S’mores Bars

I gave up sweets for Lent – all sweets, candy/baked goods/chocolate/ice cream, the whole she-bang.  Yeah, I know.  I KNOW.  Actually let me be honest – not so bad so far.  You know, on Day Two.

I think I am going to still live vicariously through baking, however.  That, and blogging old recipes that I photographed and then never blogged about earlier.  So!  On with the show, yeah?

First up is a lovely little recipe from one of my new favorite food bloggers, Annie.  She’s blogged for awhile but I’ve only recently become addicted, I have yet to make anything from her site that I didn’t love (sadly I can’t say the same for all bloggers, cough-cough-Ree-Drummond-cough, or hell even my own food blog so I can probably stop talking now).  Anyhoo – this recipe was no exception.  Annie says she was never a fan of real S’mores but enjoyed this recipe.  As an avid fan of real-life S’mores, I gotta say these don’t really taste like S’mores, they are missing crunchy graham crackers and the smokey gooey goodness of the toasted marshmallow. 

They do, however, still taste amazing – the chocolate bar is essentially fudge, with puffy light mini marshmallows and a buttery graham crust.  Deeee-lish, and here’s how you can tell that they were an absolute hit at our house: I don’t have any good pictures of them. I shot off a few quick pictures upon cutting the bars, before running a plate-ful of them out to the group in the living room – and that, my friends, was the end of that.  And if that’s not a true sign of a good recipe, I don’t know what is.

S’mores Bars (from the ever lovely Annie’s Eats)

Ingredients: 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan 1 c. graham cracker crumbs 3/4 c. sweetened condensed milk 1 1/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips 1½ tsp. vanilla extract Pinch of salt 1 c. mini marshmallows 2 whole graham crackers

Line an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with aluminum foil. Lightly butter the foil. Place the butter in a heatproof bowl and microwave until melted. Mix in the graham cracker crumbs and stir with a fork until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Pour the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and press firmly into an even layer on the bottom of the pan.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the condensed milk and chocolate chips. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla and salt. Pour the chocolate mixture over the graham cracker base. Working quickly, spread the chocolate into an even layer and smooth with a spatula. Sprinkle the marshmallows over the top of the chocolate. Gently press down so that the marshmallows become partly embedded in the chocolate. Break the whole graham crackers into small pieces and stick into the chocolate mixture between the marshmallows.

Cover and refrigerate the bars until firm, about 4 hours. Use the foil to lift the bars out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Use a large sharp knife to cut into squares or rectangles. Refrigerate until ready to serve.