S'mores Brownies

I adore s'mores. Not marshmallows, or graham crackers but s'mores. The combination of gooey, warm marshmallows with a crispy golden outer shell, melted chocolate and buttery graham crackers is pure bliss. Sitting by a campfire (or over your stove top like I used to in university) watching your marshmallow toast to the perfect color, the anticipation of the sweetness you're about to enjoy - well it's all too much for the dessert-lover in me. This past weekend, I needed some s'mores in my life. And since I don't plan on sitting around any campfires soon, I had to get crafty.

Ontario adapted a new holiday a few years ago called Family Day. It's supposed to encourage families to get together and spend quality time doing extracurricular activities. My family, aunts, uncles, Grandpa and cousins got together for dinner to make use of our free day off. To celebrate the Olympics we all wore Canada colors. To satisfy my sweet tooth and everyone elses, I baked up some s'mores brownies. What could be more perfect?

I used about a cup and a quarter of chocolate chips (they melt faster than Hershey chocolate squares). I used close to two cups of mini marshmallows, or enough to cover the top of the brownies. I used almost a whole sleeve of graham crackers crumbled into pieces. For the brownies I used just a basic boxed version. After the brownies finished baking and cooling, I dumped all the combined toppings over top. You can then add more of each topping to your liking. I added some more marshies to fill in the 'holes.' Keep in mind the marshmallows will poof up and out slightly. If you use big sized marshmallows you may want to cut them in half. The chocolate chips will melt a tad too. And your heart? Your heart will thank you for making these.

And then you will bake the toppings at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the marshmallows start to turn golden and slightly crispy to the touch. Or until when you cut into the brownies, they turn out like this....

Perfection.

Honestly, go make these now. They were extremely tasty. And I was even thinking that a graham cracker crust would have been a perfect compliment to the gooey brownies so if you're feeling adventurous give that a try. Oh and thrown in some chocolate chips into your brownie batter. It'll make this dessert that much better. And then if you want to get really crafty you can break out the scrap book paper, ribbon, scissors and tape. Add in a few stickers and brown paper bags and you can create the cutest little bags to put your delicious treats into.

Enjoy!