/cue groan at that awful pun.  But it must be said, that these rich bars do leave you wanting more.  It all started when I was at my cottage (big surprise there, eh?) and we made s’mores one evening.  Dutifully, we roasted our marshmallows over the goals of our bonfire until they were golden, bubbling, and deliciously gooey on the inside.  I’m not gonna lie: a few of my marshmallows ended up as blackened puffs of charcoal before I finally got a half decently roasted marshmallow.

So, two things inspired these bars, which if you haven’t guessed, are supposed to taste like s’mores.  Firstly, we had a *ton* of leftover marshmallows and a box full of graham crackers.  I knew they wouldn’t be even nibbled at by my parents at the cottage, so I crammed them into my suitcase and smuggled them back to Toronto.

Look at those beauties!

Secondly, s’mores are good, very good.  So good that it was worth making a way to enjoy that irrestible combination of graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate when there was no availble fire to set fire to lightly toast marshmallows.

As inspiration for the crust, I looked at a number of graham cracker crumb crusts for cheesecakes and basically used your standard recipe.  The gooey marshmallow middle is based off a recipe for homemade marshmallow fluff.  And the bars are capped off with a layer of melted chocolate, semi-sweet to balance the sweetness of the marshmallows.

Overall, I’d give these bars around an 8.0 for being a made of recipe.  They’re definitely tasty, but the marshmallow layer, while it stays gooey at room temperature like a roasted marshmallow, is extremely sticky. In fact it made removing the bars from the pan and cutting them a tricky process.  Keep that in mind if you choose to try this recipe.

I apologise in advance for the photos.  We’ve been getting some pretty intense afternoon thunderstorms.  As I do most of my photography early morning or early evening, it’s sometimes a challenge to get good natural light.  With no good artificial lights or tripod and an aversion to flash, a lot of my pictures turned out blurry.

But please bear with me and don’t be afraid to make a few suggestions if you give these bars a try!

S’more Bars

Ingredients

Crust:
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ sugar
½ tsp cinnamon (optional)
6 Tbsp butter, melted

Marshmallow:
1 16 oz bag of marshmallows (4 big marshmallows = 1 oz)
3 ½ Tbsp corn/golden syrup

Chocolate:
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
1 tsp butter or margarine

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 350F.  Line and spray a 9” square pan.
2.    In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon (optional).  Mix until evenly distributed.  Add melted butter and blend together with your hands.  Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.  Bake for 8-10 minutes then let cool.  (I was in a rush, so I stuck my pan in the freezer).
3.    When crust is almost cool, combine marshmallows and corn syrup in a large, heavy pot.  Heat on low until marshmallows are all melted and you have a smooth (if very sticky) mixture.  Quickly spread out evenly on the crust.  Return pan to freezer/let cool.
4.    When marshmallow layer has set, combine chocolate chips and butter/masgarine in a microwave safe bowl and heat on low in short intervals (around 20 seconds) until chocolate is melted.  Frequently stir the chocolate chips as they melted.  Remember, burned chocolate is nasty, so be careful!  Spread the melted chocolate over the marshmallow layer and return pan to the fridge.  Refridgerate for at least 1 ½ hours, or until the chocolate is set.
5.    Remove from pan and cut into pieces.

Now you can enjoy the gooey taste of s’mores no matter where you are!

Yummy, but blurry. :(