S'mores Bars

My dad's other sister and her family live in Charlotte, NC, so we rarely see them. Usually in July (coinciding with Chelan). This year, things were a little different and they came yesterday, about a month later than normal. My parents invited them and the rest of the immediate family over for dinner. When picking out a dessert, I decided to do s'mores since A) it's still summer and what says summer more than s'mores? and B) National S'mores Day came and went and I did nothing for it (one of these days, I'm gonna find and make recipes for each national day/week/month that celebrates sweets). For some reason, I didn't realize how many choices there were for s'mores-themed recipes. So I decided on a specific type of dessert and eventually found these S'mores Bars on Mandy's Recipe Box.

S'mores Bars (source)

1 stick of butter, room temperature1/4 cup brown sugar1/2 cup sugar2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (I used 4 regular-sized chocolate bars. Probably needed half of a 5th bar)1 large egg1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff1 tsp vanilla extract1 1/3 cups all purpose flour3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (Like Mandy, I used store-bought. So much easier. But she figures about 7 whole crackers, crushed fine)1 tsp baking powder1/4 tsp salt

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Use an electric mixer to cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Set aside. Meanwhile,whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture until combined. (as always, I just saved a bowl and added the dry ingredients one at a time.) Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. 

• Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side.

• Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff.

• Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).

• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

I ended up running out of dough for the top half but it didn't matter: I think there was still all 4 layers in each square. Still, the marshmallow creme rose up past the edge of the pan! It was actually kinda cool when I pulled it out of the oven.

These were such a hit that there were only about 3 pieces left of the 16 that I cut. By the time I got home from work, there's was only one piece left as Kevin snacked on two. So I inhaled the last piece.