I love Cherry Coke, but I don’t like actual cherries. I also can’t stand cherry-flavored candy. Give me a cherry Starburst, and I will gag. True story. Knowing this, it should come as no surprise that even though I don’t necessarily love sticky, messy, outdoors-required s’mores, I DO love anything s’mores-flavored!

Clearly, I’m not alone, because s’mores-themed recipes abound online. Yes, abound. And that’s lucky for us, because I am planning on trying several recipes out over the next few months. First up? S’mores bars.

I actually found three different recipes, but thanks to procrastination time and a less-than-thorough trip to the grocery store, I only made two. One is a cereal-type bar, and the other is a cookie-type bar. And both were delicious!

Golden Grahams S’mores Bars

I’d actually made this before, quite a while ago. I think that back then, I got the recipe off the back of the cereal box. This time, I got it from The Sweets Life.

Ingredients
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3 tbsp butter
2 cups chocolate chips
5 cups mini marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla
16 oz. box Golden Grahams cereal

Melt the butter and add corn syrup and chocolate chips. Once the mixture is completely melted and mixed up (yes, I’m using technical terms again), remove from heat and pour over cereal. Mix until cereal is covered, then add in marshmallows. (I made the mistake of not reading the directions and melting half the marshmallows and then adding more later. It wasn’t the end of the world, but for the record, the original recipe calls for just three cups of marshmallows.) Press cereal mixture into a greased 9×13 pan and let it sit for a while.

Cookie Dough S’mores Bars

This second recipe came from The Hungry Mouse, and I think I found it through a recipe carnival. She had me at hello – or, to be precise, “Psssst, hey, you! You need to make these. Like, now . . . Stop what you’re doing, put on your fat pants, and get yourself into the kitchen.”

How could I NOT make these bars?

Ingredients
16 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups flour
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 large (4.4 oz.) chocolate bars
3 cups marshmallow fluff (about 16 oz.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter, sugars and eggs. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix flour, cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Mix the two together. Once you get the dough mixed, divide in two pieces. Roll out the first piece and press into a greased 9×13 pan. Place the chocolate bars on top of the dough, then spread on the marshmallow fluff.

Next comes the hard, pain-in-neck step. Roll out the second half of dough and slowly, carefully place it on top of the fluff. The dough is going to be a bit crumbly, so it will likely fall apart. You’ll have to smush your pieces of dough together to make one top piece. (You should check out The Hungry Mouse’s step-by-step process for this. And if you come up with a better method than my use-two-big-spatulas and hold-my-breath trick, please, tell me!) Bake for 30 minutes.

———————

Now for the showdown part. I invited my friends Josh and Brittany over last week to be my taste testers. And, completely unsurprisingly, Josh created a five-point, six-category evaluation system for us. In categories ranging from General Taste and S’mores Authenticity to Portability and Durability, we assigned numbers to the deliciousness that was our dessert.

Our conclusion? They were both, in their own ways, great! Mark and Brittany liked the cereal bar better, while Josh and I liked the cookie bar best. We all agreed that they were both crazy rich and eating both was too much for one meal! The cereal bar was more portable and durable (which sounds a little gross, but would be awfully handy in a potluck situation), but the cookie bar tasted more like an actual s’more.

While we may not have had a clear winner, I’m happy to say that I can recommend either recipe wholeheartedly. Just eat a light dinner beforehand!

Image by ninahale. This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green, Sweet Tooth Friday, Foodie Friday, Friday Firsts and Food on Fridays.