I don’t think there’s anyone in this whole world that doesn’t like s’mores. Right? Who can resist the ooey-gooey chocolatey goodness sandwiched in between delicious graham crackers, or in this case COOKIES?! To make cookie s’mores?! I’m all over that.
There used to be this restaurant in my town that my friends and I would go to probably every weekend in high school, where they had a make-your-own s’mores item on the menu. So freaking cool, right!? They would bring you your own little tray with graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate, and cauldron-looking thingy, light the middle of it, and then you could roast and eat away in all your chocolatey, gooey goodness. Were my friends and I casual pyromaniacs and probably leave those marshmallows on fire for too long? Maybe. But our favorite thing to do was to order the deluxe/upgraded version (or whatever they called it)…OREO s’mores. Yeah, you read that right. Instead of graham crackers…which are my absolute favorite, but I mean come on. Can you really resist oreos when you’re a kid with a sweet tooth bigger than your face? Didn’t think so. Anyway. Instead of graham cracker, they would bring out these giant oreo cookies. Just the outside cookie, but it was as big as your hand. Holy wow. S’mores never tasted so good, these could even beat the ones from my girl scout days of roasting them by the campfire when you’d been freezing your butt off hiking all day.
Until now. Because those s’mores just got a maaaajor upgrade. For one, I can actually eat them again (say goodbye to your little friend gluten and dairy), and the soft-baked cookies from Enjoy Life that I’m using in place of graham crackers are oh-so-delicious you can hardly stop eating them. Anyone else remember everyone’s favorite soft-baked chocolate chip cookie that came in the red bag? that you could easily eat 8+ of at one time and not even bat an eye? Well, these taste EXACTLY like those. But without all the chemical and sugar-laden junk that are probably in those guys. Did I mention they come in chocolate chip cookie, snickerdoodle, or gingerbread spice? Umm YEAH.
In the middle of these cookie s’mores, homemade marshmallows. Yep, ever since I made my Apple Chaider with Homemade Gingerbread Marshmallows I’ve been aaaaall over the homemade marshmallow trend. Plus, while some homemade marshmallows just totally melt into oblivion when you try and roast them, not these babies. They’ll stay fluffy on the inside, and totally gooey and caramelized on the outside. Aka the perfect marshmallow for s’mores.
My two favorite combinations right now: chocolate chip cookie + these basic maple-honey marshmallows AND snickerdoodle cookie + gingerbread marshmallow. But they also have a Dark Chocolate Brownie Soft-Baked Cookie, so if you wanna go chocolate on chocolate, that sounds pretty freaking amazing to me too. Choose your own adventure. But don’t forget the chocolate component! Instead of using a chocolate bar like in traditional s’mores, we’re dipping these babies in melted dark chocolate. And topping them off with some sea salt. Because you know sea salt and dark chocolate is my jaaaaam.
I feel like these s’mores should come with a warning: dangerously addictive and delicious. Side effects: thinking “WHY have I never made these before in my life?!” and “Crap, I’m going to run out of these cookies soon and need to get more because they’re so dang good!”
Just saying.
- 1 cup filtered water, divided in 2
- 3 Tbsp grass-fed, pastured raised gelatin
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup local honey
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp homemade powdered sugar, below
- 1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
- 1 tsp avocado oil, for greasing a spatula
- 1 cup maple sugar (sub: coconut sugar)
- 1 Tbsp arrowroot powder or tapioca starch
- Enjoy Life Soft Baked Chocolate Chip (or Snickerdoodle) cookies - as many as you need to make s'more sandwiches! (2 per s'more)
- ½ cup Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Baking Morsels
- For serving, if desired: small pinch sea salt
- First, make the marshmallows: Grease an 8x8 square baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
- In the base of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl), pour ½ cup water and sprinkle 3 Tbsp gelatin on top of it. Allow to sit while you make the marshmallow base.
- Combine the remaining ½ cup water, maple syrup and honey, and vanilla extract in a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, and continue to cook at a boil until the temperature reads 235 - 240 F with a candy thermometer. This should take about 10-15 minutes. Check the temperature at 10 minutes, and at 2 minute intervals until it comes up to the 235-240 F.
- When the mixture comes up to temperature, remove from the heat. Turn the stand mixer on low, and carefully and slowly pour the mixture into the stand mixer, while you gradually increase the mixer’s speed. (You can also use a hand mixer) Once you’ve poured the entire mixture in and reached top speed, allow to mix for about 6-7 minutes (or about 10 minutes with a hand mixer). It should resemble marshmallow fluff at this point.
- Using a spatula greased with coconut or avocado oil, immediately pour the marshmallow fluff into the greased pan. Smooth out the top with the spatula as best you can.
- Allow the marshmallows to sit at room temperature for about 3-4 hours, to firm, before cutting them.
- While the marshmallows are setting, make the powdered sugar: combine 1 cup maple sugar and 1 Tbsp arrowroot flour in the food processor, and let it blend for about 30 seconds. Cover the top with a kitchen towel so you don’t have sugar flying everywhere. Transfer to a glass storage container for later use. You won’t use all of it for this recipe.
- Dust a cutting board with 1 Tbsp arrowroot flour and 1 Tbsp of the powdered sugar. Remove the marshmallows from the pan using the parchment paper, and place them on top of the cutting board. Use a large, sharp knife to cut into squares (or whatever shape you’d like!) And roll them around in the flour/sugar. This will prevent them from sticking together, and will help them caramelize if you want to roast them!
- When the marshmallows are firm, get out your cookies and chocolate. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler: heat a small saucepan on medium heat with about ½ inch water in the bottom, until it begins to almost boil.
- Place a metal bowl on top of the pan with the chocolate inside, and use a spatula to move the chocolate around until it’s completely melted. Make sure you’re holding the bowl with an oven mitt, because it will get hot! Remove the bowl from the heat and set aside, and turn off the pan.
- Now, roast your marshmallows however you choose! I used a culinary torch.
- Assemble the s’mores: cookie, marshmallow, cookie, smush together. Dip in dark chocolate, and if desired, top with a sprinkle of sea salt. Devour.
This post was sponsored by Enjoy Life Foods. I used the dark chocolate baking morsels and the Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies / Snickerdoodles for this recipe! All snarky thoughts and opinions are my own, duhhh.
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