What actually makes these “a little better for you smore bars” any better than basic smores?
Let me count all the ways…
- These “a little better for you smore bars” are made with all better-for-you ingredients. Remember, that doesn't make this sugary dessert a health food or anything, but at least it has no crappy preservatives, no colors or weird flavors, no corn syrup, plenty of pastured butter and more good stuff, so it has a lot going for it!
- It is also a no-bake recipe, just one big pan.
- No mess all over your fingers, as in NONE!
- They can easily be made-ahead for company so you can just pull them out before serving. If you really want to get ahead of the game, you can even toss them into the freezer to last longer before you need them.
- My favorite: they're SO good, and MUCH more yummy than a regular smore, they're seriously addictive guys. (You've been warned!)
Maybe it's not campfire weather wherever you are right now, but if you're like me and LOVE smores any time of year, there's no need to fret, we've got this! I pulled a few recipes together to make these with ingredients that aren't too bad, as far as treats go.
I first made it when we were having a bunch of families from church over and we were talking about forgiveness, so I printed these little papers out that said, “Forgive and then forgive s'more.” Cute, huh? 🙂
I'm so excited I found these “natural” marshmallows at our local grocery store the other day so I could play around with this recipe. Keep in mind though: that “natural” term is pretty loosey-goosey, and you can't always trust it, so as always, read those labels! The label on this one isn't perfectly sparkly, but it's much better than the regular marshmallows.
Smores for Christmas?
Smores aren't exactly something you'd think of bringing to a Christmas gathering, but these are so good and so easy to make ahead, that when I mentioned a few months ago on Facebook that I might bring them anyway, see below in the comments for the ideas that came in for how to make them a little more “Christmasy”. 🙂
A Little Better for You Smore Bars
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter — pastured butter is best (plus more softened butter for buttering the cookie sheet)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 4-10 ounce bags of natural marshmallows like these , I found them in our grocery store — non-GMO! They have soy though. Bummer. If you can only find the bigger ones, cut about 1/4 of them (1 bag) into smaller pieces. Update--WAIT! Look what I found, try this organic marshmallow cream, the ingredients look great!
- About 22 ounces of your favorite chocolate or if you find a chocolate bar with ingredients you're okay with, just break it into pieces — I used these milk chocolate chips since the ingredient label isn't bad and I love the taste. Others like these are good, especially if there are allergies in your family.
- About 18 organic graham crackers (full rectangles), broken into small-ish pieces, about 1/4 inch chunks or smaller.
Instructions
- Generously butter a cookie sheet, don't forget to get up on the sides. In a big saucepan (so you have room to stir it around good) melt the butter. Add sea salt and about 30 ounces of marshmallows (3 bags). Keep on low-to-medium heat, stirring almost constantly as it all gets gooey and melty and wonderful, for around 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add in half the chocolate, stir it in to melt. Toss in the graham crackers, the other half of the chocolate, and the rest of the smaller marshmallows, and stir until it's all mixed together. (Here's where you can taste-test some and see how good this is!) Spoon it into the cookie sheet and press down to flatten. Let cool so it's easy to cut into squares before serving. I also served ours with some vanilla ice cream. If you make it ahead of time, just cover it well and leave it on the counter (for a day or two) or in the freezer (for longer) and get it out in time to thaw and cut before serving.
Please will you use the buttons below to share these Better for You Smore Bars?
And let me know what you think after you try them!
You could also use this recipe to make a s'more crepe — check out Kasey's video making sweet and savory crepes on the hoverboard. 🙂
More you might like:
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
My son had an idea that might work: crush up just a few organic peppermint candies and add that to the mixture?! These don’t have any red, of course, since that would mean food coloring, but that would’ve been prettier. Not worth it though!
Christina Lee says
Put a drop of peppermint essential oil in it and BAM! Instant Christmas party in your mouth!
Jill-David Boman says
I sprinkle of cinnamon could make it a little Christmas-y!
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Except I don’t like cinnamon with chocolate…
Jill-David Boman says
Kelly the Kitchen Kop But it’s so yummy! 🙂
Rachel says
I still use the Dandies marshmallows when I need some for roasting over the fire or don’t have time to make my own, but this summer these showed up at our local Fred Meyer. They wouldn’t be much good for these bars since they come in different flavors, but the mint chocolate chip ones are fabulous and my kids love them in cocoa. https://amzn.to/2xsI3yG
The ingredients on my package say, “Organic cane sugar, water, tapioca syrup, semi-sweet chocolate chips (organic cane sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter), Gelatin, Natural Flavors, Spirulina Extract for Color, Peppermint Extract, Tapioca Starch.” It appears they use gelatin instead of the carrageenan like the Dandies, and have natural flavors instead of soy protein. They may or may not be better, but it’s another option! =)
Bob Martin says
This recipe sounds delicious! My wife makes her own organic marshmallows for her organic version of Tillamook Rocky Road ice cream. I will ask her to whip up a batch of these better than s’mores.
KitchenKop says
Wow, where do you get them Amy?
Amy says
Sounds delicious… I’ve discovered, recently, that Guittard chocolate chips have really good ingredients. They have no genetically engineered ingredients, and – this is the biggest thing that thrills me – they use sunflower lecithin instead of soy. The only thing that would make them much better, to me, is if they used fair trade chocolate.