Crunchy, Munchy, Smores Bites

I was hesitant to try this recipe because there are TONS of great smores inspired recipes floating around the blogosphere. This recipe was SO easy though, I decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did! These are so easy and satisfy even the most intense sweet tooth craving. Rich dark chocolate envelopes chewy mini marshmallows and sweet graham cracker crumbles. All the reasons we love smores, with none of the sticky mess!

Smores Bites

from tasteofhome.com

Ingredients

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 cups miniature marshmallows

8 whole graham crackers, broken into bite-size pieces

In a large microwave-safe bowl, toss chocolate and oil.

Microwave, uncovered, at 50% power for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until chocolate is melted, stirring once.

Stir in marshmallows and graham crackers.

Spoon about 1/3 cup mixture into paper-lined muffin cups (I drizzled mine with melted white chocolate). Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Yield: 1 dozen.

Treats!

Happy Halloween weekend!

Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

Is it posssible to get too much of a good thing? I sure hope not because these peanut butter cookie dough cups... oh man, are they a good thing! I took your classic peanut butter cup and tweaked it a bit. The result... something that could've come strait out of Willy Wonka's fabulous factory... What could be better than the pairing of chocolate and peanut butter you might ask... Chocolate, peanut butter, and edible chocolate chip cookie dough! OH BOY!! Fanfreakingtastic! I used a conglomeration of recipes to achieve my idea of the perfect candy. I found a great tutorial on making the chocolate cups on the Hungry Mouse website. The peanut butter filling recipe can be found on Have Cake Willl Travel, and the edible cookie dough recipe I borrowed from Steph over at the Cupcake Project. I began my adventure by first making the cups, then I added layers of chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter filling and topped it off with more chocolate. These are sinfully sweet and should be enjoyed with a tall glass of milk and a good friend... or else you may end up eating them all yourself!

A mish mash of recipes from: The Hungry Mouse, The Cupcake Project, and Have Cake Will Travel

Ingredients

This recipe makes 8 large cups or about 12 small ones

Chocolate Cups

18 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (about a bag and a half)

Peanut Butter Filling

3/4 cup natural peanut butter (make sure it is natural and has the least amount of sugar possible or else your cups will be WAY too sweet!)

1/3 cup powdered sugar

3 tblsp graham cracker crumbs

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cups unsalted butter (melted)

4 tblsp milk

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tblsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Begin by making the candy cups. Set out 8 regular size muffin wrappers.

Melt 12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips in the microwave. Be sure to stir them every 30 seconds until they have a smooth consistency. Place a spoonful of chocolate in the bottom of your cups.

Use the back of a spoon to spread it around so it covers the whole cup. Adding more if needed. *Side note: This part can be a little tricky but practice makes perfect, my first few cups weren't the prettiest but after the second one I got the hang of it. Trial and error, your hands will get messy :)

Place coated cups in muffin tin and refridgerate for thirty minutes or until chocolate is set.

While chocolate cups are in refridgerator, in a medium bowl mix together all ingredients for the raw cookie dough.

In another bowl, mix the ingredients for the peanut butter filling together.

When chocolate cups are set, remove from refridgerator.

Place a spoonful of peanutbutter filling in cup, press it down into the cup with your fingers.

Follow with a layer of cookie dough (again pressing it down into the cup) and finish with another layer of peanut butter filling. When you have filled all your cups, melt remaining chocolate chips in microwave.

When chocolate is melted, spoon a dollop on top of each filled cup.

Spread chocolate around using the back of a spoon so that it completely covers the filling and touches all the edges of the cup. When you have filled all the cups, pop them back in the fridge for at least an hour (until completely set up) before enjoying.

S'more Please!

I am sooo excited to share this next recipe! It is seriously, seriously FANTASTIC! Lately it seems like every supermarket I go into has all of their s'mores fixings put up in some tempting display right as I walk in. On a whim the other day I bought a bag of mini marshmallows and a box of graham crackers because they were on sale 2 for 2 dollars! That's a pretty darn good deal and I figured that I would eventually find a use for them. Well dear friends, that day has come... I absolutely love smores but haven't had them in years. My family are not big campers so the s'mores I usually had were from the microwave, or in the form of a pop tart. This recipe started out based on a recipe for Marshmallow Blondies I found on thegirlwhoeatseverything.blogspot. As I went along I kept modifying and modifying according to what i had on hand hoping and praying that they would turn out edible. Messing with ratios of ingredients while baking is a RISKY business to say the least, I have had many, many disastrous results as a consequence of trying to adjust recipes. However, these turned out A M A Z I N G! I am sure the original recipe is fantastic as well, however, i didn't happen to have any butterscotch chips but I DID have a hankering for something s'mores like! I used milk chocolate chips in place of butterscotch and added crushed graham crackers into the batter. I also sprinkled the top with mini marshmallows, graham crackers, and more chocolate chips after I pulled it out of the oven. It turned into crunchy, rich, gooey deliciousness. Words cannot sufficiently describe these, I just urge you, with all haste, go bake them!

S'mores Bars

based on the recipe for Marshmallow Blondies found here

Ingredients

1¼ cup milk chocolate chips (I think it would be really yummy to mix peanut butter chips and chocolate chips too)

¾ cup butter

Scant 1½ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1½ tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 ½ cups mini marshmallows

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

¾ cup crushed graham crackers + more for topping

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

In a double boiler over medium high heat melt butter and 1 cup milk chocolate chips. Stir constantly so it doesn't burn. When melted remove from heat, let cool to room temperature. Mix in flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, eggs.

When well mixed, mix in semi-sweet chocolate chips, marshmallows, and graham crackers. Spread into well greased 13x9 inch pan. Bake for 24-26 minutes. It will look really ugly when you pull it out of the oven because the marshmallows spread out and get a little brown on top but don't worry the topping will cover this up! Sprinkle with mini marshmallows, tent with foil so they melt a little bit for about two minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and graham crackers. Let cool before cutting and munching.

Enjoy!