S'mores Cookies

No camping trip is a proper camping trip until you’ve set a few marshmallows on fire. Or, if you’re patient and the coals are red-hot but not too much so, roasted those marshmallows to the perfect degree of brown and blistered with a gloriously gooey center. A center that’s hot enough to just slightly melt a slab of chocolate when pressed between two graham crackers. Unless you’re camping in the desert, and keeping your chocolate bar in the cooler. That might result in a rock hard chocolate bar that resists the heat from a gooey marshmallow and threatens to break your teeth when you try to bite through it. Helpful hint: if the desert heat requires you to keep your chocolate in the cooler during the day, remove it from the cooler an hour or two before attempting to make s’mores.

If you’re the type of person who can’t go camping often enough, or maybe the type of person who can’t stand to go camping but still loves s’mores, have I got a cookie for you. These s’mores cookies have a gooey marshmallow and chocolate center, wrapped up in brown butter cookie dough flecked with graham cracker crumbs and slivers of chocolate. They are portable s’mores, no campfire required!

I used pescatarian marshmallows for these cookies, but they would work just as well with vegan marshmallows or any other variety. The nutty, toasted flavor of brown butter imparts a campfire-esque taste. And putting them together is almost as much fun as building s’mores around the campfire!

Brown Butter S’mores Cookies
Created by Simple Math Bakery
Yield: approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies

1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup crushed graham crackers (from 3 whole graham crackers)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup bittersweet chocolate baking chunks (about 6 ounces), chopped finely
approximately 1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, for placing in center of cookies
42 mini marshmallows, or 7 regular size marshmallows chopped into sixths

To brown the butter, place the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. It will melt, then start to bubble and crackle. Keep a close eye on it as it cooks. After about 5 minutes, you should start to see brown flecks on the bottom of the pan. When the butter turns an amber color and smells nutty, remove it from the heat and immediately transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Allow it to cool for 15-20 minutes, then put it in the fridge for another 15 minutes or so, until it is close to room temperature.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. The mixture will still be grainy, but it will lighten in color a bit. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and chopped chocolate.

Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Repeat for the remaining half of the dry ingredients.

Cover the dough and place it in the fridge for 20 minutes while the oven is preheating.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a cookie sheet (or two) with parchment paper.

Start with a mini marshmallow and 2 chocolate chips. Scoop out 2-3 teaspoons of cookie dough and form it into a ball. Gently press the ball of dough into a disc. Place the marshmallow into the center of the disc, stack the chocolate chips on top of the marshmallow, and wrap the dough around to seal the goodies inside. Place the cookie on the baking sheet so that the marshmallow side is on top. Repeat, placing the cookies 1-2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, or until the edges just start to brown. The tops will be starting to crack, showing the marshmallows. Place the entire cookie sheet on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and allow them to cool completely on the cooling rack.