S'more Pie

The first time I had S’mores, I was getting ready to graduate college. I mentioned this fact yesterday while at my parents house for the Family Extravaganza weekend. My mom insists that I had S’mores in my childhood. She claims, at some point while we were camping.. . we had S’mores. But, let’s be honest here… I would most definitely remember the first time I had a S’more. I can guarantee you that.

So, yes, my first S’more was when I was 21 years old. There was a campfire involved… and I believe there was even a guitar… And there was lots of bossing underclassman around the park to find more sticks to keep the campfire burning. Ahhh… college life.

Anyway… Let’s just say I have some catching up to do with the ole S’mores concept.

Enter this Pie.

I’ve been trying to figure out the perfect time to make this pie… and luckily, the time came sooner rather than later. This weekend was a big weekend in my family… My brother Jason celebrated a birthday on Saturday, my grandma turned 89 on Sunday and it was father’s day! Throw in the U.S. Open final round (well… it was the final round, although the outcome is still unknown) and it was a Sunday packed full of family and celebrations.

As customary… I asked my brother what he wanted for his birthday dessert. He chose a cherry pie. Which was perfect because for one, I’ve been craving cherry pie, and two, cherry pie happens to be my dad’s favorite dessert, so I was able to kill two birds with one stone. Or… two occasions with one pie, rather. (More on the cherry pie later this week).

This is all fine and dandy, except for my brother Mike. You see, Mike is more of a chocolate lover… less of a fruit lover. So, I knew I’d have to make something else as well, that he could eat for dessert. And that’s when I thought of the S’mores Pie. I think this pie more than made up for his less than perfect birthday cake I made a few weeks ago....

It came together very easily. I didn’t make homemade graham crackers or homemade marshmallows. But, I did make the crust and the filling and then added marshmallow fluff to the top and broiled it for a few minutes to brown up a bit.

Not being a bittersweet chocolate fan, I actually used all semi-sweet chocolate in the filling and next time I make this.. I might use half semi-sweet and half milk chocolate. What can I say? I’m a sugar fiend.

This would be an awesome July 4th dessert. Quick (I made the pie the day before, chilled it and then just topped it off with marshmallow fluff and broiled it before serving), easy, and extremely tasty.

A slice also makes for a tasty breakfast… even cold, fresh from the fridge. Or, at least that’s what I hear.

David Leibovitz's Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve been holding out on you…

And for that, I apologize.

It’s not because I’m trying to keep a recipe away from you… that’s not it at all. It’s more because I’m afraid you’ll think of me as a one trick pony. I mean, how many chocolate chip cookie recipes can a girl try?

So, to be sure… I made this recipe 4 times in one week. And while, one time, the cookies came out kind of thin (because I made them too small, I think), they’ve been delicious and easy everytime.

Please… don’t groan. It is another chocolate chip recipe, but this one is a really, really, really good one! And I’m not the only one who thinks so!

David Leibovitz, I thank you, sir. These cookies are delicious.

Recipe Notes: I’ve been on a kick lately where I’ve been using Ghiradelli’s Milk Chocolate Chips, but for this recipe, I use Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet. Also, make sure you make these cookies big. Three times I’ve made these, I’ve double my cookie scoop for the cookies and they turned out perfect. One time, I just used one scoop from my cookie scoop and they thinned out significantly.
They are very chewy, with the right amount of crisp that you would expect from a chocolate chip cookie.



Great Chocolate Chip Cookies from David Lebovitz's Great Book of Chocolate



1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch (1cm) pieces

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup(130 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped


Adjust the oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon (5cm) balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Make about 20 cookies.

Faux Skor Bars

When I was a kid... one of my most favorite places was the gas station. I know, I know... that sounds really weird, but its very true. The gas station was like this smorgasboard of sugar. Rows and rows of candy bars and soda... and anytime the whole family was in the car for more than an hour or so and my dad was driving... we'd stop at the gas station and get a drink and a candy bar. Which was a real treat in my family.

You see... my mom... she was kind of into health food when I was growing up. I mean, we ate roman meal wheat bread when it was the ONLY wheat bread available at the store. I can even remember the first time I ever had white bread... it was at a friends house and I was probably 8 years old and I thought it was the most disgusting thing, because it stuck to the roof of my mouth. I couldn't believe that people preferred that to the wheat bread I was used to. So, you can imagine... if we weren't eating white bread all the way back in 1982 or so... then, high fructrose corn syrup was a pretty big no-no in our house. If we wanted something sweet to eat... my mom would whip up a batch of Grandma Cookies.

So, it was a big deal to get a soda and a candy bar. Even if my dad had to go to the gas station on a saturday to fill up gas tanks for the lawn mower or tractor... my brothers or I always wanted to go so that we could pick out our sodas and candy bars... but, if we didnt go, my dad would just bring a bag of snickers and cokes home for us anyway.

One of the candy bars that I got quite often was a Skor bar. Yum. Chocolate covered toffee. I used to eat all the chocolate off the bar first and then savor the toffee on it's own. It seems like now a days... there aren't as many candy bars out there to choose from... and whenever I'm in line at Target or Harris Teeter.. I'm lucky if they've got candy bars in that aisle at all.. let alone a skor bar or a whatchamacallit, etc...

I've had this recipe printed out for awhile, but never had any saltines. I picked up a box of whole wheat saltines just to try this recipe out... and as soon as i had a bite of this... I was instantly taken back to my childhood... they taste exactly like a skor bar! Particularly since I used milk chocolate chips in my recipe. Who knew that you could make skor bars out of wheat saltine crackers???

Anyway... these are delicious and so simple to make!

Saltine Candy/Toffee

Andes Mints Chocolate Chip Cookies

St. Patrick's Day has been my favorite holiday for YEARS. We're talking wayyy back to like 6th grade or something. Before I even dreamt of the wonders of green beer. As the years have gone on, my love for St. Patrick's Day has turned into an obsession with all things Irish (and green). It's pretty bizarre, actually. I mean, there really isn't any good reason for me to be so obsessed with Ireland (besides the fact that it's a beautiful, friendly country that reminds me a lot of my home state of Tennessee). My ancestors were likely scottish, maybe some were irish, but even that doesn't matter, because my family has lived in TN since the 1780s. I love Irish writers, Irish beer, (if I'm going to have whiskey, I prefer Tennessee Whiskey.. aka... bourbon to irish whiskey), Irish and Celtic music. All of it. I freaking love it.

So, I get pretty excited when March rolls around. I'm having a small family get together at my place tonight to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, so there will be a Irish-themed Post on Monday. But, last night, I was craving some cookies. Not necessarily Chocolate Chip cookies, and not peanut butter or oatmeal cookies, either. So, I perused Recipezaar and found this recipe. I had some andes mints that I needed to use up, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Now, I'm starting to get comfortable in adjusting recipes a little bit. Which is very exciting. And after reading some of the reviews of this recipe, I made my own adjustments! And they turned out fabulous! Actually, This is the perfect chocolate chip cookie consistency. I plan on trying it again without the Andes Mints to make soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies. If they turn out like these, they will indeed be my favorite chocolate chip cookies, I think. I'll let you know how that recipe turns out.

Anyway, you can use the original link up there, or follow my adjusted recipe below.

And, after I put the first round in the oven, I couldn't help but throw some food color in the second round. When will I ever learn that green cookies just don't look appetizing? Oh well. At least they look cute in my shamrock server!

Andes Mint Cookies

Adapated from KC_Cooker's recipe on Recipezaar.

I made a half batch and got 14 cookies. This recipe is for a whole batch.

1 cup plus 2 tbsp of unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsps vanilla

2 large eggs

1 10 oz package of andes baking chips (I used crushed up andes mints)

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups of flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Blend butter, sugars, baking soda and powder, vanilla and eggs until ingredients are mixed.

Add mints and chocolate chips and mix.

Add flour and continue to mix until well blended.

Cover and chill in fridge for 45-60 minutes.

Use a cookie scoop or a tbsp to measure out dough and form a ball of the dough in your hands and then slightly flatten it and place it on non-stick baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 7-9 minutes.

Cool on pan and then transfer to baking rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: My favorite recipe.

It took a lot of recipes before I could dub a clear cut winner in this category. I've made Martha's, Mrs. Fields, Alton Browns, and a couple others, but this one... this one takes the cake (err... the cookie, I guess). This cookie is officially my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I've blogged about it a few times, but just made another batch for my friend Jeff, who is recovering from surgery. I can easily say that this is the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside.

Previous posts about this recipe:
The first time I made them
The second time I made them

Inferior (but still tasty) chocolate chip cookie posts:
Mrs. Field's
Martha's