What’s better than a s’more by the campfire? Milk Chocolate Chip S’more Cookies you can have anytime! Topped with a fluffy toasted marshmallow and combining the best parts of a soft chocolate chip cookie with iconic graham cracker flavors, this sweet treat is sure to be a new family favorite.
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Milk Chocolate Chip S’more Cookies
No dessert better epitomizes summer than a classic s’more. There is nothing quite like a huge, slightly charred (or browned, depending on your tastes) gooey marshmallow sandwiched between crunchy, honey-touched graham crackers and melty milk chocolate. Everyone is out to replicate those flavors – in cakes, coffee drinks, and anything else you can think of. This time of year, the graham+marshmallow+chocolate combo is everywhere, and for a good reason: It’s mystifyingly delicious.
Most s’more cookies out there use crumbled or whole graham crackers in the dough. Intrigued by the idea of trying to replicate the flavors of a graham cracker in the cookie dough itself – without using store-bought graham crackers – I set to work. My goal? To create a true chocolate chip cookie + graham cracker hybrid using basic ingredients you could get at the grocery store.
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Trial and Error
What makes up a graham cracker?
The first thing I had to determine was the flavor profile of a graham cracker. As I chatted with people, it seems that most focus on the texture rather than the taste, and it took some work to narrow down the right iconic flavors. After quite a few hours of studying recipes (while munching on graham crackers “for research”), I determined that a recipe for true S’more Cookies would need to include dark brown sugar and honey for sweeteners, touches of cinnamon and vanilla, and some amount of wheat flour for nuttiness, as well as that recognizable toothiness in the texture of each bite.
Graham Flour vs. Wheat Flour
Graham flour, named after a 19th century preacher by the name of Sylvester Graham, is a type of coarse whole wheat flour that still has the wheat germ and bran left in the mix. While you can find graham flour in specialty stores and online, it’s not commonly used in anything else. Many recipes for homemade graham crackers forgo the ingredient entirely, using regular whole wheat flour instead. After some debate, I set about trying to replicate a graham cracker flavor using only whole wheat flour (King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat Flour, to be exact), which is easily found in even the smaller grocery stores in my area. After all, I wanted this to be a relatively easy recipe, and sourcing pricey graham flour that might otherwise sit around without another use seemed counter-intuitive to my goals.
A quick side note: Graham was part of the temperance movement, and believed in strict dietary reforms – It’s unlikely he would have approved of the popular sugar-filled sweet cracker that’s made his name famous!
Sweet Results
Now came the hard work – testing. While a delicious way to spend my time, finding the right proportions for baked goods isn’t easy. Too much or too little of any one ingredient can throw off the whole batch, setting you back to square one.
To keep on track, I used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe as a starting point, adapting it to reflect what I’d learned from my graham cracker research. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been carrying S’more Cookies alongside regular graham crackers for comparison and drilling friends and family for input. In other circumstances, people may have gotten frustrated with my insistent needling as I tried to pin down what I could do better. As it was, I think they were all just elated to get free cookies.
Ultimately, I nixed white sugar for only brown sugar and a very light honey (dark honey makes the cookie too rich). I added a touch of cinnamon and an even smaller touch of nutmeg, and opted for milk chocolate morsels (more akin to what one finds in a traditional s’more) rather than the dark or semi-sweet I usually prefer. Finally, I used a balance of all-purpose and whole wheat flour for taste and texture.
I think this final recipe comes close (if not meets) my goal of a delicious chocolate chip cookie/graham cracker hybrid. At some point, I’ll run a comparison test using true graham flour, but for now, I’m not disappointed with these S’more Cookies. I know you won’t be either.
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Toasting the Marshmallows
Mixing and baking these Milk Chocolate Chip S’more Cookies is easy, and follows the standard procedure you are probably used to. The only exception is the last (and best) part – adding the toasted marshmallows!
You can use whatever kind of marshmallows you want to top the cookies. I used large square-shaped Jet-Puffed Stacker Marshmallows sliced in half on some cookies, and cut those into smaller squares for others, as you can see in the photos. You can just as easily cut down regular-sized round marshmallows to about a quarter inch thickness, or use a few tiny marshmallows to get the same effect.
I personally like the big slab of marshmallow on top, but that’s just me.
To get the necessary toasted flavor, use either a handy kitchen or crème brulee torch, or toast the cookies for a minute or two under the broiler for a similar effect. In both cases, use foil, not parchment paper (which can catch fire) to line your baking sheets, and remember that the sugar in the marshmallows burns easily. Too long under any heat source and you might wind up with too much char, or worse yet, a little flame (not that I know from experience or anything…).
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Cookie and s’more lovers alike will love this recipe for Milk Chocolate Chip S’more Cookies! I’m obsessed with the gooey marshmallow, smooth chocolate, and graham cracker-like flavor of the soft and chewy cookie dough. Make these in a few minutes, and enjoy this summer treat any time of the year.
Milk Chocolate Chip S’more Cookies with Toasted Marshmallows
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter, unsalted
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup light honey, clover or wildflower is best
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup + 1 Tbsp whole wheat flour
- ¾ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 2 bars of thin milk chocolate squares, like Ghirardelli or Hersey’s brand (Optional)
- 1 bag marshmallows (either large, cut ¼ - ½ inch thick or mini marshmallows, your choice)
Tools (Optional):
- Brulee or Kitchen Torch
Instructions
- Heat oven to 360°F. Prepare two baking sheets with a layer of foil (do not use parchment paper as it may burn when toasting the marshmallows).
- Cream the butter, sugar, and honey in the bowl of stand mixer until combined, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, then the egg, mixing for a minute between each addition.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (baking soda, salt, flours, and spices). Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients one-third at a time, mixing between each addition until a dough forms. Remove from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips.
- The dough may be quite wet – if so, chill in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. When ready to bake, roll the dough into balls around one to two tablespoons large. Space them out on the baking sheets, leaving plenty of room around each. If desired, press a milk chocolate square flat into the top of each ball of dough.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, then remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies rest for at least 5 minutes. Top each cookie with a halved large marshmallow (or a few mini marshmallows) and brulee gently with an oven torch. Be mindful, as the sugars of the marshmallows can light on fire quickly!
- Alternatively, you can toast the marshmallows under your broiler. Top the cookies with the marshmallows as above, and place the baking sheet under the broiler for one to two minutes. Watch carefully as they can burn quickly! I recommend doing a few at a time, as oven temperatures can vary you and you don't want to burn the whole batch at once.
- Serve warm, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for three to five days.
