S’mores chewy bars

I love a traybake and I love anything s’mores and this combines the best of both! As tempting as it may be to tuck in while this is still a warm pudding, these bars really are best enjoyed after they’ve been given time to cool and set properly. Only then can you really appreciate the gooey chewiness!

Ingredients

• 3½ ounces / 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 4½ ounces / 130g soft dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 5¼ ounces / 150g plain flour
• ½ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• 3¼ ounces / 90g hobnob biscuits, finely crushed
• 2½ ounces / 70g Fluff marshmallow
• 1¾ ounces / 50g milk chocolate chips
• 1¾ ounces / 50g dark chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F (160°C / 320°F fan).

Line an 8×8 inch / 20x20cm baking tray with baking parchment.

In a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

In a jug, combine the egg and vanilla and slowly add to the butter/sugar on a medium speed.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the wet mixture and combine.

Add the biscuits and mix well (I find this easier by hand with a latex glove) until it comes together to form a dough.

Put a layer of two thirds of the dough in the bottom of your baking tray and press down tightly.

Spread a layer of Fluff marshmallow over this and then sprinkle the chocolate evenly on top.

Spread over the remaining 1/3rd of dough mixture and press down.

Cook for 20 minutes and allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

Trivia

S’more is a contraction of the words “some more”. The origin of this use in connection with a particular type of food is unclear but it is known to have been in use by scouts in the USA out camping by around 1925. A recipe named Graham Cracker Sandwich appeared in a 1920s publication by the Campfire Marshmallows company which is more or less a s’more, but the text makes it clear the snack was already popular with scouts. The first definite reference to a recipe called Some More appeared in the 1927 edition of Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. And in 1938 the contracted form S’more appeared in a publication aimed at summer camps. In the 1993 movie, The Sandlot, Hamilton ‘Ham’ Porter explains to Scotty ‘Smalls’ Smalls how to make a s’more out of “grahams, mallows, and chocolates”.