I’ve spent a lot of time this summer trying to do things better. Right now most of that energy goes into learning how to make beautiful flowers out of paper (more on that soon!), but sometimes those energies are directed towards chocolate.
These are brownies I’ve made before. Years ago, and it’s been too long since they’ve been revisited. This time around I’m making the brownies thicker, more gooey, adding more chocolate and slicing generously. This is me trying to make things better, with more chocolate. That’s usually the answer, right?
I hope you’ll consider these for your weekend. Get that marshmallow off a stick and onto a brownie, ya know?
There’s debate in the brownie world. First of all… there’s a brownie world. Amen to that.
The debate in brownie world is this: unsweetened chocolate bar OR unsweetened cocoa powder. I always choose chocolate bar for it’s fat and richness. It makes for a much for fudge-y brownie than the cocoa powder. I also have a soft spot in my heart because the first thing I ever baked was the brownie recipe on the back of the Baker’s Chocolate box. This, of course, was after trying to eat the chocolate as it was not realizing that unsweetened chocolate, pre-brownie, is one of god’s cruel jokes.
In a double boiler – that’s a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water – I melted an ample amount of butter with an almost equally ample amount of unsweetened chocolate. Stir until glossy and completely melted.
Right over here, in another bowl, I whisked together brown sugar, not brown sugar, and plenty of large eggs (5 to be exact).
Brownies don’t have a lot of flour in them. What we lack in gluten structure is supported by the large amount of eggs, creating structure and moisture, and a damn fudgey brownie thankyouverymuch!
The melted chocolate is mixed with the whipped up eggs and sugar. The batter will be loose and glossy, just like my heart.
In with a modest amount of flour, a kick of baking powder, and what might seem like too much salt but is in fact not too much salt.
Here’s where we get s’mores-y. Graham crackers , crumbled, go straight into the batter.
Chocolate chips too. A good handful to melt into the batter as it bakes. This will have you feeling very full of good ideas.
Into the pan, graham and all, and topped with large marshmallows before baking. They’ll brown and puff, melt and spread just slightly and it will feel like all is right in the world for a few fine moments.
The brownies need some time to cool and settle before they’re sliced. I even like to put them in the refrigerator to set before slicing. The brownies are stellar at room temperature. They’re also very good when individually wrapped and frozen. A thick chocolate frozen brownie is absolutely fantastic and the marshmallow, when frozen, turns to a taffy consistency. It’s dreams any way you slice it.
You’ll make these, wontcha!?
Thick S’mores Brownies
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 9 1x
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks, 16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 5 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup coarsely crushed graham crackers
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 12 large marshmallows
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×9-inch baking pan with 2.5-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper so it hangs over the edges on two sides and lightly grease the paper. The parchment will make the brownies easy to remove from the pan. Set aside. (This recipe can also be made in a 9×13-inch pan for a thinner brownie, cooking for 30 to 35 minutes.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Create a double boiler and melt butter and unsweetened chocolate over simmering water. Stir chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.
- In a medium bowl beat together eggs, sugars and vanilla. Stir in warm chocolate mixture, then the dry ingredients. Fold in graham crackers and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan. Dot with 12 large marshmallows. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 45-50 minutes.
- Marshmallows will be browned and puffy but will deflate as the brownies cool. Cool for at least 20 minutes than slice with a sharp knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy and sticky. Serve or wrap individually in wax paper for storing.
Photos by Jon Melendez!
Gabby
how can you make this recipe healthier?
Cakes that kids love
Great recipe i make brownies a lot and mine never look this good instead of the marshmallow top i put malteasers in the batter and when it cooks the go all caramel crunchie yum!
Claire
I made these today and they were definitely too wet at the recommended bake time. I ended up baking them for 60 minutes, and the outside edges were drying out but the inside was liquid…I had to throw away the four middle “brownies” because they just ran all over the countertop. The five eggs also really gave the brownies some height, like a soufflé, which then deflated dramatically and left a divot in the middle where the raw part was. The ones that are cooked look good, if a little dry, so hopefully they will still taste okay.
Meghan
Sadly, these turned out poorly — not gooey at all, very cake-y. I think too much baking powder, and also it’s difficult to resist the urge to leave them in the oven longer when they still look “jiggly,” even though I think they actually were fully cooked by about 45 min. They went quickly from gooey to cake-y and dry. Darn. Wanted to love these. May try again with less baking powder, and will be certain to take them out of the oven at 45 min rather than giving them an extra 10-15 min.
Tracey D.
These look and smell so good but turned out pretty badly. I followed the instructions exactly except I put the marshmallows on after 40 minutes of baking to avoid them burning like some other comments mentioned. After 60 minutes in the oven the marshmallows looked perfect but the brownie part was raw batter in the middle. Covered it all loosely in aluminum foil and baked for another 20 minutes. Still raw batter in the middle but at least there were a couple of crumbs on the toothpick. The marshmallows were getting too brown though. Took it out and let it cool for 40 minutes in the pan, thinking it might firm up a bit more. It did. Cut the brownies up and the consistency was as described in the recipe, but to me they taste raw and waaaaaay too sweet. Like, tooth-achingly sweet. This recipe needs a lot more testing, not sure why it was published like this.
Pooja
We are moving on Monday – and it’s been quite an adventure. I think that you just gave me the first thing that I am going to bake in my new oven! My girls love love love smores anything and they are going to be so surprised and happy Thank you for a smores brownie recipe that looks doable. xo
Toyin
I tried these also and they were gooey in the middle and overcooked on the edges. I think it is cooked even when the toothpick is a tad but moist . Either that or baking temp shd be decreased and time lengthened
Samantha
Made these in a 9 by 13 pan, good thing too, they nearly overflowed that! Added more marshmallows to cover the top (about 20 total) smells amazing! I took out with center still a bit jiggly after about 36 minutes, an extra gooey middle won’t bother me.
Marisa
Unfortunately, these didn’t work very well for me either. Per some of the other comments’ suggestions, I waited to put the marshmallows on, but even then, they were overcooked by the time the brownies were done. My solution ended up being to pull off those marshmallows and instead individually toast each marshmallow when serving a piece. Even with this fix, I have to say the flavors were not as incredible as I had hoped and the brownies were a little dry. For what it’s worth, the brownie batter tasted heavenly!
Lourdes
I made these this weekend and they came out SUPER DRY. I almost cried bc I made them for a group of friends. I followed the directions. Any idea why? I even baked them 5 mins less.
joythebaker
What size pan did you use?
Carol Rogers
These look so delicious!! Sticky, chocolatey, everything a brownie should be. Can’t wait to try the recipe out :-)
Tanya
Help my my brownies are raising so much. I checked the recipe. I don’t know what is happening. What could be the problem?
Liz | Flour de Liz
Oh. my. I cannot wait to eat this. And I’ve never thought about trying a frozen brownie, but that actually sounds quite delicious!
Nicole
those look AMAZING
Christina Hartnett
Whelp, there goes my diet. I “was” going to behave myself this week but it looks like I’ll end up face planting in these delicious looking thick smores brownies instead. :)
Mary W.
Made a replica of this yesterday, and it was worth it. May I say that it’s a TALL, chocolate-dense, marshmallow-pillowy, heavenly treat.
Tracy
I’ve made your smores brownies more than once and they are BOMB! I definitely need to make them again :-)
Beth
Wow! I usually have at least some will power but I had to make these the moment I saw them. I had just been thinking about how there had not been enough s’mores in my summer despite having everything on hand–but that meant I had just about everything I needed for these! I used a bag of 60% cacao chips–6 oz melted with the butter and the rest stirred in–because that’s what I had. I cut the brown sugar down to a loose cup and the white to about 3/4 and they were still plenty sweet. Also, like another commenter, mine took 10-15 minutes longer to set in the middle. I used a 9x9x2.5 inch metal pan lined with parchment and definitely wouldn’t recommend anything smaller. The batter nearly filled the pan and then the brownies baked up the tallest I’ve ever seen! They settled a bit as they cooled but mine are still well over 1.5 inches tall. A pan with high sides is a must–although I admit I do now wonder if this could work in a larger pan like 9×13… In any case SO DELICIOUS! Thanks, Joy!
Melissa
You forever.
Francia
OH my, this looks so good! Just looking at them…..I died and went to s’mores heaven.
Marie
I just made these for a neighborhood bbq this evening. I baked them for about an hour and my toothpick is still coming out pretty gooey, but I had to pull them because the marshmallows were starting to burn. Might be because my only 9×9 is glass pyrex? If anyone else is using that kind of pan maybe plan for extra baking time and put your marshmallows on a few minutes into the bake time. The house smells heavenly and I’m sure they will taste awesome even if the middle is a little gooey. We’ll call it “molten” :)
yasmara
I had the same problem but I kept cooking & then the brownie layer turned out super dry. A fail for me, unfortunately.
Gabrielle
I don’t even like s’mores but these look and sound amazinggg. I definitely have to make them.
Antonia
I love you.
Cyndi
Wow!! I love that the crumbled graham crackers go straight into the batter! These are a must try. Love you, Joy, but…why do you want to make flowers out of paper? Well I know you said there would be more on that later so I will just have to wait in anticipation…
Paige Flamm
These look incredible! I’m dying.
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Rossi @ A Baking Girl
“unsweetened chocolate, pre-brownie, is one of god’s cruel jokes” and “loose and glossy, just like my heart”… two incredible quotes in one post. these are everything.
Taste of France
I am in camp cocoa powder because I replace part of the flour in my recipe with cocoa for darker chocolate.
I make a version of this, using miniature marshmallows or cut-up big ones, PLUS walnuts and minus graham crackers, which technically makes them Rocky Road Brownies (like rocky road ice cream) rather than S’Mores Brownies. Insanity, right?
Chrissy
Biting into an unsweetened chocolate bar is one of God’s cruel jokes. As is the actual taste of vanilla extract.
Michelle
YES. I need to use up some marshmallows and these look divine.
Aimee
gorgeous photos!!
Kelsey
‘Just like my heart’. Stay glossy, Joy!
Gigi Burton
Do you think marshmallow fluff would work in place of the marshmallows? Oddly enough, marshmallows are not vegetarian friendly (contain gelatin) but marshmallow fluff is!
Alex
If you have a Trader Joe’s around you, their marshmallows are vegetarian friendly! I found that out the hard way when trying to make rice krispie treats (they melted at a much higher temperature)
Ellen Barth
Trader Joes sells Vegan marshmallows that are incredibly good, but seasonal!
Kim
BRILLIANT! These are happening this weekend-
Thankyouverymuch
Alexis deZayas
Sign me up for anything smores related! So yummy!
Blair
Oh my god. These look heavenly.