If I told you how many times I've gone camping, you wouldn't believe that I've only had s'mores once my whole life. It's true. One time. I guess that year, one of us had the bright idea to spend the night around the campfire making s'mores, instead of pretending to be bears and trying to scare the boys. We were never very successful with the latter. But the year we made s'mores, we were #winning. We joined forces with them and made a complete mess of ourselves and it was one of the best nights we ever had at that good old Spruce Run Recreation Area campground.
So by default, when I saw these s'mores cookies on Pinterest, I could only assume that in making them, I would once again be #winning. Let's face it, there are few things in life better than being able to enjoy the delicious ooey, gooey, chocolatey, marshmallowey goodness of a s'more without the fire, smoke-stenched clothes, or annoying bugs...daddy longlegs in particular.
As for the mini marshmallows, I had to willingly sacrifice those. I was really tempted to call the number on the back of their bag at the store to ask what kind of gelatin they used, but I went against it and continued to the pudding aisle to find the marshmallow creme. Marshmallow creme is just as awesome as any bag of mini, regular, or jumbo marshmallows. It's literally the best alternative out there, so don't worry about substituting it in recipes, because you won't be sacrificing any taste.
Yes, my cookies may not have had big globs of melted mini marshmallows, but they were still nothing short of amazing. I mean, look at them. A graham cracker base, topped with chocolate chip cookie dough mixed with gooey marshmallow creme, and then sprinkled with chopped Hershey's chocolate. I especially loved the hint of cinnamon in them, as well as the fact that the chocolate chip cookie part was slightly undercooked.
My youngest brother (aka my main food tester and critic) didn't like the addition of the graham cracker, and said he would have preferred the cookie alone. My oldest nephew, on the other hand, said he didn't like the actual cookie part and then proceeded to ask me if I had some graham crackers for him to eat. There were lots of other different opinions on the cookies, but I think my brother made a pretty valid point.
A s'more is a s'more, and a cookie is a cookie. If you're going to make a s'more cookie, you can't include an actual graham cracker because then it's basically just a s'more and not so much a cookie. A better representation of a s'more cookie is a cookie using graham cracker crumbs in the dough, like this one. Now that's a real s'more cookie.
Either way, my brother and I both happily devoured these cookies. Of course, it was temporary happiness on my part because after 3 cookies, I started regretting it and I told him to hide them from me or take some to his friends at school because I knew I wasn't going to be able to resist. They are addicting, in every sense of the word. Don't say I didn't warn you.
S'mores Cookies
Ingredients:
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
pinch of vanilla powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup marshmallow creme
2 extra large Hershey’s bars, broken into pieces
1-2 packages graham crackers, broken into squares
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 11x17 baking pan(s) with aluminum foil.
Lay out graham crackers side by side on the pans as close as possible. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and combine on low speed.
Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallow creme. Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight.
Place tablespoons of dough on each graham cracker, about 1 – 1 ½ inches apart. Press down slightly with fingertips.
Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from oven to press Hershey’s bar pieces on to the top. You can place as many pieces or as little as you want depending how chocolatey you want the cookies to be.
Bake for 5 – 7 more minutes or until dough is beginning to turn golden brown at the edges.
Remove to a wire rack to cool. Make sure cookies are completely cool before you cut them, and make sure to use a sharp knife.
Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything
drooooooooool I just wish I had a plate full of these right now.
ReplyDeletenever heard of "vanilla powder". um can i use vanilla extract instead?
ReplyDeleteYes eileensideways, you can use 1 teaspoon vanilla extract!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness- I never knew marshmallow cream doesn't have gelatin in it!! *mind blown*
ReplyDelete