S'mores Bars!

Here it is. The third and final item for my honors chorus bake sale! I have to put it out there right away: these were the best of the three. By miles. And miles and miles. I loved these.

I have proclaimed many times that I am not a chocolate fan. But when taken in moderation, and paired with other equally sized ingredients, it can be tolerable, if not yumm-o. And thus my weakness for the concept of s'mores is justified. I adored the s'mores cupcakes from Martha Stewart and these are right up there with them.

These were an easy item for a bake sale as they were in bar form and so quick to make. However, they did get a tad melty as it was a hot weekend here in Pittsburgh. I would say the are perfect for anytime of the year. Like now, as I am writing this. I weant them.

These were so delicious and the perfect (and I mea

n perfect ) way to satisfy your sweet tooth. Assembling them was very fun because it was just like making a mega s'more!

Laying down the graham cracker base

Adding in the lovely chocolate layer

Spreading on the fluffy gooey marshmallow layer

Topping it off with the final graham cracker layer

S'more Cookie Bars
from Baked Perfection

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 super-sized (5 oz.) dark chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Place chocolate bars over dough.

Spread marshmallow fluff evenly over the chocolate layer.

Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars

MSC: Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Sweet potatoes. In cupcakes. With marshmallows. And pecans. These were a huge surprise taste wise. I expected to eat and some what like them, but never to love them.

I don't know if they were supposed to, but my cupcakes fell considerably. I was not upset by this or anything, (in the past my cupcakes tend to be on the mile high side), but I just wasn't sure if that happened to anyone else. I didn't toast my marsh mallows, either. Instead, when I wanted to eat one, I would top it with marsh mallows and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds. Then, I would top that with toasted pecans, 'cause I wasn't up for candy-ing. My co-workers were very skeptical to try these. They aren't the most appealing to the masses type cupcake out there according to looks, which is unfortunate because they are very good. Oh, well. Hah, some people told me they liked my pumpkin cupcakes after they took a bite. Oh, silly King's employees.

I halved the "makes 24" recipe and still got 21 cupcakes out of it. I may not have filled them as much as needed but usually my cupcakes grow considerably. Could this be linked to the falling?

Whipping this together was fairly easy, except for getting my butter to cream with the dark brown sugar and regular sugar. But I got it eventually.

These cupcakes definitely have a different taste than that of the others I've made. In the past there have been spongy, but not at all dry cupcakes. Yet these, were extremely moist. Isn't it incorrect to say creamy? Probably. So maybe not creamy, but.. Oh! Like pecan pie but with sweet potatoes! So maybe sweet potato pie actually... That's what it's like. So not very cake-like but enough to give structure yet definitely soft.

And as I was filling the cups, and tasting the batter, I thought it didn't taste so good and it'd be okay if this one wasn't a favorite. But boy was I wrong. Martha just never fails to please me! I loved these sooo much. Trust me, your mouth/stomach will thank you.

The pecans and marshmallows made me really nervous. I do not at all like marshmallows what so ever. But I went for it. The pecans, too, are necessary. Because the cupcake is really moist and soft, you need some sort of crunch to balance it off, and what better pair is there than sweet potatoes and pecans? Together, the marshmallows and pecans unite to form a super team and take your cute little cuppy cakes to super stardom status. I may be exaggerating just a bit, but these are perfectly joyful bites of Fall for your mouth.



Thanks a ton to Karen for hosting this month's bake.