Plus, I have a thing for s’mores and five ingredient recipes.
I was having a craving for something with an Oreo crust, and although I could have made a pie, these bars seemed more fun. They’re what I envision S’mores Bars that took a bath in caramel and that are made with an Oreo-crust rather then a graham cracker crust would taste like. Only five ingredients are used and they’re ready in thirty minutes. My kind of recipe. I combined 32 ground chocolate sandwich cookies with melted butter. I used 32 because that’s what remained in the package after certain family members discovered my baking stash in the cupboard. I’m sure using 28 or 37 cookies would be just fine if that’s what you have. I used generic storebrand chocolate sandwich cookies rather than real Oreos because Oreos are ten dollars per package here in Aruba, and the storebrand was two bucks. I’ll roll over in my grave before I pay ten bucks for Oreos that I’m going to pulverize anyway.
Line a baking pan with aluminum foil, and it’s an absolute must to line the pan unless you have lots of elbow grease to spare. Then press the buttery crumbs down firmly with the back of a spatula. A little trick is to use the bottom of a flat-bottomed drinking glass for packing them, facilitating a tight pack-job that’s utterly smooth. It’s a pet peeve of mine when cookie-crumb-crust desserts don’t hold together, disintegrating and leaving a black crumbly mess all over the floor. This crust holds together very well, thanks to a generous butter-to-crumbs ratio, and some tight packing. Bake the crust for about ten minutes, or just until set. It’s hard to determine if it’s set or not because the black buttery cookie crumbs look like wet tar, and it’s hard to tell set from not. But ten to twelve minutes should do the trick. Plus, the pan is going back into the oven anyway.
Sprinkle marshmallows over the crust, and then sprinkle quartered caramels over the marshmallows. Make sure to do it in that order; marshmallows first, then caramels because the marshmallows will catch the melting caramels in the crevices and valleys that form as they puff while baking. The biggest PITA of this recipe is unwrapping fifteen caramels and quartering them. You could likely use Kraft Caramel Bits instead of caramels, but they don’t sell those here. I would hesitate to use caramel sauce, as it may just turn into semi-scorched caramel soup.
Return the pan to the oven for about five to eight minutes, rotating it midway through if your oven bakes unevenly like mine does. Remove the pan from the oven when the caramels have melted and marshmallows are just barely starting to brown. Immediately upon removing the pan from the oven, sprinkle chocolate chips over the top, lightly pressing them down. The carryover heat from the pan will melt the chocolate chips, ever-so-slightly. White chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips would also be great options.
Allow the bars to cool for at least two hours before slicing through the white and black layers. This can be expedited by placing the pan in the refrigerator. I placed mine in the refrigerator overnight because things melt in Aruba at room temperature and there would have been no chance of these gooey squares setting up otherwise. I really enjoy contrasting flavors and textures and these bars are full of both. The chocolaty, buttery, crisp, cookie-crumb-crust contrasted with soft, fluffy, airy, white marshmallows made each bite a dichotomy. The sprinkled chocolate chips add a pop of texture, and of boost the chocolate intensity.
The puddles of sweet, melted caramel that pool in between the puffed marshmallows reminded me that I need to bake with my favorite ingredients more often. Sticky, sweet, chewy, and gooey. Just the way I like it.
Related Recipes
Marshmallow Peanut Butter Double Chocolate Pillowtop Bars (GF with Vegan options) – These are one of my Top Five bar recipes I have on my site. Creamy, smooth, and rich from the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk, contrasted with plenty of texture from oats, and both semi-sweet and white chocolate is used. An easy recipe that’s one of my absolute favorites Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Peanut Butter Cocoa Krispies Smores Bars – Three layers and almost no baking is necessary for these. Bring the campsite to your kitchen, no stinky campfire hair required for these s’mores with peanut butter infused
Caramel and Chocolate Gooey Bars (GF with Vegan adaptation) – Caramels, more carmaels, and plenty of chocolate and oats are combined in these gooey, sticky, sweet, and texture-rich bars
Oreo Cookie-Stuffed Brownies with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting – Oreos inside brownies are never a bad thing
Triple Layer Fudgy Mint Oreo Brownies – Three layers including a rich and ultra-fudgy brownie base, topped with a minty layer, topped with mint Oreos. Perfect for holiday parties
Do you have a favorite marshmallow, caramel, s’mores or Oreo recipe?
