Graham & Chocolate Chip Cookie S’mores with Toasty Marshmallows

June 23, 2022

Throw back to those summer camp days with this take on a campfire classic dessert. These chocolate chip cookie s’mores feature crushed graham crackers in the cookie dough, and perfectly gooey broiled (or fire-roasted) marshmallows, for a treat that will have you hoping those summer evenings never end.

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S’mores are a comfort food, as a kid who grew up going to summer camp and singing campfire songs. This time of year, with the summer heat and late evenings, I can’t help but be transported back in time, put on my camp nostalgia playlist, and think about roasting some marshmallows over the glowing embers of a settling fire.

But I’ve always insisted that the graham crackers are the weakest part of the s’mores trifecta. Why not replace them with chewy cookies, made with crushed crackers for that throwback flavor? And once I was baking the cookies anyway, I threw in some chocolate chips to cover the chocolate. Finally, the broiler makes a perfect replacement, if you can’t get to a campfire, for perfectly golden marshmallows. World, meet the new s’mores!

What You Need to Get Started

You can easily find all of the ingredients for these chocolate chip cookie s’mores at your grocery store:

Pantry: Graham crackers, Flour, Cornstarch, Baking powder, Baking soda, Salt, Brown sugar, Granulated sugar, Vanilla extract, Chocolate chips, Marshmallows
Fridge: Butter, Egg
Equipment: Food processor, Stand mixer, Flexible spatula, Baking sheet, Parchment paper, Cookie scoop (optional), Cooling rack

Let’s Make Graham Cookie Dough

Graham crackers are usually the base of s’mores, the part you hold onto, that ties it all together. So even though I created this recipe to replace them with something I like quite a bit more, it’s not really a s’more unless there’s graham cracker in there somewhere.

So that’s where we get started with this recipe: incorporating graham crackers right into the cookie dough to get some of that honey and vanilla flavor embedded in a chocolate chip cookie.

Essentially, this recipe uses half flour and half very finely crushed graham crackers. However, you don’t want to simply use graham flour as a way to take a shortcut. This is a coarsely ground whole wheat flour that’s used to make graham crackers, but it doesn’t have all the nostalgic flavor we’re trying to capture here.

Instead, use a food processor to crush whole graham crackers into a flour-like texture, kind of like a rough sand. If there are any large pieces, keep crushing until you are left with just the tiny crumbs.

I don’t recommend crushing these by hand with a mallet or rolling pin, since it may take longer, but if that’s all you’ve got, just use a little extra time and power to get them crushed into nice, small crumbs.

To save yourself a bowl, you can also combine the rest of the dry ingredients together in the food processor. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the food processor, and pulse a few times until combined. If you’re working without one, simply whisk everything together.

These are all pretty basic cookie ingredients. These cookies use a combination of baking soda and powder for leavening, and they also have some cornstarch. I always find that cookies made with cornstarch have a chewier texture, which is perfect for making these cookie s’mores.

Set the combined dry ingredients aside for a few minutes while you prep the rest of the cookie dough.

Besides the crushed graham crackers, the rest of this cookie recipe is fairly standard, starting with creaming together the butter and sugar. Be sure you are working with room temperature butter, which should be cool to the touch, but easily dented when pressed.

Add this into the bowl of your stand mixer along with both granulated and brown sugars. We use both types of sugar, because they serve different functions. The brown adds moisture and depth of flavor, thanks to the molasses. The white sugar does a really great job of cutting into the butter, creating those tiny air pockets.

Fit your mixer with the paddle attachment, and mix these together until they are fluffy and fully combined. This will take just a couple minutes on medium-low speed.

At this point, you can add the egg and vanilla extract into the mixer bowl as well. The vanilla here helps accentuate the flavors, especially the graham cracker, which already has a little bit of vanilla flavor itself.

The egg in cookies acts as a binder, helping to hold everything together. They can also help with leavening and the texture of the cookie, making sure that you get chewy cookies that are not crumbly or crackly.

Use your mixer to combine both of these into the butter and sugar until everything is fully incorporated, and the egg has broken down completely.

Add the dry ingredients into the mixer bowl with the wet ingredients all at once. You can mix this on low speed until everything is just combined and there are no streaks of flour. However, it’s important not to overmix. If you are concerned about that, you can always do this step by hand, using a flexible spatula to fold in the dry ingredients.

Then, also use a flexible spatula to fold in the chocolate chips. I decided to go with semi-sweet chocolate here, since these will provide a similar bitterness to the traditional Hershey’s bars used in s’mores. However, you can use dark chocolate chips or even chunks from a chocolate bar if you prefer.

Finish the Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cover the bowl with the cookie dough, or transfer it to another bowl if you will be storing the dough long term. You’ll want to chill the dough in the fridge for at least twenty minutes, but you can chill it even longer.

Meanwhile, this is a good time to preheat your oven and double check that there is a rack in the center. You will also want to line a cookie sheet or two with parchment paper. After the dough is chilled, use a cookie scoop or spoon to shape balls of dough and place them onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each.

You will likely need to make these cookies in batches. I like to work with two cookie sheets, so I can be working with one while the other is in the oven. However, this can easily be done with a single cookie sheet and just a little more time.

The cookie dough can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for a couple days, or after shaping, you can freeze the cookie dough balls for a few months. You can bake the cookies directly from chilled or frozen dough, but you may need to add a bit more time to account for it.

Bake the cookies from the twenty-minute chilled dough for right around ten minutes or even slightly less. I usually start around eight and check, especially with the first batch. When the cookies are ready, they will appear underdone, and will have spread out to about three inches across.

Allow the cookies to cool for about ten minutes undisturbed on the sheet pan. If you are working with two baking sheets, this can be a good time to put the next sheet in the oven to keep those batches moving. After they rest, use a sturdy spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you are making these ahead of time, baked cookies can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for a few days or frozen for a few months in a sealed freezer-safe container. If you freeze them, allow the cookies to sit at room temperature for twenty minutes or more before serving them.

You can also pack up the cookies for transporting at this point, especially if you are planning on toasting your marshmallows over a real fire while out camping.

How to Roast the Marshmallows

However, if you are finishing them in the kitchen, it’s time to get that broiler switched on. Pair up the cookies, and place one of each pair upside down on a newly lined baking sheet. There’s no need to worry about spacing these out, as they won’t spread any further.

Place two standard-sized marshmallows on the inside of each of these cookies. Broil for just a couple minutes, keeping a close eye on the marshmallows. I had my oven rack about three or four inches below the broiler, which gave me a nice golden brown. You can also adjust the time and distance for more toasty marshmallows.

If you prefer, you can definitely toast these marshmallows in the traditional manner, over a live fire. For that perfect golden brown color, add one or two onto a long stick or skewer. Cook it for a few minutes, hovering close to but not touching the smoking embers. Be sure to rotate your stick to brown all sides.

Be cautious of a young fire with flames, as that can burn and char your marshmallow. Of course, if that’s the way you like your s’mores, go for it.

For a more traditional s’mores feeling, or if you just really love chocolate, you can also add three squares of a Hershey’s bar into your cookie s’mores. Go for it! There’s nothing wrong with more melty chocolate.

Once the marshmallows are all gooey, place the second cookie on top of each toasted marshmallow cookie, and press gently on multiple points of the cookie to smush the softened marshmallow without cracking the cookie. If you’re not serving these immediately, allow them to cool completely on the baking sheet.

For marshmallows roasted over fire, sandwich the gooey treat between two cookies, and gently slide it off the stick.

These filled cookies are best enjoyed just after cooling enough to handle them, when the marshmallow is at its gooiest. However, you can store them at room temperature for a few days in a sealed container, and they will still be delicious!

Channel those campfire memories with these gooey chocolate chip cookie s’mores. Did you know you can even toast marshmallows with a broiler?

How to Serve Chocolate Chip Cookie S’mores

On a warm summer evening, with a cool breeze in the air, underneath shadowy and towering pine trees framing a perfectly cloudless sky, that’s where these cookie s’mores feel most at home. Whether you are broiling or toasting your marshmallows over a campfire, you’ll be capturing that woodsy summer camp feeling.

For the full experience, enjoy these alongside another modified fire-cooked favorite of mine by serving banana boat ice cream sundaes. Some mugs of boozy peanut butter cup hot chocolate will easily elevate it from kiddie camp to an adults-only bonfire.

However, you can also enjoy these cookie s’mores indoors as a simple afternoon snack or for dessert after dinner. Try serving them with chocolate old fashioneds for a classy happy hour, or chai white hot chocolate for a cozy evening in. If you’re a true s’mores lover, use these cookies to surround a showstopping s’mores drip cake for a themed dessert spread.

More Cookie Recipes to Try

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