Happy National S'mores Day! I constantly feel like I'm always a day late and dollar short on celebrating food holidays (except for Christmas since I'll prep for that months in advance). Well this time I'm a day early since the celebrations for this chocolatey, marshmallowy, graham cracker treat actually happen tomorrow. But these brownies need to be made for the celebration. I made them for one of the other groups at work as a thank you for helping me, but stole a few for myself (and my immediate coworkers. The graham cracker crust is a nice thick base for the fudgy brownie which is then topped with mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips for a gooey, delicious topping. All of the elements that make S'mores awesome, but with a brownie in the middle. Sounds like yum to me.
Anyway, you're probably thinking, "Cookie Princess, you've already made S'mores Brownies." But truth be told, I wasn't as pleased with those as I wanted to be. The large marshmallows and the sweet crust, topped with chunks of graham cracker that kept falling off as you took a bite, I wanted to try again. And as a huge S'mores fan (have you tried these cookies yet?), I saw this recipe in Food Network Magazines' 50 Brownies booklet from March 2012 and needed to make them. I'm glad I finally got around to them because seriously, they are so good. Based on the Fudgy Brownie recipe from the same book (used to make these Mexican Brownies, the extra crust and topping are what make these unique. The recipe suggests just layering graham crackers on the bottom of the pan and pouring the brownie batter on top. However, I was afraid of the bars not cutting very well and the graham crackers not adhering to the brownies, so I crushed the crackers, mixed them with butter and made a full blown graham cracker crust, like you would for a pie or cheesecake. This turned out perfectly and I'm glad I took the extra steps. It's like making a whole pan full of S'mores, enough to feed a crowd, with the added bonus of a chewy, fudgy brownie and no need to struggle with building a campfire.
S'mores Brownies
Ingredients
18 graham crackers (two sleeves)
1 cup butter, divided
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Place graham crackers in a food processor or a zip top bag. Pulse or use a mallet or rolling pin to crush to fine crumbs. Transfer to a small bowl. Melt 1/2 cup butter and pour over graham crackers. Stir to combine to a sandy texture.
Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Transfer graham cracker mixture to pan and using a spatula or hands, gently press to an even layer to create the crust.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 6-8 minutes.
While crust bakes, melt remaining butter and 2 cups of chocolate chips in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat and whisk in both sugars. Allow to cool slightly, then whisk in eggs, one at a time, before whisking in vanilla.
Stir in flour and salt.
Pour batter over baked graham cracker crust as evenly as possible. Return to oven and bake for 35 minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips over the partially baked brownies. Return to oven and continue to bake another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars.
Makes 24 brownies.
Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess
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