S’mores are what camping is really all about. This summer’s brief camping foray reminded me that I’m not much of a beach person, don’t particularly like wandering down a dirt road to use a public bathroom home to an entire terrarium worth of small, unpredictable wildlife, have no fondness for dressing out of a duffel bag, and don’t take kindly to a lack of running water. But there’s something about campfire time that makes the whole shebang completely worthwhile.
We snuck in right before the fire ban this year, as record dryness has far too many forest fires burning in my beautiful province, so we got to enjoy the real deal s’mores. But once a summer isn’t really enough, and sometimes you want s’mores in the dead of fall, or spring, or winter. At your service, friends.
These taste like the real deal, only easier to eat, easier to mass produce, and easier to eat eleven of. You’re welcome.
I have s’mores bars and s’more cookie recipes I love, but had come to realize they came with a serious problem of the small pan variety. Who wants to go to all kinds of bother pulling out, measuring, mixing and patting ingredients to end up with a paltry 8″x8″ pan? No one with 7 people living in their house, I can tell you that.
Nothing smaller than a 9×13″ pan would satisfy me, so I set about adapting various recipes to make it happen. My previous fave has graham crumbs but no actual graham crackers, which I love for convenience since I usually have crumbs but rarely have crackers. But I wanted these to have crackers, to be as authentic as possible (although I kept the crumbs around too, because more is clearly better when it comes to s’mores).
These are a little messy to make and a lot messy to cut if you don’t let them chill first. Let me assure that it will be completely worth your trouble and wait.
There’s nothing not to love about this.
- 30 whole graham crackers
- ¾ cup butter or margarine
- ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 3 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chunks or chips, divided
- 4 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper or grease thoroughly. If using parchment paper, leave enough overhang that you can pick up the whole works when it's cool to transfer it to a cutting board.
- Line bottom of prepared pan with 15 graham crackers (3 rows of 5). Don't worry if they aren't tight to the sides.
- In medium saucepan, melt butter and stir in brown sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in milk and vanilla. Stir in graham cracker crumbs to form a very soft paste. Pour HALF this mixture over the layer of graham crackers in the pan, spreading as evenly as possible.
- Top with half the chocolate chips and half the marshmallows, then another row of 15 graham crackers. Top with remaining graham crumb mixture, then remaining marshmallows and chocolate chips.
- Bake for 12 minutes, until marshmallows have browned. After removing from the oven, you can smoosh the melty chocolate around a bit for swirls, or just let them re-set into chunks.
- Cool completely before slicing - I let them cool to room temperature and then also put them in the fridge for an hour before slicing.
- Store at cool room temperature or in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Okay, delish! I forgot to put parchment paper in my pan so it was a bit more work to get them out but they still taste great! Also, definitely chill before cutting, it works much better. Thanks for the recipe :-)
So glad you liked them :)
I hear you about the 8X8 pan deal…. all my squares recipes have been converted to fit a 12X17 jelly roll pan! I know you like to hear how these recipes worked for others but it will have to wait until after camping because I won’t find time before we leave on Friday. However, I did read through the recipe and was wondering when you put the other HALF of the mixture on… is it after the second graham crumb layer? Also, do you know if they will freeze well?
Ack, good catch! The rest goes on after the next layer of whole graham crackers – I’ve updated the recipe. And yes, they freeze great!
I still have not made s’mores anything this summer! It’s sad! haha These squares look completely fantastic!