Deep Dish Double Chocolate Golden Grahams Smores Bars

Growing up I used to eat Golden Grahams like they were going out of style.

Oh, how I loved them so.

The sweetness.  The crunch.  The texture.

Everything about them was perfect.

But up until this recipe I had never really cooked with them.

Or baked with them.

But since I love Bars in all variations and varieties…

From Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Marshmallow Stuffed Rice Krispie Bars (No Bake)

To Nutella & Peanut Butter Graham Bars with Chocolate Frosting (No Bake)

To my love of White Chocolate in Bars

White Chocolate Vanilla Marshmallow Cake Bars – 4 Layers

It was about time I make use of Golden Grahams in bars

I combined the GG’s with fluffy marshmallow creme, more sugar sweetened condensed milk, two kinds of chocolate chips and baked it all.

Baked smores bars

Deep Dish style

My childhood spent as a Brownie and a Girl Scout also ingrained in me a deep love of smores.

And who said you need a campfire and sleeping on rock hard ground to make smores?

These bars are sticky

And this is a really rich and really sweet dessert

If you’re the type of person who frequently says things like, “Oh, that’s way too sweet for me” then don’t make this dessert.

It just leaves more for the rest of us

And this is a messy one!

Your hands will get super sticky

Or you can be a cheater and use silverware.

I was pretending I was a Girl Scout eating smores around the campfire when I was eating these.  Totally messy and sticky and loving it. 

Thankfully I was indoors and wasn’t getting any mosquito bites while sitting around the campfire waiting for my marshmallows to perfectly roast.

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Deep Dish Double Chocolate Golden Grahams Smores Bars

5 c Golden Grahams cereal (if you like drier bars, use 6 c of cereal)

one 7-oz. jar marshmallow creme

one can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 c white chocolate chips

1 c chocolate chips

+ 1/3 c white chocolate chips for sprinkling on top prior to baking

+ 1/3 c chocolate chips for sprinkling on top prior to baking

Directions:

Place marshmallow creme, condensed milk, and vanilla extract into a large bowl and stir until well combined.  Add the cereal, 1 c white and 1 c chocolate chips, and stir to combine.

Take mixture and press into a foil-lined 9 x 9 pan (you can use a bigger pan, i.e. 9 x 11 or 9 x 13 but the bars will not be as thick and deep dish style) and I highly recommend using foil-lined.  You cannot imagine the sticky mess you are creating.  Use foil.

Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/3 c each of white and dark chocolate chips before baking

Bake at 350F for 18-20 minutes for very gooey bars with a runnier filling

Or

Bake closer to 25-30 minutes for more solid and less runny/gooey bars (I like runny, messy, marshmallow dripping everywhere smores so I baked for 18 minutes)

Allow bars to cool before slicing and serving.

Store at room temp or the fridge.

You can freeze these and keep them on hand for months  Pull one or two or a half dozen bars out of the freezer as needed and allow to come to room temp before eating, about 20 minutes.

Notes:

If you don’t like Golden Grahams, use another cereal.

If you don’t like white chocolate, omit it.  And use more dark/milk chocolate if desired.

To make these vegan, use vegan white chocolate and vegan marshmallows for both the marshmallow creme portion as well as the added marshmallows. Use full fat coconut milk sweetened with agave for the sweetened condensed milk.  Use a vegan-friendly cereal.

To make them gluten free, use GF cereal and read the labels if you are extremely gluten sensitive for the marshmallow creme and other ingredients.

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A Visual Guide

Marshmallow Creme + Sweetened Condensed Milk + Vanilla

Add the marshmallows + white chocolate chips+ chocolate chips + cereal

Press into your foil-lined pan, sprinkle more chips on top, & bake

Cool, Slice, & Serve

These were so easy

And sweet!

And crunchy but not too crunchy

All that sweetened condensed milk and marshmallow creme softens the cereal, creating an authentic smores filling

 Even if it is a little messy and splooges everywhere.  Just like real smores.

Creating smores with graham cereal rather than graham crackers was a win for me

These bars combine the best of so many worlds:

Golden Grahams

White Chocolate

Dark Chocolate

Marshmallow Cream

Sweetened Condensed Milk

They are messy, but messy is good

You can store them in the fridge/freezer and the filling will be more solid, but as they come to room temp (or fresh baked straight from the oven) the filling is runnier and messier

Melted marshmallow fluff + a can of sweetened condensed milk = smores “sauce” (bake longer or use the higher called for amount of cereal if you don’t like sauce but I love it)

And be prepared to speed dial your dentist from all that sugar you just ate.  Blame it on the Girl Scouts.

From my last post, lots of you are big Mango fans.  Me too, as I counted the many ways.

Questions:

1. Do you like Smores?  When was the last time you had them?

If you say no, you don’t like smores, I don’t believe you.

The last time I had official campfire-made smores was probably about 10 years ago at a beach bonfire.  Has it really been 10 years since I’ve had an official campfire-roasted marshmallow?

You know the kind where you get too impatient to twirl that stick around any longer on the fringes of the fire and end up just sticking it right into the fire and then blowing off the flaming ‘mallow and eating it.  Black char, burnt sugar, some slivers of tree stick and somehow can’t wait for the next one.  Those are memories, I tell you!

2. Any childhood cereals you loved? Do you still eat them or like them?

Capn’ Crunch, Cocoa Krispies, Rice Krispies, Chex, Clusters, Mutligrain Cheerios, Kix, I could go on and on.  I grew up on cereal!  Loved it. 

Ate it for breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner.  Not on the same day though.

As a mom now, I know why breakfast-for-dinner happened every once in awhile in my house growing up.  Some nights pancakes or waffles, eggs, and Cheerios were what we had.

I haven’t had many of the cereals I listed in years because I am gluten sensitive and although I am less sensitive overall, there are still foods I really need to limit and watch or I just feel awful and it’s no “treat” is worth feeling awful for days over.

I’ve been enjoying these bars but am mindful not to overdue it because of the gluten.  I may make these with a GF cereal that’s similar to Golden Grahams but for this recipe, I just had to have the original GG’s.

Good thing Cocoa Krispies are made of rice, not wheat.  As my wheels turn for what to make with those.  Maybe a version of these.

3. Best thing you ate or did all weekend?

The great summery weather, time with Skylar, and sharing these bars with her has rocked!

P.S. If you’re just catching up on posts from the Friday, here are mine:

• They’re Back
• Disses & Kisses
• Meaning of Organic
• Talking Myself Out of It
• Friday Faves
• One Day Ahead & Mugs

Have a great week ahead!