Since I recently have not been working as much, I had my girlfriends over for dinner as a late Christmas present. Rather than buying gifts, I cooked for them. For dessert, I winged this S’mores Cheesecake Bar recipe and I was overall happy with the results. I made a couple of tweaks to the recipe to improve it for future use and for you, my dear 5 or 6 readers 🙂

When I made this I used an 8×10 glass pan, but I recommend doing this in an 8×8 square pan instead.

S’MORES CHEESECAKE BARS

For crust:
12 graham crackers, crushed
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt

For cheesecake and topping:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 block)
1 cup marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips, optionally divided
1 1/2 cups marshmallows (or enough to cover top layer of bars)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease an 8×8 baking pan
3. Mix graham crackers, butter, sugar, and pinch of salt. Texture should resemble wet sand
4. Pour cracker mixture into pan. Using wax paper, firmly press it down into one uniform layer on bottom of pan
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool while you prepare filling
6. Using a hand or stand mixture, beat the cream cheese about one minute. Add marshmallow fluff and sugar and mix until well blended
7. Add egg, vanilla extract and salt, beat until smooth
8. Fold in chocolate chips. You may choose to reserve some for the top
9. Pour batter into pan. Add layer of marshmallows on top, enough to fully cover the mixture
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cheesecake is set, but do not over bake
11. Marshmallows should have a golden brown color. For a deeper, toastier look, switch your oven to the broiler setting and brown marshmallows for approximately one minute. You may do this with the door open so you may monitor and pull the pan before marshmallows burn
12. Remove from oven. While still hot, you may add extra chocolate chips on top, if desired
13.   Allow bars to cool before cutting. You may also refrigerate for up to a week