It’s that time of the year where smores cookies are an obligatory cookie in our household. Around this time of year, the recipe list includes all of the usual foodie delights: Bailey’s, buttery mince pies, mulled wine, panettone soaked in moscato. I have a big love of toasting marshmallows on a stick over the fire until they’re bubbling and charred, and then sandwiching them with dark chocolate and Digestive biscuits.
These smores cookies though are the ultimate company for a Christmas movie, for mittened hands that need warming on Bonfire Night or for Halloween treats (just add goggly eyes!).
What makes smores cookies so special?
I wanted to make something that reminded me of bonfires, home comforts and winter warmers. These smores cookies have everything you ever really need in a cookie:
- They’re golden brown with ripped edges and soft, chewy centres
- Pressing a piece of chocolate into each smores cookie before it goes in the oven creates beautiful pools of chocolate
- The marshmallows turn gooey and puffy once baked, and cling to the crumb
Why bake smores cookies?
- They’re perfect for Halloween and Bonfire Night
- They’ve got a little graham cracker in them for that beautiful crunch (you can also use Digestive biscuits!)
- They’re just like smores, with a little less mess
Ingredients and alternatives
If you’re unsure whether you can substitute some of the ingredients in this recipe, this list will help you find out what you can use instead:
- Butter: I like to use unsalted butter in recipes because you have more control over how much salt you add. Never use ‘spreads’ or margarines. These are milk fats mixed with vegetable oils and won’t provide the right consistency for cookies.
- Flour: cake or pastry flour, or something like buckwheat or wholemeal flour would work too.
- Sugars: muscovado is a great substitute for the dark brown sugar. You can use light brown sugar too but the cookies won’t have as much of a molasses flavour.
- Egg: one medium egg can be swapped for a large egg.
- Vanilla extract: vanilla bean paste is a beautiful, slightly richer flavouring than essence or extract. Any of these would work perfectly.
- Chocolate: preferably choose chocolate that is 70% or above for that bittersweet flavour that complements the sweetness of the dough. You can use milk chocolate if you prefer but I find this can make the cookies a bit too sweet!
- Graham crackers: for those in the US, graham crackers are a staple! Here in the UK, you can use digestives instead, which aren’t quite the same but will work. Luckily, I had my graham crackers shipped over by a friend.
- Marshmallows: I like to use simple vanilla mallows, however marshmallow fluff is a great alternative if that’s all you can find. This will spread slightly more than thick, fluffy marshmallows placed on top of the cookies before they’re baked. Swirl the marshmallow fluff into the cookie dough gently, folding gently as you go, before scooping and baking. My favourite marshmallows include Epic Giant Toastin’ American Style Marshmallows and Mallow & Marsh’s Vanilla Marshmallows coated in milk chocolate.
I had a delivery of the most amazing square marshmallows and golden graham crackers from a friend in the states a few weeks back and knew that this was going to be the plan for using them. This is kind of how it went down and I really wanted to share the recipe with you because I have a new love, and I’m not going to stop making them.
S’mores Cookies
Ingredients
- 113 g unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 213 g plain flour sifted
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 160 g dark brown sugar
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 170 g 70% dark chocoalte roughly chopped
- 57 g graham crackers or digestive biscuits
- 18 large marshmallows
Instructions
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until it starts to foam. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan occasionally to prevent the milk solids in the butter from burning. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the butter smells nutty and is amber with dark flecks at the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and immediately pour the brown butter into a measuring jug. Set it on a wire rack to cool while you prep the other ingredients.
- Position a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine the sugars.
- Once the butter has melted completely, pour it over the sugar, and using an electric whisk, beat on low until just combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat until just combined once more. Use your spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients in thirds, and beat until just combined.
- Again, scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure everything is properly incorporated, and beat on low for an additional 30 seconds.
- Increase the mixer to medium-low, add the graham crackers (or digestives if youāre using these instead) all at once, and beat until evenly distributed throughout (about 1 minute). Add the chocolate and mix with a spoon to evenly distribute.
- Use a 3-tbsp cookie dough scoop, or measure out 75g of the dough to portion the cookie dough into balls. Place them at least 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet pans. Lightly place a marshmallow directly on top of the centre of each cookie dough ball.Ā
- Bake one pan at a time for 10 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey. The cookies will look puffed when you pull them out of the oven, but will fall and crack into the perfect cookies as they cool.
- Cool the cookies on the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies have set and feel firm to the touch.
- Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
- Before serving, use a stiff metal spatula and run it underneath the bottom of each cookie to unstick any melted marshmallow. Serve warm or at room temperature. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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