13 Feb 2012 11 Comments
Gooey, Delicious, Incredible S’mores Bars
Whenever I look at other people’s food blogs, esophagitis I wonder how they stay healthy. It seems like most food bloggers that I follow are pretty much all pretty thin and healthy looking, which makes me wonder if they work out and how many of their desserts they eat. I’ve always struggled with my weight and self-esteem, and I love baking and creating food because it makes me see food as something fun and a form of art and self expression, instead of something that will make me fat. I think that one of the things young girls (and really women of all ages) struggle with most is their weight and feeling beautiful, and that’s why I decided to start workshops, called Beautiful, for middle school girls.
Beautiful strives to instill in girls that they are gorgeous and special because they are God’s creation. We had a workshop this past Saturday and it was so fun. We talked about the messages the media sends girls and how we as women get our ideas of what beauty is from the media, our friends, family, etc, but how we don’t get our idea of beauty from God. I think that when we are able to be confident that we are cared for and special in God’s eyes, other things start to become less important. After we talked about this, I gave each of the girls a deck of cards and we spent the rest of the time writing positive things about each other and about ourselves on the cards. It was fun for everyone (including me) and I’m excited to start putting my cards in places that I’ll see them daily :)
Those are some of the cards I made :)
I made this dessert for the girls and they all loved them and each ate several pieces. While I think it is very important to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it made me happy to see them eat them without worrying about weight-gain. We talked about a quote I read on Pinterest that said “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” and how that’s just a terrible statement. I understand that it’s trying to say that eating a dessert or whatever isn’t worth the calories and isn’t as satisfying as being skinny, but I think it communicates that food and eating isn’t as important as being thin. As someone who has struggled with anorexia, I know that being skinny is not as important as food and that depriving yourself of food is not healthy. Why spend your life counting every calorie and agonizing about food? Food is fuel. It is not the enemy. And you know what? The girls and I decided that these bars taste a whole lot better than skinny :)
I honestly think these S’mores Bars are one of the tastiest things I have ever made (and that’s saying something!) The bottom layer is a fudgy brownie layer then there’s a layer of graham cracker, chocolate chips, marshmallows, buttery cookie layer, and sweetened condensed milk. Mmm!!! <– You know it’s good when I use three exclamation points. It’s sweet, gooey, and all-around delicious.
This is a really simple recipe to make, too. First you mix your brownie mix (or make from scratch brownies if that’s how you roll) and pour it in a 9 by 13in pan lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil (aluminum foil is probably easier). Cover it with a layer of graham crackers. Dump a ton of chocolate chips and lots of mini marshmallows on the graham crackers. Next, mix up your yellow cake dough and gently press it on top. Drizzle on about a cup of sweetened condensed milk and bake! It’s really easy and sooo tasty. Really, make these soon. They’d be a great Valentine’s Day dessert or every day dessert- because really, who needs and excuse to tell someone you love them?
S’mores Bars
Ingredients:
1 family size box mix of brownies and the ingredients to make the brownies (probably canola oil, water, and 2 eggs)
9-ish honey graham crackers
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more!)
4 cups mini marshmallows
1 box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 by 13in pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil that has been generously coated with cooking spray. Make sure your lining goes all the way around the pan.
- Mix up your brownie mix according to the box directions and pour it into the pan.
- Cover the brownies with the graham crackers. You want to fit as many of the graham crackers on there as you can.
- Pour the chocolate chips onto the graham crackers and then add the mini marshmallows.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the box of yellow cake mix, egg, and stick of softened butter. Use your hand to mix the dough all together.
- Top the marshmallows with the dough. I found the best way to do this is to take some in your hand, press it so it’s flat, and place it on top of the marshmallows. Repeat this until all the marshmallows are covered (it does not have to be perfect) and then drizzle on the cup of sweetened condensed milk.
- Bake it in the oven for 18-22 minutes. It’s hard to know when it’s done, but the top layer should be a nice golden brown. I took mine out after 18 minutes and it turned out wonderful- the brownie layer was really fudgy.
- It takes a long time for this to cool enough to cut. I was really impatient and tried to lift this out of the pan too early…it was a bit of a messy disaster. But if you wait for it to cool completely, you can cut nice, even squares (you can see the difference in the ones I cut right away and the ones I cut the next day).
This recipe was inspired by this and this recipe from Picky Palate <–she’s awesome!
Ok…I know I said in this post that I wouldn’t keep posting pictures of my puppy…but I can’t help myself! I think he’s just too cute :) And in desperate need of a haircut…I promise he does have eyes under there.

Feb 14, 2012 @ 02:36:11
Hey, I found you through foodgawker..this recipe looks incredible but I don´t have yellow cake mix in Norway. I can make it from scratch but don´t want to use so much time on my Valentine´s treat today…so I´ll have to save this for a rainy day :-) (and there are plenty of those in Norway)
I have battled my weight for years (since my kids were born) and unfortunately I´m cursed because I can cook and bake and it tastes good…ugh…of all the talents for me to get! :-))) Why is it that big men are sexier then big women? If I see a big man, I either think- he can really cook or he loves to eat like me! Hahahaha…but when you see a big woman it´s like…geez…doesn´t she have any self control? And as I said, I´m a big girl..so I´m totally throwing rocks in a glass house here…ugh…
Your puppy is adorable..I´m a dog-a-holic…for me you can post as many photos as you want of your baby! He looks a little like my Cookie (See I name my animals after food too…I´m hopeless!)
Happy Valentine´s Day from Norway :-)
Amy recently posted..Over The Hills And Through The Woods….
Feb 14, 2012 @ 06:19:43
Amy-
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you get to make these soon (bummer about the cake mix).
I really hate that society has told us what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to people’s sizes. I think we should all strive to be healthy and eat in moderation, but I enjoy food and like to eat! It’s definitely a challenge.
I think Cookie is an adorable name for a dog :)
Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too :)
Feb 18, 2012 @ 23:11:42
I made this amazing deliciousness last night and oh my goodness!! This truly is the best tasting thing I have ever made! I cooked these bars for more like 25 minutes and the brownies didn’t really cook (they were pretty runny), however that didn’t distract from the taste. I put the bars in the fridge to cool and ate some after 30 min. They weren’t set, but were a little piece of heaven regardless. I left them in the fridge overnight and were equally good cold this morning. I have got to share these or throw them out. They are nearly impossible to resist! Thanks for a spectacular recipe!
Amanda
Ps. I am so impressed with your heart. :)
Feb 18, 2012 @ 23:20:15
Amanda-
I’m so glad you liked them! The thing with the brownies probably just depends on what brownie mix you use and what your oven is like. I know what you mean…these are so addicting! And thank you for the encouragement :) Have a wonderful week.
Feb 20, 2012 @ 07:13:03
Oh my. Sweetened condensed milk in these too? Sign me up!
shelly (cookies and cups) recently posted..Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cup Blondie Pie
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Mar 22, 2012 @ 19:30:16
[…] this fancy food and talk about organic ingredients all the time. Well, if you hadn’t noticed, I don’t do any of those things. I am a (somewhat) picky eater and I love boxed cake mixes and canned frosting. The other day when […]
Mar 26, 2012 @ 05:06:51
This looks so nice and very east to make. My kids would love this,it’s rich but a great little treat.Thetrouble is with sweets like this is that you keep wanting to eat them,just a bit more as they say.You can just about put anything in it.Not good for the diet but great forthe taste.
Kind Regards
David Head
Caterers in Manchester
Mar 26, 2012 @ 15:18:12
That definitely is the trouble when making delicious desserts! But I think it’s worth it :) Enjoy!
Jul 31, 2012 @ 04:55:58
I just made these as a birthday treat at my work. I didn’t use the condensed milk so they became a little more cakey but my colleagues and I loved it nontheless! Thank you for the easy recipe!
Jul 31, 2012 @ 11:34:01
I’m so glad you liked them!
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Dec 14, 2012 @ 20:20:38
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