S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies

Summertime is almost (officially) upon us! Time for vacation, late nights, and camping trips. Well, for most people. I’m not a huge fan of camping, but I do enjoy a good s’more every now and then.  You don’t have to be sleeping under the stars to enjoy a s’more- you can just make them inside your oven. And with these cookies, you don’t have to deal with a messy sandwich to enjoy the taste of s’mores.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do love the mess and taste of a traditional s’more- most of the time. But when I want a mess free, cookiefied experience, I reach for these cookies. Plus, these are much more portable than a normal s’more- you can take these everywhere when the craving for campfires and daydreams of stargazing hit. After all, summer vacation doesn’t really exist after high school/ college. Sadly. Unless you’re a teacher.

I took my mom’s famous chocolate chip cookies, and mixed in graham cereal, marshmallow bits, and of coarse, chocolate chip cookies. I also browned the butter for a nutty, deeper, taste. (And also because brown butter makes everything better!) These cookies were popular! I took them to a game night and they went fast. There were only 8 people at game night- and I took nearly 3 dozen cookies. You will be the most popular person in the room wherever you take these cookies, I promise.

Recipe:
Ingredients

• 1 c (2 sticks) butter, browned and chilled.*
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 c packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 c crushed graham cereal (I used target store brand cinnamon toast crunch)
• 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 c marshmallow bits

1. Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla on medium speed until combined. Add in the eggs and mix. 
2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix into wet ingredients.
3. Add in the graham, chocolate chips, and marshmallow bits and stir in by hand.
4. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 275˚ if using convect or 300˚ if using normal mode. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden brown. Let the cookies sit for a few minutes so the centers can firm up, then transfer to a wire cooling wrack to finish cooling.

Just Like Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mother makes the best chocolate chip cookies ever, hands down. I know, I know, everyone says that about their mothers cookies.  But my mom’s cookies really are fantastic.

I’m not the only person who says so. My grandfather, her father-in-law, says so. Multiple teachers of mine in junior and senior high said so.  Everyone at my church said so. In fact, at bake sales for school and church, people would request her cookies.

I went to a private, K-12 school. My freshman year of high school we had our very first musical, and the woman in charge of refreshments at intermission was new to the school and had never had any of my mom’s cookies. My mom called her, volunteering to make cookies to sell, and the woman said “no, we already have plenty of cookies; you can make brownies though!” Well. At intermission on opening night, people kept coming up and asking specifically for my mother’s cookies by name. The next day mom get’s a call, asking her to make cookies for the remaining shows.

So when all is said and done, my mother does have the best cookies ever.  It’s proven by my tiny, 400 person school.

I do some things a little differently than my mother does- mostly because she likes her cookies crispier and crunchier than I like mine, so she doesn’t chill the dough or pull them out when they’re slightly under done and let them firm up on the stovetop like I do. If you do this right, they’ll taste just like raw cookie dough. No lie.

It’s similar to most basic cookie recipes: Butter, sugars, flour, vanilla, leavening agents, eggs, etc.  We like to double the amount of brown sugar to white sugar- this makes the cookies softer and more moist, due to the addition of molasses in the brown sugar.

Begin by creaming the sugars, butter, and vanilla in your stand mixer, then add the eggs.  Mix together the dry ingredients, and slowly stir them into the wet ingredients. After this you are done with the electric mixer, so make sure to scrape as much dough off of the paddle with a rubber spatula and a knife. Then, with the spatula, mix in the 1 1/2 c of chocolate chips. My mother likes to use 2 cups, but after doing some reading on other food blogs, I discovered that 1.5 c of add-ins was plenty, and having a little less will help bake the cookies thicker. I decreased the amount of chips, and it was still very, very chocolate-chipy.

See? still plenty of chips.

Here’s the recipe:

(yields 2-3 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

• 2 Sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 c brown suger
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 c chocolate chips

directions:

1. mix butter, sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time.
2. in separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. slowly mix in the flour mixture to wet ingredients, and blend until fully mixed.
4. stir in chocolate chips
5. let chill for at least 30 minutes.
6. drop rounded teaspoon size balls onto a nonstick cookie sheet and bake at 275 on convect or 300 on non-convect until the edges are golden brown.
7. pull out of oven and let sit for 3-5 minutes until cookies are firm, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

cookies will keep for 2-3 weeks in a jar or airtight container.