No-Bake S’mores Bars.
I just had a stunning revelation.
Literally, like five minutes ago. I am about to burst so I obviously have to tell you: s’mores are healthy.
Seriously.
Think about this. Ignore my insanity. Is this real life?
An actual s’more is the epitome of portion control. A semi-healthy “cracker” that is easily passed off for diet food any day of the week. A perfect ounce of chocolate, preferably dark and packed with antioxidants. A fluffy marshmallow that triples or quadruples in size and makes you feel like you’re eating more. Annnnnnnnd you cook it yourself.
See? Health food right there. It’s like you just ate three bunches of spinach and a a bushel of broccoli. Or in my case, a floret. Don’t you feel good about yourself??
Too bad my s’mores are made with six ounces of chocolate and 45 marshmallows. Leave it to me to completely ruin a simply perfect s’more. I’ve taken every ounce of portion control out of the game. I’ve added extra sugar. I’ve added sticks of butter. I’ve even added extra LAYERS. I hope you still love me.
I seriously have an issue. I mean… s’mores pie. S’mores brownies. S’mores tarts. S’mores cake in jars.
S’mores with marshmallows made of beer. What’s next? I hope s’more.
These can be bars or they can be a square of gooeyness that you eat with a fork. Or they can be a pan of dessert that you eat by yourself with a giant spoon while sitting on the couch and watching The Bachelorette. It’s up to you. I honestly just needed something to stuff under a marshmallow.
All that they contains is a quick graham crust, a chocolate ganache, and a pillow of homemade marshmallows – which if you haven’t noticed, is my new fixation. They are so incredibly easy to make. And I know you’re thinking that they can’t possibly be easy – but they are. The first time may be a bit stressful, but after that, you’ll have it down pat. And then you’ll want to make marshmallows every five seconds. And you’ll want to eat them with things. Like melted chocolate and a stick of butter.
Eat them frozen or eat them refrigerated and gooey. I toasted the marshmallow on top of a few with a kitchen torch for effect, but it really doesn’t need toasted at all. I’m just a freak about toasting things.
And apparently a freak about s’mores.
No Bake S’mores Bars
makes one 8 x 8 pan of bars
for marshmallow layer:
I used smitten kitchen’s homemade marshmallow recipe; the one I modified for the beer marshmallows.
for crust:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
Spray an 8×8 inch pan with nonstick spray, then add powdered sugar and shake to cover and coat the bottom. In a bowl, add melted butter and graham crumbs together and mix with a spoon until all of the crumbs are moistened. Press into the pan and set in the freezer while you make the middle layer.
for chocolate layer:
3/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces of chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt)
Combine cream and chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Heat on medium power for 45 seconds, then remove and stir. Heat again on medium power for 30 seconds, and stir. Continue to stir until chocolate is melted. If needed, microwave 1-2 more times but only in 30 second increments. Ideally you want to stir the chocolate into the cream. Once the chocolate is smooth, remove pan from freezer and pour chocolate evenly over the top. Refrigerate or freeze for 2-4 hours before serving.
To assemble the bars, cut marshmallows into desired size. You can cut and entire 8 x 8 square to fit over top, or you can cut squares like I did for separate bars. You can either refrigerate or freeze the crust and ganache – it is your preference. Freezing will result in an obvious almost frozen texture. Refrigerating will make for a “messier” bar that requires eating it with a fork. You can use a kitchen torch to toast the marshmallow or just leave them plain. I assume that you can also deviate from the “no-bake” bar and stick them under the broiler for a few minutes to toast.
Now I have to go spend s’more time on the treadmill.
130 Comments on “No-Bake S’mores Bars.”
I love how you made this into a health food – I do that a lot. Ice cream? It’s made from coconut milk, which is made from coconuts, which means my skin is getting healthier with each bite that I take.
and please – no judging that my ice cream is made from coconuts.
Summertime = Smores Time for me. This is happening SOON… no doubt!
I want s’more and s’more and s’more
That marshmallow pillow looks absolutely perfect.
I love all of this health food you’ve been posting lately!
can you believe i never really had a s’more til a couple years ago? nate told me i didn’t have a childhood…
You had my full attention at no bake!
Looks awesome! I’ve been dying to make my own marshmallows!
My hubby would die a happy man if I made these for him! Since Father’s Day is coming, maybe I will : )
Straight out of the pan while watching The Bachelorette? That would never *cough* happen at my house. No way . . .
Mine either.
My teeth hurt looking at these bars :) Which must mean they’re delicious. So many smores recipes popping up….makes me want to have a little bon fire and cook some up. Unfortunately, we’re in a drought in SC and fire would probably be frowned upon. Maybe after we get more rain! What a fabulous treat to make on vacation
This looks amazing! I am loving all the s’mores inspired desserts I’m seeing everywhere!
Shut the front door. We love. We love love love LOVE these. And we totally agree. S’mores are v v healthy. And totally essential summer food.
Looks delicious! I need to make this asap…maybe after the dress fitting, no?
Hahaha that would probably be a good idea.
NICE!!
I love how you made a whole pan at once. The problem with good old fashioned smores is once you have one, you want more. And then you need a campfire, waiting for marshmallows to roast and chocolate to melt and all that.
I really love your pan methodology. It makes quantity. Which is a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it :)
Oh Jess, you make it so easy to be bad!!! :) These sound awesome!
Yum! Because we only recently got graham crackers here, brazilians have never had smores! I think its time to enlighten them! :P
Definitely!
yum! i saw this post in my feed and clicked instantly. i love s’mores. this is awesome! but i’m scared to make my own marshies!
I promise they are easy!
GAH! Why are so many bloggers posting s’mores treat recipes this morning???? Sweet torture! :D
Mine and Keith’s New Year’s Eve plans every year are to get together with friends and go to dinner. Then we go back to someone’s house and make smores over a fire pit and stay up until midnight talking and toasting with champage! Smores always make me think of that!
I’m jealous you can be outside on New Year’s Eve! Uhhh but not jealous of 100+ degrees.
LOVE and if you say they are healthy then I believe you!
Thanks for giving us yet another recipe to try!We have made your s’more brownies with our favorite brownie recipe multiple times and each time we DEVOUR the pan. they are incredibly awesome. My mom actually had a dream about them…hahaha. How do these bars compare to the s’more brownies?
These are totally different from the brownies! I still love the brownies but I don’t think these are quite as decadent.
oh my golly this will be the highlight of my summer.
Love smores! I also love how you made them into a health food, I mean they are perfect portion control! I will now look at them that way :)
I’m going to have to stop reading this blog… it’s going to ruin my summer diet! seriously though they look amazing!
Also, will you adopt me please? :)
Of course.
Ah, I should make these to bring over to my cousins’ house on the 4th of July! Everyone loves s’mores. I’ve been pondering desserts to bring. Yes, I think way ahead. First idea: bookmarked!
Once again – a delightful post! Fun to read, great recipe and amazing pics! I never been a ‘s’mores girl, but that recipe could convert me!
Oh my…you are killing me with these desserts, Jessica! I want to make each and every single one of them- especially this one! :-)
I’m drooling! I want to eat those for breakfast right now, mmmm.
Finally, someone who agrees with me that s’mores are a totally health food!
I love me some smores – i made them this week with candles and chocolate covered cookies but these look simply amazing!!!
s’mores = my all time favorite dessert.
This is a gorgeous recipe. Heavenly looking, every bite.
If there is something wrong with that, I don’t want to be right. YUM!
See if you’re going to keep posting about all these epic homemade marshmallow recipes and torturing me you’re really going to have to buy me a stand mixer. Without one homemade marshmallows are just waaaaaaaay too much of a workout. My birthday’s in December btw. :)
I would agree with that. You definitely need one!
I love how you rationalize desserts to be healthy. You and I would be dangerous together.
I’ve never tasted S’mores before, but damn theese looked delicious! I actually godt water in my mouth ;)
Never tasted them?! Oh my goodness.
I’m from Norway. S’mores is not a common thing to eat here ;)
This is such an incredible (and deadly) combination. Must make when I have LOTS of guests because I’ll consume the entire tray!
Love that you have given me the excuse for these (not that I need one, please).
“But I mean…it’s way too hot to turn on the oven…I need something no-bake! Like these s’mores bars! Kcool.”
Ahh these sound amazing, and like something that’d be awesome to take to a bbq!!
I agree they are total health food. I recently made S’more donuts, now they are not only health food, but breakfast food as well. Somehow though, my swimsuit is saying otherwise. Thanks for sharing…
Aimee
Those sound amazing!
Perfect recipe for summer entertaining! Thanks for sharing.
You rationale makes complete sense to me ;)
*your
LOL Jessica, you’re going to have to come up with a circuit workout 1000x harder than your last to make up for sharing this recipe!
And yes, s’mores would be pretty healthy if I didn’t eat 5 of them at once :)
Wait wait, did you say “preferably dark” chocolate?? Gaspppp — I feel like I don’t even know you!
These look delicious, as always!
Well… I definitely wouldn’t prefer it, but I guess it would make a s’more “healthier!”
hahaha! “Now I have to go spend s’more time on the treadmill” Love it!
these look amazing! i’m going camping this weekend and we’re totally making your beer marshmallows for s’mores. yumm!
Have fun!
Will you be my friend? Like really, move next door and be my bestest friend? I will clean and you can bake. And I’ll even bake for you now and then, but your stuff will always trump mine.
Smores win my heart. Period.
YES.
Ok, I am seriously hooked on s’mores. Like, a two-a-day kinda hooked. But here’s what I’ve come up with (and DO NOT try this at home):
Make a batch of cookie dough sans chocolate chips. Take a glob of said cookie dough and put it on a little plate. Press a square of dark chocolate in the center and top with a cut in half marshmallow (to cover more surface area). Microwave for 20 seconds or so, and eat with a spoon. Then make all the “yummy” noises you can think of. The cookie dough is gooey and warm with melted chocolate and marshmallow all gooey up inside it. This is pure HEAVEN.
OMG… seriously…
amazing. i can’t come up with anything else to say, because these do, in fact, look amazing.