Sunshine, S'mores & No Campfire Required

There's something about the smell of chocolate and toasted marshmallow that just makes a space feel warm and welcoming. This weekend I'm baking a batch of gooey s'mores bars... no campfire required, easy to grab in one hand, and always a crowd-pleaser.

Gooey Baked S'mores Bars

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 18–22 minutes | Total Time: about 40 minutes | Yield: 24 bars

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2⅓ cups graham cracker crumbs
• ⅓ cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips (about one 11.5-ounce bag)
• 1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13 pan with foil, letting the edges hang over the sides, and coat generously with cooking spray.
2. Make the graham cracker crumbs: break two sleeves of graham crackers into pieces and pulse them in a food processor until finely ground.
3. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar, butter, vanilla, and egg together for about 2 minutes until fluffy. Mix in the graham cracker crumbs, flour, and salt until combined.
4. Set aside 1 cup of this mixture. Press the rest firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan to form the crust.
5. Scatter the chocolate chips evenly over the crust. Drop spoonfuls of marshmallow creme on top, then spread it out gently — dip a spoon in hot water to warm it up first, which makes spreading the fluff much easier and helps it release cleanly (rinse and re-warm the spoon as needed).
6. Sprinkle the mini marshmallows and the reserved graham mixture over the top.
7. Bake for 18–22 minutes, until the marshmallows are lightly golden. Let the bars cool completely before lifting them out by the foil and slicing into squares.

A couple of tips: if you don't have marshmallow creme on hand, you can swap in extra mini marshmallows, though the bars won't be quite as gooey. And these keep well in an airtight container for about 5 days on the counter, so you can easily make them ahead of time.

Recipe from: Garnish with Lemon