S’mores Marshmallow Stuffed Cookies

What are S’mores Cookies?

What exactly are s’mores cookies?  To understand you must first know what a s’more is.  A s’more is a classic American sweet treat with 3 simple ingredients: graham crackers, chocolate, and toasted marshmallows.  It has began a campfire favorite over the years.  A s’mores cookie combines a classic s’mores and a Missouri Girl chocolate chip cookie to create the perfect gooey cookie that is as delicious as it is fun. This is the ultimate crowd pleaser.

Imagine this:

A delicious graham cracker chocolate chip cookie with a lava center of melty marshmallow that oozes out of the little crevices.

It reminded me so much of a lava cake that I knew it had to have “lava” in the name. The cookies even look like little volcanoes when they come out of the oven!

The Story Behind These S’mores Cookies

These cookies were born out of necessity.

What’s a mom to do when she promises her kids a bonfire with s’mores and it winds up raining and 30-some degrees outside?

Well, this mom is not sitting outside in those conditions, so…

We make s’mores inside. Or take the s’mores and turn them into…

Marshmallow Lava S’mores Cookies

For those of you that have seen my Missouri Girl Chocolate Chip Cookie post, this may seem a bit familiar as this recipe was adapted from that original recipe. That recipe was 10 years in the making and there are so many tips for making the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

The Steps to Make Perfectly Gooey S’mores Cookies

1. Use Perfectly Softened Quality Butter for Fluffy S’mores Cookies

First, start with the quality butter at the right temperature. See the perfect finger indention? Barely softened butter is key. Too soft and your cookies go flat, too hard and it never incorporates fully into the dough.

Tip: Did you forget to set out your butter to warm to room temperature?  Defrost in your microwave for about 1 minute (time will vary by microwave).  Perfectly softened butter every time. 

Good quality butter is also key. Here in Missouri, I use Hiland Butter. It’s my fave!

Then add the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Make sure the brown sugar is light, not dark and that it is packed well into your measuring cup or the results will be off. I like to use two parts light brown sugar to one part granulated sugar.

Beat well with a hand held mixer.

There is a lot of discussion out there over the temperature of the egg. Most people will recommend using room temperature eggs but I’ve always bent the rules on this one. You really are supposed to crack the eggs into a separate bowl in case you get a bad egg. However, as I have only encountered a few bad eggs in my life I have gotten lax in this area.

So what does a bad egg look like?  Well, NOT normal.  Look for discolorations, uneven coloring that are pink, black, blueish, or green.  It may seem runny or watery or even have a bad smell to it.  

Always use good, high quality, pure vanilla extract.  If you want the absolute BEST vanilla extract, then make it yourself.  My Homemade Vanilla Extract is easy, budget friendly, and will result in superior quality vanilla extract.  

Add your egg and vanilla.

Beat again until all the ingredients are well incorporated and fluffy.

Now add your flour, baking soda, and salt. Remember when making these cookies, Missouri Girl style, that it’s all about “heaping” the baking soda. Make sure the baking soda you are using is fresh. Baking soda does loose some of its potency over time. Most recipes call for sifting these ingredients together but I must admit I rarely do!

5. Don’t Over Mix

With the blender on low speed, mix until just combined. I don’t recommend mixing the dough too well in this particular recipe. I like to mix until the ingredients are just incorporated. You will get a little additional mixing in the next step.

6. Using the right chocolate

Now stir in your chocolate chips and graham cracker crumbs. For the chocolate chips I am TEAM semisweet all the way. Feel free to use whatever you prefer though. Bittersweet chocolate would be amazing in this recipe as well. I used regular sized chocolate chips but little mini chocolate chips would be a great addition.

7. The right texture

For the graham crackers, make sure you ground them up until you have course crumbs. You don’t want them too fine, like graham flour, because you want to add some texture in your cookie dough.

Now for the fun part, time to assemble those s’more cookie dough balls.  

Am I the only one who loves a picture of a good dough ball?

Take a regular sized marshmallow and surround it with cookie dough (about ¼ cup of dough) until it is fully surrounded on all sides. Make sure there are no notable gaps in the cookie dough or all of the marshmallow will leak out while baking.

Put the dough balls into the freezer for about 15 minutes then transfer to a parchment paper lined (or greased) cookie sheet. Meanwhile, don’t forget to preheat your oven!

Bake at 375 for 9-13 minutes. You know its done when you see the edges are nicely browned, the top is just starting to brown, but the center still looks gooey.

The Key to Perfect S’mores Cookies: Always Under Bake Your Cookies 

Lastly, always UNDER BAKE your chocolate chip cookies!  Or in this case, your S’more cookies.  How you bake these cookie will be the difference between an amazing and an average cookie.  They will continue baking as they sit on the hot cookie sheet and will be perfectly “done” when cooled.  

By “done” I mean “gooey”.  Which is perfect in my book.  

Here are the cookies straight out of the oven.  

Don’t these look like cute little cookie dough volcanoes?

Look at the marshmallow “lava” peeking out of the crevices. Yum! 

Important Note: Remember to under bake the cookies and let them sit on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes to finish baking.

Just look at these amazing mounds of gooey s’more yumminess!  

Enjoy!