I am a glamping girl through and through. I have no interest in sleeping in a sleeping bag on the ground with no running water. An RV… I’ll take, but a hotel is really my speed.
But there’s one thing I miss out on: the food. I LOVE a s’more, a hot dog, and those popcorn tins you make over the fire.
So I decided to.. not miss out! And made these s’mores bars instead. It started with maple marshmallows I found at the store (had to buy them, obviously). Then came the hard part: figuring out how to make a s’mores bar that’s actually different from every other one out there. Enter the brown butter pretzel crust.
Now, as a non-baker, this crust was a beast and way harder than I expected. So don’t stray from the recipe unless you really know what you’re doing, or you’ll end up with a crumbly mess. (There’s a real science to it, more on that later).
But follow my lead and you’ll end up with the tastiest bars you’ll eat all summer. Enjoy!
brown butter pretzel maples s’mores bars
COOK TIME: 30 minutes plus chilling
YIELDS: 12 squares
Can I use regular marshmallows? If you can’t find maple marshmallows, absolutely. I found they actually taste sweeter, so I recommend sticking to darker chocolate if you use regular marshmallows.
Can I use milk chocolate? I found milk chocolate a bit overpowering and too sweet, stick to semi-sweet or dark.
A note on the pretzel crust: this one took several rounds of testing to get exactly right, every measurement in it is doing a specific job, down to the cornstarch. More on why below.
Keep reading for the full ingredient list, step-by-step instructions, the rest of my FAQs (including why this crust behaves the way it does), and the printable recipe →