S'mores Bars feature a buttery, brown sugar graham cracker crust covered with a layer of chocolate ganache, which is topped with a layer of marshmallows, which melt together to create a rich, bite-size dessert.
Is there any better combination than s'mores, you know that traditional campfire treat of graham crackers topped with chocolate bars and covered with roasted marshmallows?
If you're a s'mores fan, you're in the right place. I've got recipes for Mini S'mores Pies to S'mores cookies, s'mores bars, how to make s'mores and how to make s'mores without graham crackers, air fryer s'mores, s'mores dip. It's endless, the fascination here between melted chocolate and marshmallow.
Extra black marshmallow for me thanks.
I like s'mores even though I'm not wild about graham crackers.
In fact, one of my most popular posts is all about how to make s'mores without graham crackers.
But, a few years ago, Starbucks came out with a really amazing s'mores bar.
Unfortunately, those bars must have been one-hit wonders because I only saw them that one summer.
I've tried to replicate the bars a few times since then and I've finally nailed it.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Perhaps you're wondering why you should bother making s'mores bars when you can make the real thing?
Well for starters, the bars are delicious and perfect for say a high tea when you might not want to mess with lighting a grill or going to the mess of roasting marshmallows over the range you can never seem to keep clean as it is.
Also, these bars are a great alternative if you've promised the children a cookout with s'mores but it's too rainy or stormy to go outside and start a campfire.
I think anything s'mores is a perfect summer dessert, especially around the 4th of July but so are these festive patriotic cupcakes. Your guests will be thrilled with the fun, red, white and blue cupcakes that start with a white cake mix.
Also, If you like smores, think about trying this Delish Smores Cookie Recipe or Air Fryer S'mores.
Tools You'll Need to Make S'mores Bars
- Rolling pin or food processor
If you are in the market for a food processor, I've had a Cuisinart similar to this one for nearly 20 years and I love it. It's powerful and a work horse.
In addition to crushing graham crackers, I use a food processor for making pesto, salsa and sauces.
- 9x13 pan
- parchment paper
- rubber spatula
- offset spatula
- medium-sized microwave safe mixing bowl
- bench scraper
- microwave
- oven
How to Make S'mores Bars
- Gather your ingredients.
- Prepare a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray and line with parchment paper.
- Prepare the crust: crush the graham crackers, add butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and mix together. Use your rolling pin or be all fancy and use a food processor. If you're going to use a rolling pin, put the graham crackers in a sturdy plastic bag to pound the crackers into crumbs.
- Make the ganache. In a medium microwave safe bowl, pour a can of sweetened, condensed milk and add two cups of chocolate chips. I used a cup of bittersweet and a cup of milk chocolate chips but use whatever you have.
- Melt chocolate and condensed milk together by heating in short bursts no more than 20 to 30 seconds at a time and thoroughly stirring with a spatula in between bursts. Chocolate burns quickly.
- Once you've incorporated the condensed milk into the chocolate, the mixture will be brown. It may still have a few, small lumps--that's okay.
Get Ready to Bake the Bars
- Pour ganache over prepared crust. Spread ganache so it completely covers every inch of the crust using an offset spatula. Be careful not to disturb the crust.
- Cover chocolate layer with three cups of miniature marshmallows. Try to get an even layer.
- Bake at 350 for ten minutes or until tops of marshmallows are golden. Be careful not to over bake. Marshmallows can go from perfectly soft with a bit of chew to way over-roasted in minutes.
- Let the bars rest at room temperature for an hour.
- Cover and refrigerate for two hours.
- Once well-chilled, slice into one-inch squares or two-inch rectangles. Use a metal bench scraper or a sharp knife to slice.
- Store bars, covered, in fridge for up to a week.
Recipe Tips
I love making bar cookies because they're so easy. However, I struggle with cutting them neatly.
One thing that helps is using a metal bench scraper to get an even row of slices.
I have an all metal bench scraper like this one except mine doesn't have a ruler on its edge.
If you get one, be sure to get one with a ruler.
That way you don't have to keep a ruler in with your baking supplies that your teenager and husband keep snagging.
If you like bar cookies, you might like my recipe for Easy, Chewy M&M Cookie Bars. One bowl, no mixer required.
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Recipe
S'mores Bars
S'mores Bars feature a buttery, brown sugar graham cracker crust covered with a layer of chocolate ganache, which is topped with a layer of marshmallows, which melt together to create a rich, bite-size dessert.
Ingredients
- 3 cups graham cracker crumbs, which is approximately 18-sheets of graham crackers or two packs. I used cinnamon, use your preference.
- ½ cup butter (1 stick) salted or unsalted, melted
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- â…› teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 14-ounce can sweetened, condensed milk
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- ½ teaspoon canola oil (only add to thin chocolate ganache if needed)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare pan by lightly coating with non-stick spray and lining with parchment. The spray will help the parchment from sliding around.
- Put the graham crackers into a Ziplock or resealable bag and crush using a rolling pin or your fists. Or grind graham crackers into crumbs using a food processor.
- Melt butter in a medium sized mixing bowl, add cinnamon, salt, brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs. Stir to combine.
- Pour crumb mixture into 9x13 pan and press down with hands or the bottom of a measuring cup until the crumbs thoroughly cover the pan.
- Pour can of sweetened, condensed milk**NOT EVAPORATED MILK** in a medium-sized bowl. Add chocolate chips, stir to combine and heat in the microwave in 20 to 30 second intervals until the milk and chocolate has thoroughly combined. Be careful to do this step slowly as chocolate can burn easily, especially in a microwave. You can also do this step using a double-boiler or a make-shift double boiler if you prefer not to use microwaves.
- Add vanilla extract to chocolate and stir to combine.
- Slowly pour chocolate ganache mixture over your crust until the crust is completely covered with chocolate. The chocolate mixture will be thick. Add a half teaspoon of canola or vegetable oil to thin it a bit and stir thoroughly.
- Use an offset spatula to help you spread the chocolate over the crust taking care not to press too heavily. If you press down hard using the offset spatula, you might end up disturbing the crust. Not the worst thing in the world but then you won't have nice neat layers.
- Pour miniature marshmallows over the chocolate in an even layer. I used three cups, use more if you'd like.
- Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until the tops of the marshmallows are just starting to turn golden.
- Let cool at room temperature for an hour.
- Cover and place in refrigerator or freezer for at least an hour to chill and harden. This will ensure that the layers stick together when you slice them and make your slices neater.
- Serve with milk, coffee, tea or wine.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Use whatever graham crackers you like--regular or cinnamon. If you don't like graham crackers,feel free to make a cookie crust. Biscoff or Oreos would make a great crust for these S'mores Bars.
I used half bittersweet and half milk chocolate but you may swap out your preference of chocolate. The hubs would have preferred all milk chocolate but I didn't want these to be too sweet. Even with the bittersweet chocolate addition, the bars are pretty sweet.
Chilling the bars is critical before you attempt to slice them. Otherwise you're going to have a mess in the pan. Rinse your knife or bench scraper under hot water after each slice.
Store the bars, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week.
You'll need the following tools to make these bars successfully as written:
parchment paper
non-stick spray
a 9x13 pan
rolling pin or food processor (or just buy already crushed graham cracker crumbs)
off-set spatula
rubber spatula
medium-sized microwave-safe mixing bowl
microwave
oven
Recommended Products
This post and/or recipe may contain affiliate links, which means if you click through and make a purchase, I'll earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. See Disclosure policy.
Nutrition Information
Yield 24 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 253Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 9mgSodium 148mgCarbohydrates 37gFiber 2gSugar 23gProtein 5g
Your Turn:
What's your favorite bar recipe? What problems do you have making bar cookies?
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