. So I made a few alterations to the original recipe and voilà! They're kind of amazing little things. When I was scooping the dough onto the graham crackers, I just wanted to eat a handful of it, and when they were baking it made our entire house smell hea-ven-ly. The process does require a little bit of time and certainly more work than standard cookie bars do, but I think you'll agree that the results are well worth it!

Graham Cracker S'mores Bars
Ingredients
11 tbsp. butter, room temperature
½ c. granulated sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1½ tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. cinnamon
2½ c. flour
1¼ c. mini marshmallows
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chunks (Nestlé Toll House)
¾ c. mini semi-sweet morsels (Nestlé Toll House)
3 Hershey's bars, broken into squares (I used 1 regular, 2 dark)
2 sleeves honey graham crackers, broken into squares

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars (1-2 minutes).
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.
4. Add egg one at a time to butter mixture, gently beating after each addition. Add vanilla and mix.
5. Slowly begin to add flour mixture to the butter mixture, keeping the mixing speed low while doing so.
Once combined, remove and fold in 1c. mini marshmallows, mini morsels and chocolate chunks. Chill mixture in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
6. While mixture is chilling, prepare baking sheet (standard size, with sides) by lining it with parchment paper. Take graham crackers and break in half. Lay out onto sheet, until it is completely full (they should cover the entire sheet and cookies should be tight and touching- see picture).
7. Remove chilled dough from refrigerator and using a standard cookie scoop, place one ball of dough onto each cracker. use remaining dough to fill in the gaps. It may look like a lot of dough, but it all needs to run together in order to cover the entire sheet.
8. Place into oven for 6 minutes, then remove and press Hershey's bar pieces into top along with remaining 1/4 c. marshmallows (just fill in the gaps with them a little). Return to oven and bake for 5-7 minutes or until dough and marshmallows being to brown, making sure the dough is cooked through. Remove from oven and place sheet on a wire rack to cool. Once it is sufficiently cooled (20 minutes or so) place into refrigerator to solidify. Remove after an additional 20 minutes and cut into squares.
Adapted from Always With Butter | Makes approximately 30 bars

S'more Cookies (Stephen's Favorite)

Stephen's favorite cookies come from a little place in south Jordan, Utah. They're loaded with gooey marshmallows, chocolate chunks and pieces of graham crackers. We've been going through a little separation anxiety lately. You know, the kind you have when you move away from all of the restaurants and bakeries you once visited on a weekly basis. So in order to ease that anxiety, I've been searching for a s'more cookie recipe just like the one we love. I had no idea how hard it would be to find one, I don't think such a thing exists. I found bars, whoopie pies, moon pies... all sorts of creations, but nothing like the cookies we love. That left me with only one option- create my own. We hope you will enjoy them as much as we do!

Chocolate S'more Cookies
Ingredients
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
⅓ c. double-Dutch dark cocoa
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
½ c. mini semisweet chocolate chips

Topping:
1 c. Nestle Toll House chocolate chunks
1 (10½ oz) bag of Jet-Puffed mini marshmallows
1 sleeve Nabisco or Honey Maid honey graham crackers, cut into small rectangles

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In large mixing bowl cream sugars and butter for 1 minute. Add eggs, vanilla, cocoa powder, and melted chocolate. Beat.
3. In a separate mixing bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder. One cup at a time, add dry mixture to wet ingredients. Mix for 1 minute on medium speed. Remove bowl and fold in mini chocolate chips by hand.
4. Scoop cookies (1½" balls) onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes, remove from oven.
5. Set oven to broil (high)
6. Begin to add toppings by sprinkling the chocolate chunks on top of each cookie, lightly pressing them in. Next, press in 3-4 graham cracker pieces into each cookie. Finally, sprinkle enough marshmallows on top to cover the majority of each cookie. Place back in oven and watch until marshmallows become puffy and golden brown. Remove and let cool on sheet for 3-5 minutes, then place on wire cooling racks.
Tip: Make one sheet at a time so that the cookies are still warm when pressing toppings in and so that they bake properly.
Stephen + Natalie | Makes approximately 24 cookies.