Everything Strawberry S’more Bars

Soon I’ll be headed off back to college so my current goal is emptying out my fridge, freezer, and pantry of anything perishable. It’s taken a lot of self control, but I’ve shied away from the grocery store for the past few weeks. Yesterday was a friend’s birthday, and I wanted to bring something sweet, so I decided to throw together whatever leftover ingredients I could find.

These bars are truly a strange assortment of ingredients . They have graham crackers, speculoos cookies,frozen bread crumbs from making these vegan sandwiches, gelatin-free marshmallows, salted premium butter, earth balance, aquafaba, toasted pecans, frozen Upick strawberries, homemade chocolate shell, flour, brown sugar, and baking powder. Granted, it’s hard to mess up a combination like that. 

The slight acidity of the strawberries brings a welcome freshness to the sweetness of the marshmallows and graham crackers. They’re a little chewy, a little gooey, a little crispy, and tasty all around.

Everything Strawberry S’more Bars 

Crispy chewy soft cracker cookie bars – good enough to make by itself tbh

In a food processor pulse until crumbs:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 8 oz cookie crumbs (I used 5 oz, aka 1 sleeve, graham crackers, 2 oz plain bread crumbs, and 1 oz speculoos cookies)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder

Add:

• 3/4 cup premium salted butter and/or earth balance (I used 1 stick earth balance & 1/4 cup premium salted butter)

Pulse until sandy textured. Add:

• 1 egg or 3 tbs aquafaba(I used aquafaba)

Pulse until large clumps start to form.

Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of an 8×8 pan. I recommend lining the pan with parchment paper by cutting 2 strips of parchment, 8 inches wide and 12 inches long each, and laying them perpendicular in the pan. This prevents the marshmallow filling from sticking.

On top of the batter, scatter:

• ~1/2-3/4 cup good quality chocolate chips or chunks
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped (I toasted them in a nonstick pan for a few minutes)

Store the 1/3 remaining dough in the fridge while preparing the strawberry marshmallow filling.

Strawberry Marshmallow Filling* 

Note: Alternatively, heat up 2/3 cup strawberry jam and proceed to the marshmallow step.

In a saucepan, combine:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 8 oz frozen or fresh strawberries

Cook until most of the water has been boiled away, about 15 minutes. Stir in:

• 3/4 cup large or small marshmallows (~6 oz)

Stir until the marshmallows are mostly melted. Little chunks are ok and will add nice variation to the final bars.

Spread the strawberry marshmallow filling over the dough. Scatter the remaining dough on top in ~2 tsp chunks.

Bake the bars at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until the top dough is lightly golden brown. Let the bars cool completely before removing from the pan, and refrigerate before cutting. Enjoy!

 

 

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Healthy Vegan S’more Cookies (made with…?)

A few weeks ago I was mindlessly scrolling through /r/food when I realized that I genuinely miss posting recipes. I am always playing with ideas for new foods in my mind, but I’ve seldom had the time and motivation to create them.

This is in part because college makes time feel like a luxury, but also because I have had an unlimited supply of dining hall food.

Well, summer has nullified both these things, for better or worse, and I have been itching to cook and bake the weird ideas that I’ve accumulated this past semester, starting with these vegan s’more cookies.

They’re soft, sweet, and delicious despite containing no cane sugar, eggs, or dairy. What do they have instead?

Garbanzo beans.

It sounds weird, I know, but trust me, garbanzo beans are incredible.

Blended garbanzo beans create the perfect cookie base, and the liquid that comes with them can be whipped into a delicious (and vegan) marshmallow fluff. I promise there’s no catch. I’m still a little blown away myself.

Vegan S’more Cookies 

Marshmallow Fluff:

• liquid from 1 13.4 oz can of garbanzo beans (~½ cup liquid)
• ¼ cup coconut sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

1. To create the marshmallow fluff, beat the liquid from the can of garbanzo beans with an electric mixer or blender until foamy
2. Slowly add the coconut sugar and keep beating for around 10-15 minutes, until the mixture thickens and looks like meringue.
3. Try not to eat the entire bowl as you prepare the cookies 😉

Cookie base:

• 1 ½ cups cooked garbanzo beans
• ¼ cup sugar or coconut sugar (increase to 1/3 cup if you prefer sweeter desserts)
• ¼ cup liquid sweetener such as agave or maple syrup
• ¼ cup + 2 tbs unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tbs oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup spelt flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt

1. In a blender or food processor, combine the garbanzo beans, coconut sugar, liquid sweetener, unsweetened almond milk, sour cream and oil.
2. Stir in the spelt flour, baking soda, and salt. Tada, that easy!

Assembling the cookies:

1. Scoop 1/8 cup portions of the batter into a greased whoopie pie or cupcake pan. I used the former because I had one lying around, but I’m sure a cupcake pan would work too!
2. Create an indentation in the middle of the batter and add a dollop of marshmallow cream on top.
3. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
4. Bake the cookies at 350 degree for 12-15 minutes.
5. Try and fail not to burn your tongue as you eat one straight out of the oven, then eat another ten minutes later when it’s semi cool-ish.
6. Eat another one–just to make sure it’s still good (it is). Repeat.