A Sweet Tooth

I love dessert. I am a firm believer that there is always extra room in my stomach for a delicious piece of chocolate cake or a peanut butter chip cookie.

However, I was looking for something a little different and came across this recipe in the Williams Sonoma Dessert Cookbook. As summer time is a time for camping and delicious campfires, I thought that elevating the outdoor treat to a bar form would be something unique and fun. Besides, those of us city dwellers don't always have access to a campfire.

Of course I took the recipe and tweeked it. I added less butter, more graham cracker and way more chocolate. I mean, what's a s'more if it isn't goooey and oooeey.

If you don't have a food processor, you can do this by hand. Just take the graham crackers, put them in a ziplock bag and make sure it's sealed tight. Take a mallet or hammer and just beat the living daylights out of the crackers until they're pretty much broken up into teeny tiny crumbs.  The rest of the ingredients can be mixed in by hand or mixer, depending on if you have one.

Need:

9x13 baking pan

2 packs of low fat graham crackers (16 crackers)

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

3 eggs lightly beaten

1 stick of cold butter, cut into teaspoon pieces

12 tablespoons of heavy cream

2 bags of good quality milk chocolate chips (I use ghirardelli) 

2 heaping cups of mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350

In a food processor, add graham crackers and process until they are finely ground. Add flour and both sugars and mix. Add butter piece by piece and blend. Once the butter is blended into the mixture, and it should have a mealy look, add the eggs and blend again. When finished, the batter should be sticky to the touch but semi-firm.

Place batter in the greased baking pan, spread evenly (you'll need to use your hands, since the batter will stick to the spoon).

Bake for roughly 45 minutes or until the cake is firm to the touch. I would check on it every 5 minutes or so starting at the 25 minute mark. 

When the cake is finished, take it out and sprinkle the marshmallows all over the cake. They're going to get a little melty, that's totally okay.  Let the marshmallow covered cake cool down for a bit.

When you're ready, in a small sauce pan, add the heavy cream and put on low heat. Wait until cream is simmering, remove from heat and then slowly add the chocolate. Stir the chocolate until smooth and fully mixed. This should take about 5 minutes or so. Remember to stir slowly.

When the chocolate is silky pour it over the cake and smooth it out. It will probably be easiest to do this by taking the sides of the pan and lightly tapping the bottom of the pan on the counter. This will even out the chocolate without having to force your spatula all over the cake. Besides, when you do this, it evens everything out and makes the top smooth

Place the cake in the refrigerator and cool until the chocolate is firm.

Be prepared, the edges (especially the corners) are going to be a little firmer. Some people enjoy eating this cold, others like it to get to room temperature. That is totally up to you. Obviously the warmer it is, the gooier the chocolate is going to be. So make sure you have napkins.