cook: s'mores brownies {w/eight layers of yum}

I've always had a love/hate relationship with campfire s'mores. They're good, maybe even fantastic if you pack enough chocolate in there (half a bar's about right). But I want my chocolate melty, which is kind of hard to achieve when a campfire is your only heat source, and chomping down on a hard piece of chocolate kind of ruins the s'more experience for me. Plus, campfire s'mores are a slippery, slidey mess. It's not that I really mind a gooey mess, but I want the proportions of chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallow to be about the same in every bite. I don't want to have to take a big bite that's just plain marshmallow because it's all squishing out one side and I certainly don't want my last bite of s'more to consist of only graham cracker because all the good middle stuff is already gone. You know, this is important stuff!

So it's possible I'm a little high maintanence when it comes to s'mores. I've found a pretty good microwave method - start nuking the chocolate first, when it gets shiny add some mini marshmallows and go for 7 more seconds, then spread the gooey mess out on a graham cracker - for heaven's sake please don't ever nuke the graham cracker! - but I figured it was time for a s'more brownie. Because s'mores, like most everything in life, could use just a little more chocolate.

By the way, I've tried the "s'mores bars" recipe, which uses ground up graham crackers along with butter, sugar, flour and eggs to make a graham cracker cookie-ish base for chocolate and marshmallow, and I'm not a huge fan. I don't want my graham crackers messed up with a whole bunch of added ingredients. I want them left alone. Except for adding lots more chocolate to them. You know what I mean. Keep reading for the recipe!

Smore's Brownies

1 box family size brownie mix (I prefer Duncan Hines), prepared as directed on package

1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow cream

12 oz good quality milk chocolate chips (feel free to substitute Hershey Bars here)

12 whole graham crackers

1 C mini marshmallows if desired

Mix up brownies as directed on package and preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a greased 9x13 pan, spread half the brownie mix. Top with a single layer of graham crackers (like layering noodles on a lasagne), breaking crackers as needed to fit - seven should be enough. Spoon marshmallow cream onto crackers and spread somewhat evenly. Sprinkle half of chocolate over marshmallow cream, and top with remaining brownie batter. Bake 26-30 minutes (mine went for 28 minutes), until top is beginning to look set. The marshmallow cream and chocolate will still be gooey, but you want to cook it until the brownie batter is mostly cooked through. Remove from oven and top with remaining chocolate, remaining crackers broken into pieces, and mini marshmallows if desired. Return to oven and turn oven to broil for about 2 minutes, until chocolate is melted and marshmallows are toasted. Cool 20-30 minutes until brownies have firmed up enough to cut gently (tops of brownies will still be melty and gooey).

I used marshmallow cream because it stands up to being baked much better than real marshmallows. I happened to have some mini marshmallows on hand, so I threw a few on top for fun, but don't feel like you need to buy mini marshmallows in order to make this - the marshmallow cream would be sufficient on it's own. Enjoy!

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Cheerios and Lattes 

Tatertots and Jello

Comments

[Caprice]

oh my goodness. I can't wait to try these. We hung up our superhero picture in our front hallway. It looks amazing!