Ultimate S’mores Cookies
Marshmallows. Graham Crackers. Hershey’s chocolate. You know what’s up when you see these three ingredients make it back home from the store, it can only be S’MORES. But what if we took a classic American dessert and put a little cookie spin on it? We get a cookie with truly delicious results.
We start out with a brown sugar cookie base, add in chopped graham crackers, a good amount of vanilla and chopped chocolate then stuff with a homemade marshmallow. Check out my last post for Vanilla Marhsmallows . You don’t have to make homemade marshmallows; large and even mini marshmallows work as a great substitute. But, if you have a little time, nothing compares to those homemade giant fluffy clouds of vanilla goodness. They are creamier and will melt with more chewy substance than the store-bought stuff.
This cookie is then topped with Hersheys chocolate and an extra layer of toasted marshmallow. It is intense and messy and 100% the reason why I don’t make these all the time, it’s a very sweet treat. The cookie for the ultimate smores fan and toasting the marshmallow on top adds an indescribable amount of childhood joy to every bite.
Here is what you need:
-butter
-sugar/brown sugar
-eggs
-vanilla
-salt
-graham crackers
-flour
-Hersheys Chocolate-you can substitute any chocolate really but, you need Hersheys for at least the top of the cookie. Hersheys chocolate bars are synonymous with s’mores, and I have to keep that tradition alive.
-chocolate chips-I use semi sweet to mellow the sweetness of the Hershey’s milk chocolate.
– Vanilla Marhsmallows or regular marshmallows, Jet Puffed is a good brand.
-parchment paper or baking mat
-baking tray
-4oz cookie scoop. tablespoon works fine too, you will need 4 tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie.
-kitchen torch. You can also use your oven set to broil.
Start off with room temperature butter and add in both types of sugar. You want to mix it until the mixture is creamy around 2-3 minutes on medium high. The brown sugar gives this cookie a nice molasses background flavor and it also helps keep the cookie soft in the middle.
Add in your room temperature eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly on medium high speed until well mixed. Add in your salt and vanilla extract and mix.
Sift your dry ingredients together and slowly add into butter and egg mixture. Stop mixing when it is just incorporated.
Scrape down the sides of your bowl to make sure everything is mixed well. Chop up hersheys bar into rough pieces. Do the same with the package of graham crackers. You don’t want the graham crackers chopped too small or they will get lost in the dough. I prefer to have some larger pieces of graham crackers because it adds texture to the cookie.
Graham crackers are made with whole wheat flour which when added to the dough adds soaks up more moisture from the cookie. This is why I add 2 eggs to this dough and don’t add in cornstarch to balance out the moisture in the dough so it isn’t too dry.
Add in your chocolate, chocolate chips and graham crackers and mix on low until just mixed through.
Get a baking sheet lined with parchment ready. Bring out your marshmallows and cookie scoop. We are ready to scoop some cookies. At this point if you are using the homemade marshmallow recipe, you will want to cut 3 of the squares into 4 pieces each. This will give you 12 one inch marshmallow pieces to use to stuff the s’mores cookie dough.
Scoop out 12 balls of dough onto baking tray. Take one scoop of dough at a time and press flat in the middle to create a flattened disk. Stuff marshmallow inside the center of the dough disk then carefully press the dough back together, closing the marshmallow inside. Repeat with the other scoops of dough.
When all the dough is filled with marshmallows, place the dough in the freezer overnight. This is essential and cannot be missed or shortened. The only way we are going to keep the marshmallow from expanding and baking outside of the cookie before the cookie is done baking, we need to freeze the dough. At least 8 hours or overnight.
The next day bake the cookies 4-6 at a time with adequate space around each cookie. You want them to be golden brown on top. Do not overbake these cookies, it is a race against time to get the outside toasted before the marshmallow middle expands and “escapes” our cookie.
Allow them to cool for at least 10 to 20 minutes on the tray. Do not move them or touch them while they cool. This is to allow the marshmallow, which is very soft at this point, to firm back up and not ooze out of the cookie.
You can place pieces of Hershey’s chocolates on top of the cookies to let them soften and melt a bit before we finish the topping. This is an amazing way to use leftover holiday candy leftovers from Easter. I always seem to have a ton of fun size Hershey’s candies leftover. If not an extra Hershey’s bar will be enough to decorate.
Now, for the fun part, toasted marshmallow topping! Top with a homemade, or large marshmallow, as shown in the picture. You can either torch it very quickly with a kitchen torch or turn your oven on to broil and broil for 30-60 seconds.
Very important not to walk away from the oven when toasting the marshmallows! Stay at the oven! I got distracted with my kiddos and left this cookie too long. It was sad, but a good learning moment. Broil and torch your marshmallows safely y’all.
The toasted marshmallow is epic and a must have topping on this cookie. Nothing quite like the texture of toasted creamy marshmallow, gooey center, melted milk chocolate and a soft graham cookie base to create the ultimate s’mores cookie experience.
If you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do, please follow and tag me @sunshinetxcookies on Instagram. I post new cookie recipes every Thursday and would love to share my joy with you. Happy Baking!
Ultimate S'mores Cookie
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Butter softened at room temp for 20 minutes
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup White sugar
- 2 eggs room temp
- 1 tspn vanilla extract
- 1 tpsn baking powder
- 1 tspn baking soda
- ½ tspn salt
- 3 cups All purpose flour
- 3 Hershey's chocolate bars (one bar for decorating cookie tops) Hersheys minis can be used to decorate cookie after baking.
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 16 homemade marshmallows if using homemade marshmallow recipe 16 pieces, cut 3 large marshmallows into 1 inch cubes. Save 12 large marshmallows for toasting on top (optional). If using store bought, you will need 24 large marshmallows.
- 1 package honey graham crackers roughly chopped
Instructions
- Beat butter and both sugars until fully incorporated and creamy.
- Add eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition.
- Add salt and vanilla and combine.
- Sift together your dry ingredients, flour, baking powder and baking soda.
- Add dry mix into the butter egg mixture with your mixer speed on low. Mix until just incorporated.
- Give a rough chop to the Hershey's chocolate bars and graham crackers. We don't want to chop them up to small since the mixer will break them up a bit when we add it. I would aim for a 1inch diameter.
- Add the mix-ins and the 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate chips to the mixer on low and mix until just combined.
- Cube your marshmallows at this point if you are using the homemade marshmallow recipe. If using store bought, separate 12 into a bowl for easier stuffing assembly.
- With a 4oz cookie scoop, scoop 12 portions of dough onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Take one dough portion at a time, flatten out, place marshmallow in center and gather dough around the marshmallow to stuff inside. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Allow dough to chill overnight in the freezer. This will help our marshmallows stay in side and intact in our s'mores cookie.
- Preheat oven to 375*F
- Bake 4-6 cookies at a time with at least 2 inches of space between each cookie to allow for spreading
- Bake for 14 minutes.
- Allow to cool undisturbed on baking tray for at least 10-20 minutes before decorating.
- With cookies still on baking tray, decorate with Herheys chocolate pieces and place a marshmallow on top.
- Turn your oven on to broil.
- Broil the tops of the cookies for 30-60 seconds to achieve delicious toasted marshmallow results. Oven times vary so keep a VERY watchful eye during this step. The marshmallows toast fast!
- You can also use a kitchen blow torch to toast the marshmallow tops.
- Enjoy!