S'Mores Bars

Yum, yum, and more yum!

I needed to make a batch of cookies for a 

lunch I was going to, and I wanted to try 

something different.  I have no idea why, 

but I did a search for S'Mores Bars on Pinterest, 

and up came a recipe from House of Nash Eats 

that looked really yummy.

As I read the recipe, she said she had tasted it at 

a get-together and it was brought by Hungry Runner Girl.

Ha!  I know Hungry Runner Girl personally.  My 

son dated her for a while, so this was a fun recipe 

for me to try out, and the verdict was - fantastic!

These fabulous bars consist of a graham cracker crust, 

topped with a chocolate cookie dough layer, and 

then gloriously garnished with marshmallows, 

chocolate chips and Hershey bars.  How could they 

be anything but wonderful?

The recipe called for a very large amount of 

butter to be mixed into the graham cracker crust - 

let me tell you a secret - butter makes things 

extra delicious!  Nope, I won't be altering that.  

I didn't end up having mini marshmallows on hand, 

so I laboriously cut the full sized ones into smaller 

pieces - it worked, but I grabbed a bag at the store 

for my next batch - which I am making this week.  

S'Mores Bars Recipes

Graham Cracker Crust

2 1/4 C. ground graham crackers ( 1 1/2 pkg)

2/3 C. melted butter

1/3 C. sugar

Mix the above and spread into a 9x13 inch pan and bake 

for 5 minutes at 350.  Remove and let cool a little.

Meanwhile make the cookie dough.

1 C. softened butter

3/4 C. brown sugar

3/4 C. white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 C. flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 C. mini marshmallows

Cream the butter and sugars together.  Then add the eggs and 

vanilla.  Mix the flour, salt and soda together and blend into 

the butter mixture.  Stir in the chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Spread on the slightly cooled crust carefully, so as to not break 

up the crust.  Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.  Remove from oven 

and top with 

1 C. marshmallows,

1/2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips 

2-3 Hershey bars, broken into squares

Return to oven and bake for 9-11 minutes.  You want 

these to be a little underbaked.  I baked mine for 9.

Let cool completely before cutting.  I put mine in 

the fridge to harden the chocolate before cutting 

into 24 pieces.

You can see how the cookie dough layer is 

underbaked - that's what you want.  

These will be on your list of favorites from now on!

Valentine's Mantel and Tree

Valentine's Day always seems to come too soon, 

with it landing in the middle of the month.  

We were gone for quite a bit of January, 

celebrating my birthday, so that makes 

the celebration seem even shorter.  

this year I did something completely different.  

I left up the garland and the champagne 

trees, and added the Valentine's decor on 

top of it. 

 

The mantel transformed magically from 

Christmas to Valentine's Day! 

I love how full the garland and 

trees make the mantel look, and it was a 

great transition from Christmas to Valentine's Day  

by just removing the nutcrackers and reindeer.

I also left the pink draping ribbons on each end 

of the mantel display and added some red ones.  

Garlands of red lights and hearts went on top of 

the chain and bead garlands from the Christmas 

mantel, and fancy chocolate boxes were tucked in.  

A flip of the light switch and the mantel just sparkles.  

I decided to do the same thing with the tree.  

In the past, I have set up a smaller tree in the kitchen 

for Valentine's Day, but this year, I decided to transform 

the Christmas tree, which featured metallics and pale 

pinks, by again, just adding the Valentine's decor 

in and around the decorations, but removing the 

reindeer and anything that was more Christmas 

specific.  

A big pink fur pillow I got from Target a few years 

ago is great on the chaise lounge.  

These are a few of my favorite things - new from 

Hobby Lobby this year - 

and even a mini mailbox filled with old Valentines.

Three kinds of ribbons just drape all over the tree 

to take it from Christmas to Valentine's Day. 

See how the Valentine's decor goes so well with the 

metallics that were already on the tree?

I think my favorite part is how pleased hubby was 

with the transformation.  He hates going from fully 

decorated to plain, and it has brought a lot of 

compliments from friends and family too.  I think 

this will be our new way of decorating for 

Valentine's Day.  

We have a fun sleepover planned at a friend's cabin, 

but we have had our Young Single Adults over on 

Valentine's Day in the past - since many of them don't 

have dates, so my niece is hosting the party at our 

house this year for them.  They had a blast last year 

making pizzas and hanging out.  

The template for the invitation was from PicMonkey.  

It originally said "Stupid Cupid", but I thought 

Elusive Cupid was a little kinder!!!

Hope you have something fun planned.  

Thanks for taking time to stop by.  It is 

always fun to hear from you!!!

I will be posting this with

Metamorphosis Monday