DESSERT of the Week: S'Mores Cookies

How could I have waited THIS long to do a Dessert Post?!  Sugar is practically a main food group in our house, and as such, it deserves at least a post or two each month.  I'll start with two of my favorite desserts: S'Mores and Cookies.

S'Mores Cookies

Anyone who knows me knows that I. LOVE. DESSERT!  I am a self-confessed "sugar-aholic", and cookies are my main weakness.  While I'm not particularly proud of my addiction (and I do try to quit ...or at least limit my sugar intake), I am proud of the fun we have baking and creating desserts. 

One of my favorite desserts is S'Mores.  No camping trip is complete unless we have S'mores and many who regularly camp with us know about my obsession (and yes, the jokes are aplenty!).  I'm always more than willing to provide for everyone's S'More needs and I'll usually use a camping trip to try a new ingredient in my favorite camping staple: Cookies instead of crackers, peanut butter cups instead of chocolate, marshmallow cream instead of plain marshmallows (that one doesn't really work, by the way, unless you're stuck at home without a fire!). 

But I digress.  With all the love I have for S'Mores (and cookies), it was only a matter of time before I tried my hand at a S'More cookie.  My daughter is only ever too willing to help with cookie recipes (hint, hint: this is a great opportunity for bonding with your kids!) so we baked and laughed one afternoon away in the kitchen until we had found a recipe we thought worthy of the original S'More.

Keeping the key ingredients in mind, and perusing a few Pinterest sites, we landed on these ingredients for the basic S'more cookie (*Check out http://www.thecookierookie.com/easy-smore-cookies/ for the recipe we used - and tweaked a little to fit our taste buds. Sidenote:  The Cookie Rookie has some awesome recipes!  My daughter and I have been pouring over her blog!):

• Chocolate chip cookies (use store bought dough or make your own recipe)
• Melting chocolate (we just used chocolate chips, but we've also tried almond bark and that was good too!)
• Mini marshmallows (one bag will be more than enough)
• Crushed graham crackers (one to two packs) or other fun crushed cookies, like Oreos!

Here are your steps:

1. Bake at least a dozen chocolate chip cookies (trust me, even a dozen probably won't be enough!  These cookies are eaten up within an hour at my house!)
2. Immediatly place 3-4 mini marshmallows on top of each cookie and then pop the cookie sheet back into the oven for 3-5 minutes, just long enough to toast the marshmallows.
3. While the cookies are cooling (5-ish minutes), crush up the crackers (Put them in a zipper-lock freezer bag and roll a rolling pin over them--or let an eager preschooler hammer at them on a cutting board!) and melt the chocolate (We melt about a cup of chocolate chips per dozen cookies).
4. When the cookies are cool enough to handle, dip them in the melted chocolate and then immediately dip them into a bowl of the crushed graham crackers.  Place on parchment or wax paper to cool/harden.

That's it!  A little putsy, but definitely worth it!  The real fun began for us when we started getting adventurous with unique ingredients!  We've tried these with other cookie recipes (sugar and peanut butter...) and coated them in all sorts of toppings (coconut, crushed sandwich cookies, crushed candy bars...).  This recipe is great for parties and picnics, or even just during the winter when you're dreaming of camping!  Enjoy!