Gooey S'mores Bars

Sooo... I know I've been MIA again lately and I'm sorry.

Mr. Vittles and I have been super busy.  I just feel like there are not enough hours in the day!

Bad news out of the way first - my grandmother has unfortunately been ill this week, so I've spent a most of my evenings with her and my aunt at the hospital.  Unfortunately they don't know what is causing her issues yet, but she's been a trooper!  Hopefully we will get a resolution to that soon, and she'll be feeling better.

On a lighter note, I finally got my act together and started checking out baby stuff for my registry.

Holy time-consuming.

I have been talking to moms & soon-to-be-moms, poring over websites, reading reviews, and adding & deleting items for hours on end.  

And I'm still... not... done.

Soooo different from doing my wedding registry!  That was incredibly easy.  Mr. V and I had lived together for a while and acquired a lot of stuff, so I was mostly concerned with one thing - what do I want?

This is totally different.  Now I need to think about what I need, what's good, and what's safe.  

Or more like find out what I need, what's good and what's safe because let's face it - I HAVE NO IDEA!  (So feel free to leave me any comments telling me things you couldn't live without with your kids/friends' kids/family member's kids/whatever - I welcome suggestions!)

Aside from that, we also went away for a long weekend to my mother & father in-laws' vacation home on the St. Lawrence River in Canada.  Their place is in the Thousand Islands, and you can only get to it by boat.  

They already had a full house of 8 guests (5 adults & 3 kids), but still welcomed us and two of our friends!  The house (while adorable) is not overly big, but it sleeps a lot of people - so it worked out great.  Never a boring moment, AND we all got a bed - best of both worlds!

I wish I had pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it - the area is just so beautiful and relaxing.  

And we had so much fun!  I was really reveling in the cool air, outside shower, fun conversation, and delicious foods.

One night we sat around a fire and made s'mores.  Well, actually the kids made s'mores, and the adults just mostly ate toasted marshmallows.  

Know why?  

Because as delicious as s'mores may be, they are also very messy.

Enter gooey s'mores bars.  These are actually a little messy too, but not nearly as bad as a real s'more.  Plus you don't need a fire, which is pretty convenient if you're not camping or at your in-laws' awesome river house.

I'll be honest though - Mr. Vittles didn't seem to be a fan of these bars.  He didn't say they were bad or anything, he just wasn't overly impressed.  

I disagree.  Although I'll admit, I thought it would be a good idea to add a layer of 1/2 cup of Nutella between the chocolate bars and fluff, but unfortunately you could barely taste it with everything else.  (This is not in the recipe below since, in my mind, it was not worth it - but feel free to try it for yourself.)

I did also get really worried at one point that I didn't have enough of the graham cracker dough left for the top, to hold the insides together.  But once it was all baked & cooled it was totally fine.  So if this happens to you too, have no fear.  I thought these were great, and I give the original recipe two thumbs up!  

Apparently my co-workers did too, because once I realized Mr. V wasn't eating them I brought a plate of these into work...

...and they were gone by noon.  

Now mind you, I get into work a half hour earlier than most people in my office and I just left the plate in the kitchen without saying a word to anyone.  So people didn't even know what they were or where they came from - and they still ate them all.

Although... not sure if that says a lot for the bars, or just not much for my coworkers?  

Maybe a combination of both :)

Gooey S'mores Bars

• 1/2 C. butter, room temperature
• 1/4 C. brown sugar
• 1/2 C. sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1/3 C. whole wheat flour (or you can use all-purpose flour instead)
• 1 C. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 C. graham cracker crumbs
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s), trimmed to fit 8x8 pan
• 1 7-oz jar marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, beat butter & brown sugar until light & fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until dough forms.

Press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough - cut or break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer. Then, using the back of a spatula sprayed with non-stick spray, spread marshmallow creme over chocolate bars. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (*see note below).  

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.  Makes 16 bars.

*Note: Easiest way to do this is to flatten pieces of the dough and shape into small rectangles, then lay them on top of marshmallow layer. Pinch the dough pieces together to make a solid top piece).

Recipe Adapted Slightly from Lovin' from the Oven, as seen on Wit & Whistle