Peanut Butter S'mores Skillet Brownie

So this was supposed to be a Peanut Butter S'mores Pizookie--which is a copycat from a place called BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. However...this didn't exactly end up being close enough for me to call it that--I made a slight mistake and did a skillet brownie instead of cookie. So-it's not the same. BUT it is YUMALICIOUS and perfectly deserving of its own title. So PB S'mores Skillet Brownie, here we are!

Essentially we have a super fudgy and dense and chocolatey brownie (with chocolate chips/chunks) baked in a skillet. THEN there's a layer of peanut butter. THEN we put some marshmallows on top and get 'em all toasty. And the result is gooey and rich and really just awesome.

Michael would've liked this better if it had just been the brownie and peanut butter without the toasted marshmallows...because I've married a weirdo. BUT-more for me!!! Even though this is a medium sized skillet brownie...and even though I'm pregnant (although honestly my appetite has gone down if anything so far)-I did not finish the whole thing in one sitting! I cut off little wedges to eat over the course of a few days. But if you eat it all at once I will do nothing but love and admire you.

I mean...it's messy. And gooey. As all the tastiest things are!

Graham Cracker S'mores Cookies

As we know...I've made S'mores Cookies before. I made those Chocolate Insomnia Copycat Cookies not that long ago, and awhile back I even stuffed some s'mores inside of cookies. But Michael asked me to make some cookies for him to bring to work, and for some reason he suggested I make s'mores cookies. So I decided to make a new version.

I decided to keep it OG with these cookies. A chocolate chip cookie dough with a BUNCH of ground graham crackers in it is the base (and ohmygawwwd that dough is insanely delicious) and then there are chocolate chips and mini marshmallows to bring the trinity of summer desserts together!

All the yumminess of a s'more...without quite so much of a mess. Or need for fire.

I'm the messiest eater ever. And s'mores are messy to eat for anyone-so for me it's double the messiness. I usually have stuff smeared all over my face and need a wet napkin with me to aid in the clean up. These cookies don't require such up-keep.

Also, Michael's coworkers love love loved them. Of course. And gobbled them up and told their significant other's that they needed to step up to my level.

Mission accomplished. 

Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed S'mores Brownies

Excuse the messiness of these photos. I'm just trying to show real life here...I mean...s'mores and melty peanut butter cups are messy. Any of you who have children (or remember being children) should be plenty aware of this fact. All things considered I think I did the best that could have been expected. Plus....I mean....messy and gooey looks kinda yummy, ya know?

Now...before I get into the transcendent experience that is eating one of these brownies...I need to give you guys a heads up! I'm going to be out in Texas Wednesday-Monday to go to my brother's graduation from basic training for the airforce. Sooo I'm not going to be able to post this Wednesday or next Monday. I KNOW-I'm sorry! But I figured...at least I'm leaving you with something completely over the top amazing to keep you all satisfied until I get back. So, hopefully these brownies will help me earn your forgiveness. I mean-look at these photos. We're cool.

When I made these delicious brownies I instagrammed them. And was told by one of my husband's coworkers that she needed one. And I thought to myself "These are really rich, and this did make a huge pan of brownies...I could probably share." So I told her I'd send some in with Michael the next day. And apparently she told everyone because I shortly thereafter got a text from him saying, "So I guess I'm bringing dessert tomorrow?"

They were excited :D And I sent the brownies. And they were devoured. But poor Jess (the original coworker who commented) wasn't there the rest of the week and got no brownies! So she's been pouty about it. I can't really blame her. These are DARNED GOOD.

Allow me to e'splain to you these magical brownies. They have a thick and buttery graham cracker crust. Nomnom. Then they have a very dense and very chocolate brownie layer. Mmmhmm. THEN they have peanut butter cups and melty dark chocolate barks layered on top of that. OMIGOSH. And theeen there are toasted marshmallows on top. YESYESFORREALSIESYES.

In summation-these are insanely gooey and decadent and rich and pretty much what dreams are made of. You need them. I need them. We all need them.

S'mores Lava Cakes

Honestly...these photos were so rushed. When I made and photographed this recipe I was in the midst of calling people and dealing with my car that was at the shop. The repair place gave me a crazy high estimate so I had to call Michael's cousin and then rush and drive my car to Youngstown (which is an hour away) for him to fix it (which didn't work and I ended up having to take it somewhere else and fix something else but...I digress...)and just....these poor s'mores lava cakes did not get the amount of effort that they deserve. Sorry lava cake. I love you.

Forgive me dear friends.

Even taking into account the rushed-ness of this shoot...I mean...just....look at how gorgeous these lava cakes are! They're photogenic, that's for sure! They're just wonderfully chocolatey and full of molten chocolate...and toasted marshmallows....and a buttery graham cracker mixture....mmmm. So rich and heavenly. Ah s'mores desserts. I adore 'em.

I did have to tweak this recipe a bit as it originally said it made three 2-3 oz. ramekins when in actuality I filled up four of my 6 oz. ramekins. Sooo, the recipe below will reflect my personal findings therein. 

Really...end of day...a day with s'mores lava cake is 10,000 x better than a day without.

S'mores Cupcakes

I'm a pretty good big sister.

Baby (and by baby I mean 22 years old) brother has a birthday and what do I do? I ask him repeatedly what he wants me to make him, waiting through his "I don't knows" until he finally helps me decide on: s'mores cupcakes.

Which he ate 5 of within a 2 hour period.

Now, I'm not gonna lie to you: I've been dreaming up my idea of the perfect s'mores cupcake and this is not it. I had neither the ingredients nor equipment (read: KA stand mixer) to pull that off at this point, so I sort of mushed together a few recipes and ideas to come up with these. And, even though they're not perfect, they're pretty danged awesome.

Oh and you wanna know something funny? This is only the 2nd cupcake recipe I've made. Ever. And the last time I made cupcakes (these AMAZING dark chocolate peanut butter cupcakes-which I actually like even better than these) was 2 years ago. I KNOW. What kind of sweet-toothed food blogger am I?? It's because of my relationship with cookies. I just....given the choice...am pretty much gonna pick cookies every time. Sorry cupcakes, you're great every once in awhile, but I just can't quit cookies!

Oh and...the actual cake part of these cupcakes? Vegan. Totally didn't intend that but there ya go. Now...the cupcakes themselves as a whole aren't vegan because of the little graham cracker crust and the marshmallows but I'm sure you can easily make some tweaks or substitutions to vegan-ify the whole thing. Just a fun fact.

Now let's take stock:

• Broke me out of my 2 year long cupcake dry spell? check
• Buttery graham cracker crust on bottom of the cupcake? check
• Dark, moist (and vegan) chocolate cake? check
• Toasty marshmallow goodness up top (which is super quick and easy and means you don't have to dirty dishes by making frosting)?? checkity check check!

They're messy and fun and tasty and make you so happy that it's summer. Just like a regular s'more. :D

Tagalong S'mores

Sometimes you see something so magical, that you CANNOT waste time in trying it yourself!!! This is the case of when I saw Crazy for Crust's brilliant idea to make Thin Mint S'mores. And well...I just so happened to have some Tagalongs hanging out in my freezer...soo...yeah. It had to happen. Tagalong S'mores.

Can we discuss Girl Scout cookies for a second?

I was a Girl Scout (all the way from Daisy, to Brownie, to Junior, to Cadet, to...well...Girl Scout)-it was such a fun time in my life. I was in a troop with my best friends, and all of our moms were joint troop leaders. Many good times were had. Including freezing and sitting outside the local Walmart, trying to sell some cookies. And oh...ohhh the competition of cookie sales. One year I sold the most (largely thanks to us purchasing like...30 some boxes. And many hungry neighbors. I was a great little sales lady) and boy, I felt SO proud. Like...probably way too proud. Anyway, due to this competitive nature, my family always bought a ton of cookies, which we would then store in the freezer and would last us all year long until cookie season came again! We always stocked up on quite a few flavors (lemon and shortbread for mom, and thin mints, tagalongs--or as we used to call them, peanut butter patties, and samoas for everyone else). My FAVORITE has always been Tagalongs. 

Another amazing memory I have with the Girl Scouts (in addition to many other times in my life): cooking food over a fire (namely little pizza things)--ESPECIALLY, my old friend, S'mores!!! So...of course...it makes so much sense to mush together two of my childhood loves. SUCH a simple, and great idea. Chocolate, peanut butter, shortbread, toasty marshmallow.....mmmmmmmmm. You need to try this. With any cookies in your life. Just...go....go do it. And remember pigtails. And making Christmas presents. And camping in your friend's backyard. And earning badges. Remember childhood. :)

....dude....childhood tastes pretty sweet.... :P

Cookie Dough S'mores-3 Ways

Happy day before Thanksgiving! I hope all of your preparations are going smoothly and no stress is going on. I know it's a bit of a pipe dream....but I still hope it's true :P With all the stress and drama that can come with big events like holidays, I think today we should just focus on pure, simple, easy, perfect, yumminess.

In the form of s'mores. Made with eggless cookie dough. In 3 (and potentially more) different ways. YES.

I'm gonna lay a little math on ya:

2 wrongs DO NOT=a right.

2 awesome things DO=EPICLY AMAZING THINGS

S'mores=GOOD.
Cookie Dough=GOOD.
Cookie Dough S'mores=GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.
3 DIFFERENT KINDS of cookie dough s'mores=EPIC!

Yeah, I know, I'm like pretty much Einstein.

If you're Kayle, and you're staring down the idea of adding egg-less cookie dough to a s'more...you can't just leave well enough alone. That evil little part of your brain says "Mmm what if you used dark chocolate? AND OH! Add some sea salt on top!" and then "You do have some of that homemade nutella in the refrigerator too soo...that should probably happen." and then "Darnit. We're out of salted caramel sauce. That probs would've been amazing. Ughhhh. Why is life so unfaaaaair?! #firstworldproblems"

So uh yeah. I took some homemade graham crackers (because duh) and then I made my 3 kinds of s'mores-one with some milk chocolate, one with dark chocolate and sea salt, and one with nutella.

MMMMMMmmmmmmmm.....!

Can you guess which my favorite was?

The salted dark chocolate!!

Are you surprised?? I kind of was-when it comes to s'mores I tend to be a purist and love the classic milk chocolate and, while that was scrumdidlyumptious....holy cow, cookie dough + graham crackers +toasted marshmallow + dark chocolate + sea salt=OH MY GAWWWWD FANTABULOUSITY! Just...such a perfect combo! They were all friggin fantastic though. And now all I want to do is make tons and tons of different kinds of s'mores...

...this doesn't bode well for my desire to lose weight probably...does it?

*shrug* Whatever. Make cookie dough s'mores. Your life will never be the same.

Deep Dish S'more {for my BIRTHDAY!} and a #DivineInNYC Review

Happy birthday to me....

happy birthday to me,

happy birthday to meee-eeeee

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Yay! It's my birthday! I LOVE my birthday!!

You know what else I love? CHOCOLATE.

Chocolate and my birthday go together like...well ya know...like stuff that goes together.

For my 21st birthday, I even gorged myself on chocolate as opposed to the general tradition of getting sick on alcohol instead. Best. birthday. EVER! So, imagine my excitement when the amazing people at Divine Chocolate agreed to send me some of their amazing chocolate to celebrate my special day (and oh yeah, on top of that, they're giving 3 of you wonderful readers a gift set too! So it's like everyone's birthday!! Continue reading past the recipe for the giveaway info.)

Up until now I hadn't had the opportunity to try Divine chocolate, although I have seen it in multiple stores in the city, (such as the one on 1066 Third Avenue, near my favorite Bed Bath and Beyond location--check out their store locator to find where YOU can get some Divine chocolate.), so I was STOKED to be sent such an amazing array of chocolatey goodness! Divine provided me with their baking line as well as their super festive holiday goodies! So far, everything has been just luscious-I cannot wait to try out everything!

AND, on top of delicious chocolate products, Divine also has an incredible story. Grown in Ghana, the cocoa beans used by Divine Chocolate are hand-harvested, slow-fermented and carefully dried by the family farmers of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Cooperative, who co-own the company. While Fair Trade makes sure farmers get a better deal for their cocoa and some extra income to invest in their community, company ownership gives farmers a share of Divine’s profits and a stronger voice in the cocoa industry. HOW COOL is that??! 

For more info. about Divine Chocolate, visit www.divinechocolate.com/us. For news about competitions, deals, and more, sign up for the Divine Newsletter: http://www.divinechocolate.com/us/subscribe-our-newsletter. 

Now, on to what I DID with my chocolate. 

One of mine and Michael's fave spots to get some food in this city is Heartland Brewery and, at their Union Sq. location, they have a dessert they call "Ole Time S'mores" and I was SUPER into it. But, I don't get down there very often these days, and other locations don't seem to have that dessert. So, I thought to myself...why not just recreate it? And I did!

This deep dish s'more is, sort of, single serving. The perfect birthday dish means you don't have to share. First I made a nice thick, buttery, graham cracker crust. Then, the main component, a smooth, rich, thick chocolate ganache I made using half milk and half dark Divine chocolate (giving the perfect balance, methinks), and then a beautiful top of toasted marshmallows. Ahhh...definitely my kind of birthday dessert.

And it's pretty darned easy. Because nobody wants to spend all day slaving away on their birthday...

...then again...most people don't make their own birthday treat do they? I'm weird.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND MY WEIRDNESS! HOORAY FOR S'MORES AND CHOCOLATE AND KAYLE!!!

Brown Butter Gooey S'mores Bars

 Ugh. It's like...officially fall and stuff.

I feel like a toddler throwing a tantrum, "I DON'T WANNA I DON'T WANNA I DOOON'T WAAANNNAAA NOOOOO" but I just...I just want summer to stay a bit longer. So, I'm going to just be in denial (much like a child thinking if they cover their eyes you can't see them) and have s'mores bars and pretend it's still summer. *le sigh* 

Seriously, though, I just love s'mores. Just thinking of them makes me happy. Literally, in the days prior to baking these I was just giddy at the thought. Michael had a sore throat and had read marshmallows helped...so he asked me to go buy marshmallows. And I was STOKED! Buying marshmallows means I'll have to use up whatever is leftover (which in this case meant the whole bag, minus 2), which means I have a valid reason to make some S'MORES DESSERTS! Yessss!

These are so good that, after a tiny bite of 5 day old bar, my cousin Emily said, "It's a good thing you're not my girlfriend because you'd definitely make me fat." (this was in reference to Michael's earlier claim of getting fat-which he's not, for the record) I'll take that praise.

Now, I browned the butter in the super soft, chewy blondie base for these s'mores bars (because if I see melted butter, I'm gonna brown it) BUT you can totally skip that step. Honestly, you could barely detect a difference: there are pretty much more mix ins (graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows) than batter, so they definitely are the prevailing flavors. Regardless, you end up with wonderful soft cookies loaded with DELICIOUS pieces of graham cracker (prob. my fave part, I highly recommend homemade graham crackers), marshmallows that are gooey and have been toasted to a pretty golden brown in the oven, and gorgeous chunks of oozing chocolate. Oh and you just mix em up in one bowl-minimal dishes and no mixer needed, just a whisk and spatula!

S'mores are heaven. And they (almost) can make me forget that it's fall.

S'mores Round Up

S'mores.

Oh sweet, gooey, wonderful toasty melty s'mores.

Today is the last day of May so, as far as I'm concerned, summer is officially about to start! (Plus, um, it's 90 degrees here.) And there are few things that make me think more about summer than s'mores. So, to start this (what I can tell will be crazy amazing) summer off right, I've got a round up of all the s'mores recipes here on the blog-so far :P

(This is not to say that anything will ever top the purity of 2 graham crackers, a slab of chocolate, and 1-or 2-toasted marshmallows, sandwiched together into the perfect treat. But I assume you people are all smart and know how to make those. And sometimes we need to take our fave desserts and fuse them with out other beloved sweets. And that is what you are about to see.)

S'mores Cakes in Jars

We're in the midst of my favorite time of year, particularly in NY. The weather is 60's and 70's. The flowering trees have blossomed. It's warm and sunny and happy. *sigh* Beautiful. But, spring is fleeting. Over before it even really begins. And then we have summer.

But that's totally OK, because I love summer too.

Summer is shorts, flip flops, tank tops, and pure, embracing, sunny heat. It's long days and warm nights. It's green grass and yellow sun and blue skies. Growing up it meant spending all my time swimming at my grandma's pool, playing with my cousins. It meant running around with my friends as the sun went down, catching fireflies and watching flickering flames of the bonfires our dads would have. It meant family and friends and fun and lazy days.

It also meant s'mores.

I've gotten all gooey (figuratively and literally) about s'mores with you guys before. 

Suffice it to say: I love em.

So, in preparation for all the summer fun to come, I've got a fun (and portable) s'mores treat for ya. These are ideal for picnics, barbecues, parties, and such. Or, if you're me, just sitting in your apartment with a spoon. S'mores cakes in jars! Yes yes yes. Fabulously buttery graham cracker crust layered under moist chocolate cake, then topped with sweet, toasty marshmallows. Then ya dig in with a spoon and get messy. They're pretty darn easy to throw together-and they're really yummy leftover too (seriously, pop em in the microwave for 1 minute and you're good, or you could even just eat em room temp. Your call.)

These are about to be one of your new favorite things.

And...you may end up with some extra batter.

I made a cute little loaf cake with crumbled graham crackers on top.

You could make cupcakes.

Or just eat it.

You know me, I don't judge.

S'mores Hot Cocoa

OMG GUYS!

Do you know what I'm doing right now as I write this??

WATCHING MYSELF ON TV!

(The Investigation Discovery show "My Dirty Little Secret", "Green Widow" episode. I play Nicole Samuels :D)

Like...on my TV. On a TV show. This is craziness. 

You know what else is craziness (in the totally awesome way that seeing myself on TV is craziness)?

S'MORES HOT COCOA.

S'MORES.

HOT.

COCOA!

ARE YOU FRIGGIN KIDDING ME??!

(I apologize for all the caps, I'm a smidge excitable)

When I first saw this recipe on the Chocolate Moosey I was like, "Um, well, that's the best thing I've ever heard of." Then when I finally bought myself some cookie butter from Trader Joe's I was like "Ahhhh I'm gonna make myself some s'mores hot cocoa! Whatwhaaaat!" (imagine some dancing and hands raising the roof). And I didn't even have to share. Michael doesn't like this. So I waited until I came home one day and it was cold outside, and I was like "It is time. I will have myself some s'mores hot cocoa now. Yes."

Let me 'splain to you how insane this hot cocoa is.

It's like a surprise. You make the hot chocolate itself and you're like "Ugh this is like a super plain, not even that chocolatey hot chocolate, I am not sure about this." 

Then it's fun, because you get to toast marshmallows, and you're like "If nothing else, these are delicious."

Then something magical happens-you whisk some of the toasted marshmallows into the hot cocoa (with some cookie butter) and it transforms into a thick, luscious concoction.

You throw it in a mug (if you're super cool like me, it'll have Disney Princesses on it), plop a marshmallow, some chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs on top and you have yourself the perfect cup of hot cocoa for any s'mores lover.

And in case you haven't heard, I am a huge s'mores loverrr.

(that sounded kinda dirty?)

(I'm cool with it.)

Seriously-obviously you taste the chocolate. But the toasted marshmallow flavor is also totally present, and the cookie butter does a phenomenal job of giving you that graham cracker taste. I'm completely obsessed.

S'mores Pie

I'm going to wax poetic about pie for a second.

I love pie. I, generally, prefer it over cake. When I speak about my love of pie...I'm not really talking about fruit pies, those are more Michael's thing. I love a good dessert pie. Peanut butter pie. Chocolate pies. Oreo pie. The good stuff. Rich and dense and always with some delicious crust! Ohhhh the crust. Buttery, rich, sweet, delicious crusts. Dear dessert pies...I love you.

Now I'm gonna say an ode to s'mores.

Oh s'mores. Toasted marshmallow-so ooey and gooey and sweet yet smoky + crisp, buttery graham goodness + rich, melt-y chocolate=a perfect trifecta of flavor. I love you in your original, campfire form. I love you as brownies. I love you as creme brulee. I love you used in any manner of cookies. I love you in cupcake form. And I love you...as pie.

S'mores pie. This is real life. Super buttery, so good you wanna holla (oh yeah I went there), graham cracker crust meets rich, thick, chocolate ganache-y filling and is topped with the sweet perfection of toasted marshmallows. This pie is good chilled, warm, or even hot (although I'm not gonna lie...it's a mess whilst hot)--in this context chilled or slightly warm are the best, but there's really no going wrong here. I mean...we're talking about s'mores pie. Oh yeah.

S'mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love s'mores.

A LOT.

Always have.

You see, me and s'mores go way back.

I may seem like I'm not much of a country girl but that's just because...well...

I'm not.

But I was raised as one. Went camping all the time. Learned how to bait my own hook (fishing) when I was 6. Had frequent bonfires in my backyard. One of the only fond camping/bonfire memories I have is of s'mores. Oooh I waited for the s'mores all day long, like they were my reward for dealing with all the dirt and bugs and allergy attacks. It was all worth it to have a delicious sandwich of golden toasted marshmallows, rich, gooey chocolate, and crisp, wonderful graham crackers. Like nirvana. The one downside to s'mores is how messy they are. In a perfect world, I like to have 2 marshmallows for 1 s'more. This, however, results in globs of marshmallow ending up on my face, shirt, hands, hair, etc. Immediately following my s'mores binges, I was always rushed towards the nearest sink to rinse off all the residue. 

Totally worth it.

S'mores Crème Brûlée

Tomorrow is National Crème Brûlée Day!

If you've never had regular creme brulee before I can sum up what it tastes like: vanilla pudding with a yummy, crunchy, caramelized top. Pretty great but nothing super life changing. I've never personally made it, however. What I have made are S'MORES CREME BRULEE! WHAAA?

Yeah. You heard me. 

S'mores. 

Creme. 

Brulee.

Soooo good!

I'm like super in love with all things s'mores. Like really. It upsets me I don't get them more. They are one of my most favoritest things. So when I found this recipe, I made it very soon after. Now, if you know me--you know I prefer desserts warm, in general. And that goes double if toasted marshmallows are involved. So, in spite of what the instructions told me, I had made up my mind to eat one of these while still warm. It was...pretty good. Very runny in texture, though, and nothing spectacular. So I decided to let them chill before I attempted another taste. MUCH BETTER! That'll teach me to ignore instructions. The chilling process really does wonders for the texture, and the flavor, of the custard base (which, when cold, is chocolatey and rich and velvety and absolute perfection). Then you have that amazing crunch of graham crumbs and the warm, gooey flavor of toasted marshmallows. I loved these. I ate them up so quick! 

I WANTED S'MORE! (teeheehee...I'm hilarious...yup)