I haven’t had real, good old-fashioned smores that are made over a campfire in far too long.
Like about twenty years, give or take, but who’s counting.
The last time I roasted marshmallows over a campfire was when I was a Girl Scout.
I have memories of being too impatient to wait for the marshmallows to toast evenly and instead, I would intentionally dip my wooden stick, with splinter-filled marshmallows speared on it, directly into the flames. The marshmallows would ignite, char, and then I’d blow out the flaming charcoal black blobs of hot molten sugar, previously known as marshmallows.
Then I’d promptly smoosh the charred marshmallows in between stale graham crackers, courtesy of the Minnesota summer humidity.
Finally, I’d set a couple jagged-edge squares of chalky, tasteless Hershey’s’ milk chocolate on top of the charred marshmallows, top it with another stale graham cracker, and bite into the gooey, charry, chalky mess and proclaim it to be the best thing I ate all summer.
But these bars are better.
There are no charred marshmallows, no chalky chocolate, no standing outside while intermittently getting bitten to death by mosquitoes the size of golf balls, sleeping on hard ground, or standing over a campfire sweating profusely.
You can almost no-bake these up in your kitchen, very comfortably. The oven is only turned on for a few minutes to toast the marshmallows and melt the white chocolate chips.
And as a bonus, not only do you get the chocolate fix you’d get in regular smores, but the chocolate in these bars is mixed with peanut butter, and Cocoa Krispies are added.
These beat camping.
[print_this]
Peanut Butter Cocoa Krispies Smores Bars (Almost No-Bake; with Vegan and Gluten Free options)
Makes 16 bars
5 or 6 full-size graham crackers
1 ½ cups mini marshmallows
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 8 squares Baker’s Semisweet Chocolate), melted
1 cup peanut butter, melted
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups Cocoa Rice Krispies Cereal (or regular Rice Krispies)
Preheat oven to 375° F. Line a 8 by 8-inch or 9 by 9-inch pan with foil and spray with cooking spray (Do not skip this step, do not use wax or parchment paper).
Line the pan with one flat layer of graham crackers. You will need to break the graham crackers to fill in odd-shaped places (or slice the graham crackers on a cutting board with a knife for ultra-precision). Sprinkle the marshmallows over the graham cracker layer and bake for 6 to 7 minutes, or until marshmallows have begun to puff up or are showing first signs of browning. Remove from the oven and sprinkle white chocolate chips over the top and bake for 2 minutes more and remove from the oven and allow pan to cool a bit.
Make the Peanut Butter Cocoa Krispies Layer by placing chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heating for 45 to 60 seconds, then removing and stirring. Microwave again for 30 more seconds, or until mixture has fully melted. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Add the vanilla extract and Cocoa Krispies and stir to coat. Pour this mixture over the top of the melted marshmallow and white chocolate chip layer.
Place the pan in the freezer for 20 minutes or in the refrigerator for at least one hour to set up completely before slicing and serving. Store the bars in an airtight container on the countertop, or freeze for up to 3 months for longer-term storage, knowing that the crackers may not be as crunchy if frozen for long periods.
To keep vegan, use suitable crackers and krispy cereal, use vegan marshmallows, replace the butter with margarine or Earth Balance, use vegan white chocolate chips or omit them. To keep gluten-free, use gluten free Rice Krispies cereal, gluten free graham crackers. Make sure all ingredients used are suitable for your personal taste preferences, dietary needs, and read all labels.
[/print_this]
One of the reasons I decided to make these smores bars is because I’m participating in Marshmallow Madness, a contest hosted by Quirk Books and Serious Eats to celebrate the release of Marshmallow Madness by Shauna Sever.
My job was to post a recipe using marshmallows.
They didn’t ask me to post anything with chocolate, white chocolate, or peanut butter, but I think marshmallows go best with those things.
The crunch from the graham cracker base, the gooey melted marshmallows and white chocolate chips sandwiched in the middle layer, and the crunchy peanut buttery and chocolate Cocoa Krispies on the top layer are a smorgasbord of textures, and I love that.
As an aside, I found this site and decided to write on the image above to make sure and tempt you with each (labeled) layer. If anyone knows of other free sites that are straightforward, easy to use, and very user-friendly, that allow you to add text to images and “write” on them, let me know. Picnik is closing, and I don’t store my images on Google, Picassa, or Flickr and as few uploading steps, the better.
If you need more marshmallows (and white chocolate) in your life, I recommend:
Deep Dish Double Chocolate Golden Grahams Smores Bars (Vegan & GF options)
White Chocolate Vanilla Marshmallow Cake Bars
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Marshmallow Stuffed Rice Krispie Bars (No Bake)
Finally, one of my Favorite Recipes of 2011, which uses marshmallows and white chocolate (and chocolate chips and peanut butter and butter and sweetened condensed milk…)
Marshmallow Peanut Butter Double Chocolate Pillowtop Bars (GF with Vegan options)
Now go make some smores in the comfort of your kitchen.
No bug bites or stinky campfire hair required.
Do you like smores? Marshmallows?
When is the last time you made smores? Or something with marshmallows?
Winner of the $50 Spa Card Giveaway announced next post.
Have a great week!
I am loving the layered goodness of these bars…Every layer is worth the bite. I must try this very soon. ;)
Rice Krispie treats are my favorite! This is an awesome new take on them and I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Oh yum! These look amazing! I have to thank you! I bought that 1 pounder dark chocolate bar and your right, it’s creamy smooth and easy to melt! It’s my new favorite chocolate. Your peanut butter bars look amazing! Perfect little treat!
Girl I am telling you, that stuff is magic, isn’t it! I don’t blog about things and get ALL EXCITED unless I truly believe in a product and that was one of them :)
These look SOOOO YUMMMYYYY!!!!!!
I never want to leave your blog…never ever…I could drool over your pics pretending Im eating them all day long. I wish my skin loved sweets like this cause I’d eat them for breakfast lunch and din dins!
xxoo
I have heard that what we eat, i.e. sugar, chocolate has no bearing on skin…and then have heard, it very much does. I hope you find a product(s) that works for your skin, doll!
Oh boy…these look dangerous!
Oh my GOODNESS. I make s’mores bars all the time but these are like those on crack. And they just LOOK gorgeous!
Yes, they are crack-ed up, for sure :) That choc/PB toppping takes them to new highs <-- pun intended. (corny jokes over for the nite)
yum! your recipes are sooo mouth-watering! I am craving something sweet now!
I really had to laugh at “splinter-filled marshmallows” ;)
Sadly, I only had smores once, in courtesy of my American neighbours.
Well make these and now you can have smores for the 2nd time in your life and this is a good recipe to break in the 2nd time :)
hahahaha, you can BET that I will buy some vegan marshmallows as soon as I can lay my hands on them, so I can make this recipe!
haha yes sweet treats totally beat camping…unless the camping is at a 5 star hotel and they serve you these smores poolside complete with a drink that has one of those little umbrellas. thanks for the recipe averie!
God did you read my mind, or what! That’s TOTALLY what I say. My mom used to say, my idea of camping is the Hilton :)
So sad about your s’mores history. I love s’mores…they are one of my favorite treats and make summer camp and bonfires even more fun. My first whoopie pies were these adorable s’more whoopie pies. Yummy! Your bars look delish. Best of luck in the contest!
Whoopie pie smores sound fabulous!
Haha oh man, I still have a scar on one of my toes from a flaming marshmallow that fell on me during a girl scout campout. Good times.
These bars look delicious, and far less dangerous.
yikes on the scar! That sounds like something I would do!
These peanut butter cocoa krispies smores bars look so yummy! I’m a huge fan of smores, but chocolate and peanut butter is probably my favorite combination ever. This is such a great way to combine smores, chocolate, and peanut butter!
I got ALL the pertinent flavors in
choc
white choc
marshmallow
PB
gooey
crunchy
it’s all there :)
Holy sweet Moses, you had me from the title of this post!! I am so in love with all of your recipes, I feel like I need to set a side an entire weekend to make Averie desserts and basically just take a bath in vegan chocolatey goodness.
Wow these look delish and so easy.. love that. s’mores is the Best flavour combo to me!
i made s’more several times last summer, both camping with my boyfriend, and in our backyard in the outdoor fire pit on chilly and not-so-chilly summer nights. i live in canada.. it’s a lot like MN weather(i have fam there too!) so yes, we have Chilly summer nights.. i love love camping and cottage-ing, i do hate the ‘squiters tho, and i make my s’mores with lindt dark chocolate with almonds and sometimes their white chocolate with coconut. amazing. no chalky hershey’s for me :)
you make great, easy dessert recipes, it’s really awesome!
thanks for the compliments, Shira!
Man, you really loved camping, didn’t you? ;) I actually love camping, smores, sleeping on the ground, all of it. Except the mosquitoes and the humidity.
The bars look awesome, per usual. i bet you could totally no-bake them by subbing marshmallow fluff. The white choc chips would just stay in place because of the hot melty chocolatey peanut buttery goodness on top.
I’m hungry now.
Those look amazing!!! And bonus…no smoke smell to wash out of my clothes!!!!
You know it. No smokey campfire stink required :)