No campfire required for these s'mores bars — all the gooey, chocolatey, toasty-marshmallow magic of a classic s'more baked into a soft, chewy graham cracker cookie bar you can cut into squares and hand around at any summer cookout. A buttery graham cracker cookie dough gets pressed into the pan, layered with marshmallow creme and chocolate chips, then topped with more dough so the marshmallow and chocolate peek through the cracks as it bakes.
Our version swaps the brown sugar for Jaca (100% pure allulose) at double the amount — 1 1/2 cups of granular Jaca in place of 3/4 cup of conventional brown sugar — so the bars bake up just as sweet and chewy with no added sugar and no aftertaste. Allulose creams right into the butter like conventional sugar and browns beautifully, just a touch faster, so keep an eye on the oven near the end. For a fully reduced-sugar batch, reach for sugar-free chocolate chips and an allulose-sweetened marshmallow creme. This is a Jaca-adjusted healthier version, adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.
Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 25 minutes | Servings: 16 bars
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granular Jaca (allulose) — replaces 3/4 cup conventional brown sugar at the 2x ratio
- 1 tablespoon molasses (optional, for the deeper brown-sugar flavor allulose alone does not provide)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup (120g) graham cracker crumbs (about 8 full-sheet graham crackers)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (use sugar-free chips to keep the bars fully no-added-sugar)
- 1 heaping cup marshmallow creme (store-bought Fluff or homemade; do not substitute whole marshmallows)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides so you can lift the bars out later. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with a mixer, cream the butter and granular Jaca on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes until light and combined. If using the optional molasses for that brown-sugar depth, add it now. The mixture will not pack the way brown sugar does, but it creams smooth.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined, scraping down the bowl as needed. The mixture may look slightly curdled — that is fine.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and beat on medium speed just until a soft, sticky dough forms.
- Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even, thin layer — the dough is sticky, so use your hands and do not worry about perfection.
- Spread the marshmallow creme evenly over the dough layer, then scatter the chocolate chips on top.
- Flatten the remaining dough into thin pieces and lay them over the chocolate chips. You will not have enough to fully cover it — that is the charm, letting the marshmallow and chocolate peek through the cracks.
- Bake for 22 to 28 minutes, until the top is lightly golden. Jaca caramelizes a little faster than conventional sugar, so start checking at 22 minutes and loosely tent the pan with foil if the top is browning too quickly.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and cool the bars completely — they firm up as they cool.
- Lift the bars out using the parchment overhang and cut into 16 squares. Wipe the knife between cuts for the neatest edges.
