Just like their namesake, these s’mores brownies are gooey, chewy, chocolatey, almost tooth-achingly sweet, and pass-the-napkins messy. Enough said.–Renee Schettler Rossi
S’mores Brownies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, plus more for the baking dish
- 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 3 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
- About 6 graham crackers, roughly crushed with your hands
- About 12 jumbo marshmallows
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) Position an oven rack in the center position and generously butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
- In a saucepan over low heat, combine the butter and chocolate, stirring often, until both melt, about 4 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the granulated and brown sugars. Then whisk in the eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla and salt.
- Sift the flour and cocoa over the chocolate mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir just until blended. Stir in the crumbled graham crackers.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly. Top with the marshmallows, plopping them an even distance apart from one another.
- Bake the brownies until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost but not quite completely clean, 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies should be fudgy but not liquidy.
- Let the brownies cool completely in the baking dish on a wire rack. (This cooling part is paramount, as it allows the brownies, which will be on the verge of still being gooey, to set. Otherwise, you may very well find yourself cutting into a big puddle of warm goo. If you can withstand temptation, allow the brownies to rest overnight.)
☞ TESTER TIP: To make it easier to cut through the marshmallowy awesomeness, fill a tall glass with very hot water and have a paper towel handy. Dip your knife in the water and wipe it clean each time before you cut through the brownies.
- Cut the brownies into big squares, allowing one big blob of marshmallow per brownie. We think you can take it from here.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
These were such fun brownies to make and even more fun to eat. The brownies come out of the oven with a golden-brown marshmallow top. When you bite into one, there’s a layer of graham that gives a hint of flavor, completing the s’mores experience. The marshmallow top is gooey and sticky, just like s’mores. The brownies themselves are fudgy and dense.
I was skeptical about this recipe for two reasons. First, I thought the marshmallows would just be absorbed into the brownies while they baked and become invisible. Second, I thought the graham crackers would disintegrate during the baking. Happily, neither of these things happened.
These brownies tasted even better the second day. I’d highly recommend baking them a day in advance. It took me 50 minutes of baking to get a clean toothpick. This extra time didn’t overbake the brownies or marshmallow top. I couldn’t find jumbo marshmallows so I just used the normal size.
These were a huge hit with kids and adults when I brought them to a barbecue. Because I thought the brownies sounded so sweet, I only put marshmallows on half the pan. The side without marshmallows was crackly on top and fudgy as described. I preferred this to the marshmallow version (of which I had a teeny bite for testing purposes); however, the consensus was pro-marshmallow.
If you’re craving something sweet, chocolatey, and gooey then this is the recipe for you. At first I thought I’d skip this recipe since I’m one of the very few people on earth who doesn’t seem to care for s’mores, but my family adores them. So to be fair to them, I decided to forge ahead. I’m happy I did since I enjoyed these as much as they seemed to.
We did have to bake ours about 45 minutes and our tester still came out quite gooey, but they set as they cooled. The tip for dipping the knife in the glass of water worked perfectly. I like that it makes a serving for each marshmallow. It’s a rather large serving, though, and these are sweet, so sometimes a half-serving might satisfy a sweet tooth.
Yummy! These brownies were the perfect dessert for our cookout this weekend. What better way to end a fun afternoon by the pool than with these fudgy, super chocolatey brownies? This was a deliciously decadent brownie that both adults and children will love!
I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate and melted it along with the butter in a double boiler. That way they melted at a steady pace without burning. It took exactly 35 minutes in the 350°F oven for these to be perfectly cooked. It was fun cutting into these delicious brownies because of the gooey marshmallow on top of each square. And now we have some vanilla ice cream calling out to be dolloped on the leftover brownies….
These are delicious. I was afraid they’d be way too sweet, but in tiny servings they were great, moist, and really chocolatey. I didn’t like the look of the marshmallows so I made a second batch cutting them in pieces and pressing them in a little. That was worse—they looked like pieces of mushrooms when they browned. Definitely will use the brownie and graham cracker portion of the recipe again. Easy to make!
The brownie was intensely chocolatey and fudgy, which is exactly how I like it, and the edges—which so often overcook and become dry when cooking in a 9-by-13-inch pan—retained their fudginess as well.
I should mention the one and only change I made to the recipe was reducing the amount of sugar from 1 cup to 3/4 cup since I don’t like too-sweet desserts. I was hoping the graham crackers would stay crunchy after baking, but they basically became one with the brownie so there was no textural difference. The graham cracker flavor really wasn’t pronounced, either, so I think I would omit them next time and opt for a toasted nut of some kind.
The marshmallow topping worked better than expected and after 35 minutes of baking, each marshmallow melted into the brownie ever so slightly and became beautifully and evenly browned. My only complaint about the marshmallows was that they made an already sweet brownie even sweeter, but I doubt most people would mind this.
Overall, I think this is a great recipe for someone looking for a twist on a classic. It’s a keeper just for the brownie recipe base alone. I think the ample amount of butter and chocolate, the delicate cake flour, and the lack of leavener really made this the fudgy brownie of my dreams. I should also mention that these really are better the next day and easier to cut after a 30-minute sit in the fridge.
I think this is how I got my step-sons to love me! It’s a family favorite now. I do lack restraint and I add extra pieces of cracked graham crackers to the marshmallow topping. I use mini-marshmallows and cover the entire pan with them and the cracked graham crackers and put in the broiler for about a minute to get that “toastedness”.
Thanks, Lisa! We’re delighted that your whole family loves it. Thanks for the fantastic tip about broiling at the end.
Hi! Tried this recipe the other day, was also expecting the graham to somehow be a bit pronounced but could hardly notice them, my brownie came out on the cakey/fudgy side, tasted good but did not cut well until refrigerated so I think I’ll stick to my reliable CI brownie recipe for now, sorry.
Nancy, yes, the graham does sorta meld into the brownie mixture. For a more pronounced s’mores twang, I suggest adding extra marshmallows and then sandwiching the cooled and cut brownie in between graham crackers. Messy but gets the job done. As for a standard brownie, of course feel free to return to your tried-and-true, but if you like fudgy, crackly-topped brownies, I have to ask, have you tried Katharine Hepburn’s recipe?
Hi Renee! Nope, haven’t but will, thanks for the suggestion. I also just saw the brownie swirl cheesecake , interesting…I think I will give it a try even though we’ve been told to watch our diet…life is short, I think a slice or two won’t send me to the hospital! 🙂
Moderation in all things, Nancy, including moderation!
I bought some marshmallows coated with toasted coconut. Now I know what to do with them!
Niiiiiiiice.