S’more Shortbread Cookies

I am such a sucker for s’mores! You can imagine my despair when I started reading about how bad corn syrup was which made me not able to eat them.  THEN I discovered how to make homemade marshmallows with honey instead of corn syrup (recipe here), but that didn’t help the graham cracker situation. I couldn’t believe that every brand in the store had tons of crazy ingredients in them. Soooo I figured I could make something else… even better.  The idea of shortbread came to me because when you have a normal s’more the cracker is so hard that it just smashes everything out the other side.  The shortbread cookie is more fragile and easier to crunch down while keeping everything in place! Plus I just love shortbread cookies and this is an excuse to eat two of them at once.  With the homemade marshmallow and the crunchy flavorful shortbread cookie this is a much more gourmet s’more that is sooooo worth making! Trust me on this one.

*Information about roasting homemade marshmallows at the end of the post*

S’more Shortbread Cookie

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (if you have dried use 1 teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter; cold and cubed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark chocolate (I like getting the bars and chopping it up, but you can use mini chocolate chips instead)

How to make them!

*In a food processor combine the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, lemon zest, nutmeg and salt

*Pulse to combine

*Add in the cold butter and vanilla

*Pulse until everything comes together to make a dough; making sure not to over mix

*Once combined place in a separate bowl and stir in the chopped chocolate

*Transfer onto a sheet of wax paper and top with another sheet of wax paper

*Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to about a 1/4 inch thick (this will depend on the size/thickness of the chocolate you use)

*Once rolled out place onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes

*Preheat your oven to 350

*Then (making sure the dough is cold) cut out the shapes you like  (I used a square biscuit cutter)

*Gather scrapes, roll out again, and cut out shapes until there is no dough left

*Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

*Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden; keep an eye on these! They can over bake very easily!

*Allow these to cool completely before using them with marshmallows to make s’mores!

To use these shortbread cookies to make s’mores all you need to do is place the roasted marshmallow with chocolate (optional) in between two of the cookies.  They are more fragile than store-bought graham crackers which makes them better! If you are using homemade marshmallows please note that they don’t take as long to roast as store-bought.  If they roast too long they will become liquidy because, unlike store-bought, these marshmallows don’t have stabilizers in them.  There are two ways to roast the homemade marshmallows:

*Place the marshmallow on a stick/skewer (I like using two sticks for good measure).  Roast over a flame/bonfire until starting to turn brown.  Don’t hold it over too long or it will slip off. Then place between two shortbread cookies.

OR

*Place the shortbread cookies on a baking sheet and top with a homemade marshmallow.  Place in the oven under the broiler for about 10 seconds (keep your eye on it for more is less time) looking for the marshmallow to slightly brown.  If it roasts too much give it about 5-10 minutes to set back up and it will still be VERY good. Place another cookie on top of the roasted marshmallow once out of the oven.