Strawberry s'mores bars
No bake summertime deliciousness
It’s too hot to bake (although I did just make my first stone fruit crisp of the season — worth it), but it is the perfect weather for a cold sweet treat. Sometimes that’s ice cream! Other times, I want something a little different. You, too? Then may I introduce you to my no-bake and practically no-cook strawberry s’mores bars? They take about 10 minutes to throw together, a few hours to set in the fridge, and they are damn delicious.
Tell me more
Summer and s’mores are the classic combo. But as much as I love the flavors, I don’t love a burnt marshmallow. And that combined with the unmelted hunk of Hershey’s chocolate… just not my idea of a good time. These s’mores bars, though, give you all of the taste without any of that. We’re melting dark chocolate with butter to give it a softer texture and adding regular ol’ marshmallows and graham crackers (some things you don’t mess with). And the special ingredient: freeze-dried strawberries. These add a wonderful tartness that I think perfectly pairs with the sweetness of the rest of the ingredients. They’re decadently sweet and dense.
Bring them to a Fourth of July cookout (as long as you can keep ‘em cold), or keep every last one for yourself. Both are totally acceptable options.
Before we start
I used 60% dark chocolate chips, but you can go darker if you wish. You’ll likely have to buy bar chocolate to do this, but we’re melting it down anyway so the form doesn’t matter.
I also tested this recipe with Lily’s Sweets dark chocolate baking chips out of curiosity, and they turned out just as good though definitely less sweet. So if you’re looking to go a tad healthier, you can use those instead. (For those of you who don’t know, Lily’s Sweets is a brand of chocolate sweetened with stevia and erythritol.)
Trader Joe’s has the most reasonable freeze-dried strawberries, in my opinion. This recipe uses one bag from TJ’s.
I think these are great for a potluck, but just make sure you can keep them relatively cold until serving. They soften quickly in the summer heat.
The recipe
Note: recipe videos are posted on my Instagram.
Serves: 16 or more
Cook time: 10 minutes plus 2-3 hours+ cooling
Ingredients:
2 sticks salted butter
4 cups (20 oz) dark chocolate chips
1 3/4 cups freeze-dried strawberries (from one 1.2 oz package)
1 10-oz package mini marshmallows
1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed
Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a medium sauce pan, then place a large heatproof bowl on top. Put your butter and chocolate into the bowl and stir until melted. Remove from the bowl and let cool for 15 minutes. Mix in the freeze-dried strawberries, marshmallows, and graham crackers. Pour into a parchment-lined 9x9 baking dish and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight. Slice into 16 squares and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Notes
Marshmallows: If you only have large marshmallows on hand, go ahead and quarter them before throwing them into the mix. I did test this recipe with large whole marshmallows and didn’t love the texture.
Feeling salty: I love to sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top before refrigerating, though it’s not necessary when using salted butter. If you only have unsalted butter, make sure to add a pinch of salt to the butter and chocolate mixture when melting!
Leftovers: These keep in the fridge for about a week and in the freezer for much longer. I actually love them frozen — the butter in the chocolate keeps it soft enough that you can still take a bite right out of the freezer. I recommend refrigerating initially, slicing, then freezing.
Comments? Questions?
I’m all ears. Leave a comment below or email me at hellosaturdaytable@gmail.com. There’s nothing I love more than chatting with you all!
