S’mores have a special place in my heart. Is it weird to say that about a piece of food? Anyway, it’s true. When I was growing up we used to spend our summers in Maine. My dad was one of six kids, and every summer they would go to their summer home,”The Cottage” in Maine. My grandparents passed down The Cottage to all six of the kids in hopes of us keeping up the tradition, and from there we would all pack ourselves in for the summer. Think about it- six grown ups, all of their kids, for the whole summer- under one roof. It was total chaos in the best way possible. The Cottage looks like an old red barn with white trim, very 1950’s Americana. High tide came all the way up to the screened-in back porch and we would all count shooting stars at night. But you can’t count shooting stars without a S’more in hand. It’s a rule; a Cardinal Sin to break. By the end of the night everyone would be covered in sticky marshmallows and melted chocolate, all of the kids claiming they had seen more shooting stars than their sibling. So maybe it’s odd to love a piece of food so much, but S’mores are more than a food to me, they’re a summer memory as well.
But now that I’m an ‘adult’, I don’t have the luxury of spending my summers in an idyllic cottage in Maine. I also live in an apartment, which makes bonfires a bit of a no-go. But you can’t have a summer without S’mores, so I chose to combine a S’more with my other favorite childhood snack: Rice Krispy Treats. And not to toot my own horn or anything, but this might be better than the original S’more. It’s not as messy, you still get all the decadent goodness of a S’more (with the added benefit of a Rice Krispy Treat), and you can store them for over a week and they’ll still be delicious! Which is dangerous, because if you’re like me you’ll have at least two a day until they are gone.
I toasted my marshmallows with a kitchen torch, but if you don’t have one, then you can toast them individually on a skewer under the broiler- you just have to get them really close to the actual broiler and then they’ll catch on fire.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal
- 4 Tbsp. butter
- 1 (10 oz.) package marshmallows
For the topping:
- 1 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips, but it’s up to you)
- â…“ Â cup creamy peanut butter
- 8 marshmallows, toasted, cooled, and cut in half
- 2 graham crackers, crushed
Directions:
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat
- Add marshmallows and stir until fully melted
- Working quickly, stir the Rice Krispy’s into the melted marshmallow mixture
- Spread into a well-greased 9×9 baking dish*
- Let cool, then dump out onto wax paper and cut into squares
*Tip: Get your hands slightly wet and press down on the treats to ensure an even layer.
For the topping:
- Melt your chocolate chips in a shallow, microwave-safe dish (30 second intervals in the microwave)
- Scoop your peanut butter into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave until runny (30 second intervals as well
- Dip each Rice Krispy treat into the melted chocolate, and place a half marshmallow in the center
- Drizzle with peanut butter to make a diagonal pattern (I used a spoon for this step)
- Sprinkle with crushed graham crackers
