Decadent Butterscotch S’mores Bars

These decadent butterscotch s’mores bars are a great throwback to those late summer nights around the fire pit. S’mores were a basic staple of my childhood. I remember searching my uncle’s backyard for sticks that were long enough with my cousins while he lit up the fire pit. We would wait eagerly every family party for the sun to set and the marshmallows to be brought out. Our summers filled with sticky fingers, melted chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs. And don’t forget the mosquito bites, no matter what we tried to prevent them.

I begged my parents to get a fire pit for our house too, but they were never on board. I just wanted to be able to make s’mores whenever I wanted, and not just only on special occasions. Now that I’m an adult, I realized that nothing is stopping me from buying my own fire pit for the backyard. So I brought the idea up to my parents, and they finally agreed, as long as I paid for it, I could get one. That same day, we went over to my uncle’s house and somehow my mom had brought up the fire pit. My uncle said he had a second one he wasn’t using and he gave it to me!

Fire Pit In The Summer, Decadent Butterscotch S’mores Bars In The Winter!

Last year my friends and I only used to fire pit a handful of times, going through entire bags of marshmallows. But this year, I hope to be using it a little bit more! But it’s still only February and it’s too cold at night to sit outside, even by a fire. I’m looking forward to the warmer months for many, many reasons. But what I’m looking forward to most is some s’mores with my best friends (hopefully together this time, I know you’re reading this you guys.)

I mean, you cant expect me to go like six months without eating s’mores. So I’ve been trying different recipes for s’mores bars to fill my craving during the winter months. And let me tell you, not all of them came out as good as I was planning. But finally I found a good recipe, which I’ve tweaked a bit and now it’s perfect.

However the first time I made these s’mores bars, things got a little…out of hand. The recipe I had used for my first attempt said to broil the marshmallows for three minutes to complete the recipe. And I did just that, but instead of creating a wonderful marshmallow crust I lit the entire pan of sweets on fire in my oven! After the three minutes was over, I opened up the oven to take them out, and out came a HUGE plume of smoke. It filled my entire kitchen, and my friends and I ran to the front and back of the house to open the doors and windows. However, I also learned my smoke alarm wasn’t working anymore, so maybe this was a happy accident.

NO BROILING For These Butterscotch S’mores Bars

Either way we did eat the s’mores bars, I mean, I wasn’t just going to throw them out AND I happen to like my marshmallows burned on the outside. Well, maybe not that burned. So I wrote down in my note book “NO BROILING” and moved on to the next variation of s’mores bars, and tried again! This time I promise, I didn’t light anything on fire. With this recipe, at least.

Even though I lit the last batch on fire, they were still yummy. You barely noticed the singed marshmallows. However, because the marshmallows underneath the burned ones melted so much, they became a glue. They were SO difficult to cut, you really had to put some muscle into it. But they all got eaten nonetheless. The second time I made these, they were much better, and the gooey marshmallows were perfectly golden brown. The same sticky fingers, melted chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs of my childhood brought back without the fire pit! Perfect for the winter months, or for those summer nights you want s’mores but don’t want those pesky mosquitoes to come find you!

Decadently Sweet and Delicious

These decadent butterscotch s’mores bars are truly decadent and so so sweet! Especially when adding the additional sweetness of the butterscotch chips. I was thinking, the next time I make these s’mores bars I will be using peanut butter chips instead of butterscotch. My boyfriend will just have to suck it up (he hates peanut butter, wild, right?) Or maybe I’ll plan for a weekend when I won’t be seeing him and instead I’ll invite my friends over and we can all delight in the delicious peanut buttery goodness.

However, because he was going to be around the weekend I planned to test out my new recipe, I went with butterscotch, another one of my childhood loves. And let me tell you, they were so good we had to hide them from my dad! He’s got a MAJOR sweet tooth, so now you can see where I get it from. He’s known to sneak bites and pieces of whatever dessert I’ve made, even if I plead with him to leave them alone.

Beware The Sweet Tooth Father

The morning after I made my second batch of s’more bars, we had half a pan left. And I had told my dad that I still needed to take more photos before we finished all of them. He finally agreed, of course teasing me along the way telling me he was going to eat all them instead. I mean what are fathers for, other that teasing and / or embarrassing their children?

However even though he agreed to leave them alone for the time being, my mom and I didn’t trust him. And to this day he claims he didn’t eat ANY of the decadent butterscotch s’mores bars that day. So my mom was watching him and she SWEARS he was in there eating little slivers of it hoping no one would notice. So what does my mom do, because she knew I had to take that photo for this post? She attempted to hide the s’mores bars in the oven, hoping he would not look there.

The Perfect Hiding Place…Not So Perfect…

The oven was a good place to hide these decadent s’mores bars from my father’s wandering sweet tooth. However, it was my forgetfulness that made a mess of things in the end. Because I got home that day, ignorant of what had went through my mother’s head, and I went straight to decompressing from the day. Thinking that I would just take the photo later in the night, before we ate them for dessert. Then I would have everything I needed to make the decadent butterscotch s’mores bars recipe a reality.

However this proved to be a HUGE mistake on my part, and also on my mother’s part. As mentioned earlier, she had put them in the oven, but then forgot about it when it came time to take them out. She was in the middle of making dinner before realizing what had happened. She had preheated the oven in preparation for that night’s baked chicken. But the s’mores bars remained in the oven as it came to temperature.

Then she called up the stairs to tell me what she had done, like a puppy that just chewed up your favorite slipper. My photo opportunity was gone, and the marshmallows didn’t burn, they became a gooey mess. Then, they became so sticky and hard, they were hard to eat. But of course, we finished them. Can’t waste them, am I right! And, I could only laugh, and hey it just meant I had to make them again! Nothing wrong with some more decadent butterscotch s’mores bars.