S'more Cookie Bars

December is here and prepare for me to share all my favorite treats so you can impress family and friends with your baking talents! 

Today's recipe is so good, and so rich and so...I want it to be summer and we're having a picnic in the mountains somewhere instead of cold and snowy...but at least it's almost Christmas, so that's a good thing...right?  I have to think if I'd rather it were Christmas day or summer.  Tricky.  I love Christmas...but I hate the cold.

Well, while I ponder Christmas or summer, here's the recipe...

Baked S'mores
Recipe inspired by: The Apron Gal  

3/4 C. Softened Butter (It's Christmas, butter doesn't count).
1/3 C. Brown Sugar
3/4 C. Granulated Sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla (Use your homemade vanilla if ya got it)
2 Skimpy Cups Flour...just go with what you think is skimpy....by the way anything "skimpy" and "scant" are my favorite measurements
1/4 tsp. Salt
8 Graham Crackers crushed into crumbs
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
7 Oz. Marshmallow Fluff
10 Hershey's chocolate bars...because, well who makes s'mores with anything but Hershey's?  This'll be a bit too many bars, but you want to be able to fill in the edges.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9 x 13 cake pan.  I use shortening.

In medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, grahams and baking powder.  Set aside.

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time and mix well.  Add the vanilla and mix.

Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and blend until just combined.

Take half of the dough and press into the bottom of the greased cake pan with your fingers.  Make sure you are pressing an even thickness across the entire pan, and get the dough all the way to the edges.  It takes a bit of manipulating, but you'll get there.

Place whole chocolate bars across the dough.  Fill in where necessary with pieces.  Cover as much of the dough as you can with chocolate.

Spread your fluff over the chocolate bars.  This wasn't as tricky as I was expecting it to be.  I placed dollops of fluff evenly over the chocolate and then, using a frosting spatula just spread it out until there was a nice, even layer.  Zero stickiness!  I was expecting this step to be a mess, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Take the remaining dough and put it on a piece of parchment paper.  Place another piece of parchment over it and mush until it is approximately the size needed to fit over the marshmallow fluff and fill in all the way to the edges.  I put my cake pan over the top so I had a good idea of what size I needed.  Don't stress this too much, because the dough is very soft and workable, and as soon as you plop it on top of the fluff, just spread it over to where you need it.  Take the time to cover your fluff edge to edge.

Cook for 30 to 35 minutes.  Mine took 35 until golden brown and delicious.  Let cool, at least until you can hold a bar without burning yourself.  Once I took it out of the oven, I covered it in aluminum foil and it sat for...oh I'd say at least an hour and a half if not two hours until it was served and it was still a bit warm and gooey.

Because it was warm when I served it, the chocolate was ooey, gooey good.  The Mister wished the chocolate had solidified a bit so he could dunk it in a glass of milk.  I'll have to make it again and let it cool completely.  Either way, this is a great addition to your holiday baking.

Thanks for reading!!

Heather