S'mores bars

After a long day and an equally long week of late nights, I was looking for the quick & easy dessert fix. Perhaps too quick & easy....I decided to give the baked s'mores dessert concept another try after my somewhat disappointing s'mores brownies experience. This one was theoretically a crunchy graham cracker crust base, topped with melted chocolate and marshmallows and sprinkled with some excess graham cracker base. Utterly disappointing (very likely due to my substitutions) and not really worth writing about except as proof that I have been in the kitchen!

S'mores bars
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 Tbs white sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I crushed graham crackers)
1 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used chopped unsweetened with a bit of butter and not enough sugar. I do NOT recommend this substitution)
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows(or large marshmallows chopped bite-size)

Line an 8x8" pan with foil. Press 2/3 of the graham cracker crumb mixture into the pan and bake for 10 min at 350 degrees F. Top with chocolate and marshmallows and remaining graham cracker crumbs. Press to flatten with a spatula. Bake 10 more minutes. LET COOL. Pull foil/s'mores bars out of pan and slice into squares.
*Note if you are using bars of chocolate chopped, I pre-melted mine in the microwave. In retrospect as long as you chop up to a reasonable consistent size (e.g. chocolate chip size), it should work fine to just sprinkle on the chocolate as is.

Commentary: Even if you line the pan with foil, the marshmallows still stick to the foil. It was however easy to lift the bars out of the pan and not having to wash the pan was even better! The crust was a fiasco. Super crumbly even though there seemed to be plenty of butter. I used salted butter in the crust and while it's possible I didn't put the full 2 Tbs of sugar in with the crust, it also seemed very salty. Then again it could have been that my chocolate layer didn't have enough sugar to counter balance.  I would definitely use unsalted butter next time. I also think maybe there is something key to the size of the marshmallows and that bite size may turn out better. Marshmallows melted this way are not my favorite texture, either hot or cold. All I can say is, maybe there is a marshmallow club that you belong to if you have success making these kinds of recipes http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/smores-crumb-bars/Detail.aspx and I clearly don't have what it takes. Never gonna be a member. Sigh.

From henceforth, I vow never to use my cooking powers for evil. I shall only use marshmallows either in (a) rice krispies or (b) actual campfire s'mores.

Addendum: Apparently wife and friend thought the bars tasted fine. Go figure. Cooling is essential to liking them more. I think as long as you use UNSALTED butter in the crumbs, and sufficient milk choc chips and marshmallows, it could be an enjoyable dessert.