S’mores Cookies

I confess, I’m often easily swayed by peer pressure. When a particular recipe starts popping up all over my favorite food blogs and receiving rave reviews, you can almost guarantee I am going to try it. That’s especially true when it’s a dessert recipe and even more so when s’mores are involved (which you’ve probably noticed we sort of love around here). I don’t always blog about these recipes because, let’s face it, when they’re already on 10 other blogs, do you really need to read about them on mine too?

Occasionally, I will break my own rules and share an already popular recipe and that’s just what I’m doing today. I have a few reasons for deciding to do so. First, there are quite a few variations of these s’mores cookies floating around the internet, and I’m not lying when I tell you I’ve baked almost every one of them. I had less than stellar results with quite a few of the recipes – the cookies spread way too much and were completely flat, and though some people might dig flat cookies, they’re not our thing. This is the version that was consistently best for me, which brings me to my second motivation for posting this recipe today.  The next time Shane requests these cookies, I didn’t want to have to guess which version of the recipe I’d used. I blog for a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is to have a record of the recipes we love. I can barely remember what I ate for lunch 3 days ago, so without this blog I would never be able to keep track of all the recipes I try. Shane also loves to scan through the archives and rediscover old favorites, and these cookies are sure to fall into that category. 

These s’mores cookies are almost a riff on traditional chocolate chip cookies. Graham cracker crumbs replace some of the flour in the recipe and in addition to the chocolate chips in the cookies, mini marshmallows and chopped up Hershey bars are pressed into the tops and give them all the flavors of classic s’mores.  The cookies are on the thin side, but thick enough that they have crisp edges and chewy centers.  I also found that refrigerating the dough for 15-20 minutes before baking made them ever so slightly more thick.  Yesterday I visited my neighbor with a few of these cookies and she was just as big a fan as we were.  It’s very easy to understand why this recipe is so popular

S’mores Cookies
adapted from Cookie Madness

1 cup graham cracker crumbs (from about 7-8 whole crackers)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows (approximately, I didn’t exactly measure how many I used)
2 Hershey Bars (or other milk chocolate bars), coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda, and salt together. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 9 minutes (I did 1 tray at a time), then remove from the oven and quickly, but gently push a few marshmallows and a couple of pieces of chocolate into the top of each cookie. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until the edges are set. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies