S'mores taste best when cooked and assembled among friends and open flames, but if you don't have any friends or open flames, you can do what I do and make them as marshmallow bar cookies. These S'mores Bars are baked in an 8 inch pan rather than the usual 13x9 so you'll get just enough. Update: They also work well with gluten-free flour.
I've been making these for years, but the recipe is actually from Hershey's, which is no surprise since it involves whole Hershey Bars.
Building Your S'mores Bars
Here are some very OLD pictures that give you an idea of what the process looks like. You start with a dough made out of butter, sugar, egg, graham cracker crumbs and flour.
You press about half of it in the pan, then arrange Hershey Bars and marshmallow creme/cream/fluff over the bars. Lastly, you top the bars with remaining graham dough.
Bake it all up, let the bars cool, the cut into squares! I feel like I have better photos of these somewhere, but I'll have to look. The truth is even though I love S'mores Bars I don't make them often because I'm either out of graham crackers or marshmallow creme. Recently, I started making my own marshmallow cream (or marshmallow fluff) using a recipe from Gemma at Gemma's Bigger Bolder Baking. I haven't yet tried it with S'mores Bars, but it's on my list of things to do (along with updating these photos).
I've also become very fond of the old Indoor S'mores (Golden Grahams S'mores Bars) which don't require any baking at all. I'm not sure which recipe I like better because they're both really good.
New! Gluten-Free S'mores Bars
It's easy to make a gluten-free version of these bar cookies. All you do is use ¾ cup gluten-free graham cracker crumbs (storebought or homemade) and use 170 grams of a gluten-free 1:1 blend. King Arthur Measure for Measure works well, just be sure to weigh it rather than measure by volume.
More Tips
I've been making these for a while now, so here are a few more tips.
- The recipe calls for salted butter or margarine. Margarine, the kind with 100 calories per tablespoon (like Land o' Lakes) actually works well here because it makes the dough softer. However, I most often use butter. If using unsalted butter, increase the salt to ½ teaspoon.
- Instead of Hershey milk chocolate, use whatever brand you love. I don't recommend milk chocolate chips, though.
- Don't bother measuring the marshmallow. You can just spoon it on, spread it as best you can and eyeball.
- To make the top layer, you can grab bits of dough, press them down and lay the pieces over the marshmallow, spreading flat. Alternatively, you can press half the dough (about 280 grams) into an 8 inch square on a piece of parchment. Freeze the square just until firm, then invert over the pan and peel away the paper.
- Let cool completely before cutting. For neater slices, chill the bars then lift from pan. Slice while cold.
Recipe
S'mores Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter or margarine, softened (114 grams)
- ¾ cup sugar (150 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-⅓ cups all-purpose flour or 170 grams KA Measure for Measure gluten-free flour (170 grams)
- ¾ cup graham cracker crumbs, regular or gluten-free (75 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt or use ½ teaspoon if using unsalted butter
- 4 bars (1.55 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars or use 6 oz chopped milk chocolate
- 1 cup marshmallow creme
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan or line the pan with foil and spray foil with cooking spray (makes cutting easier).
- Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, stirring until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.
- Arrange chocolate bars over dough, breaking as needed to fit. Spread with marshmallow creme. Scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallow; carefully press to form a layer. Another method you can use for putting the top layer on is to press half of the dough into a square the size of the pan. Do this on a piece of foil or parchment, then set it on a tray or plate and freeze for 10 minutes. When it's firm, invert over the pan and carefully peel away the paper.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars or squares.
Anna
Sorry that happened. I tried it with marshmallows and got the same results, so I guess with this particular recipe it's best to stick with the recipe.
hopeinbrazil
I tried these with real marshmallows, but it didn't work very well. They melted and left air pockets in the bars which made them crumble when I cut them. Not as pretty as your picture.
pazit
these smores bars look amazing! I would love to know if i can freeze these? If not how long can i leave them out for?
dominique hill
Hi, these look great- my sister has always wanted to try these as we are from the UK, and not many people sell them here.
I will definitely bake these for her!! 🙂
Anna
Hi Libby, I think real marshmallows would work. Give it a try and let me know!
Libby
any chance instead of marshmallow cream I could use real marshmallows and melt them? Any ideas? I have lots of big marshmallows on hand and don't really like marshmallow cream.
Anna
Thanks Lynette! You caught a typo. The original recipe is from Hershey's, but I re-typed it here in case the link gets changed. These are excellent.
Lynette
You must be missing the butter and sugar from the recipe. My friend brought over somtething like this and they were to die for yummy! Just searching for a recipe to take to a fourth of July bbq 🙂
Holly
Yum! I just made these and they're a fun treat and taste an awful lot like the real thing, but in a bar form! Great recipe!
Krystle
These are absolutely delicious! I have made many times and everytime I do people just rave about them!
Tanis
Anna, I sure would like the info you sent to Jen about sweet places to visit in NY.
Anna
Jen, I just sent you the info. At one point, I had a page called "Sweet Places" but I took it down because I couldn't update it enough.
jen
the s'mores bars look great - love checking your site every day to see what you've 'baked' up:-).
i have an unrelated question (unrelated to s'mores that is). i could swear i remember seeing a post or list of nyc bakeries that you've visited or wanted to visit. i'm going next week and wanted to try to stop by a couple of them. i've been to levain (yum), but there are others i'm sure i should see/taste:-). forgive me if there's an obvious link and i missed it. thanks so much!!
Katrina
Those look GREAT.
pam shank
these look really good,will make for sure sometime this fall. thanks
Dani
whoaaaa
those look SO GOOD
but a lot simpler way would be roasting a marshmallow over the stove (gas stove) and making the smores, or microwaving the grahams crackers and marshmallow, then adding the chocolate. nom!!
=)
VeggieGirl
Can't beat a S'mores treat! 🙂
Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets
I've bookmarked this recipe via Baking Bites and was just about to make this finally! Glad to know it's a winner from yet another source. =)