S’mores Cake in a Jar.

Oh friends.

Hi.

How are you?

Judging from the above picture, you can assume I’m doing well. I’m not going hungry, that’s for sure.

Guess what? I had a lovely dinner recipe to share with you today. Obviously, these s’mores jar cakes are not dinner. Unless your name is Jessica and you avoid skinny jeans like the plague and you still sleep with a baby blanket each night, even though you’re married.

S’mores jar cakes clearly top dinner recipes. You told me so. I asked you on Twitter. If you’re upset that you don’t have dinner for tonight… not my fault. If you’d rather see dinner than these s’more jar cakes… we obviously aren’t friends.

Let’s talk mason jars. Do you have any? If not, you can probably stop by a crafty store and pick some up for well under $5. I did that, even though I don’t do crafts. Mason jars are fun. They make me think of fireflies and moonshine and hot summer nights, although insects freak me out, one swig of the hard stuff and I’m out like a light, and spending every waking moment in air conditioning is my life. I sweat.

More on mason jars? I was a little scared, this being the first time I have baked with glass since I made you all glass shard brownies on super bowl Sunday. Mmmm… those were tasty. A little crunchy, but tasty. Not.

Just so we’re clear, s’mores jar cakes have buttery graham crusts covered with fluffy double chocolate chip cake and pillowy marshmallow toppings that are so perfectly browned and bubbly you can taste the campfire and smell the midnight July breeze.

Need more convincing? I think not.

S’mores Cake in a Jar

makes 4 16-ounce mason jar cakes

for crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 stick butter

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter and mix in graham crumbs and salt. Mix until moistened. Spray 4 mason jars with non-stick spray and press graham crust into jars. I began by adding a tablespoon to each, and repeating until graham crumbs were gone. They don’t need to look perfect. I pressed the crumbs down firmly with the flat bottom of a clean screwdriver.

for cake: (from peanut butter hot fudge cupcakes)

1 1/8 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons sour cream

for topping:

1 bag of large marshmallows

In a bowl, whisk egg and sugar until smooth and no lumps remain. Add milk, cream, butter and vanilla, and mix until combined. Stir in sour cream. Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Mix until batter is smooth. Using a 1/4 cup measure, add batter to mason jars one scoop at a time. You only want to fill them up about half way, and the batter should work evenly for 4 jars. Again – don’t worry if it is perfect. Place mason jars in a baking dish and add about 1 1/2 cups of water to the bottom. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake is set.

Remove cake from the oven and press large marshmallows down on top, being careful not to burn yourself. There is no set number of marshmallows to use, I pressed down as many as I could, about 4-5 each. Heat the broiler on your oven and watching carefully, brown marshmallows for about 1-2 minutes, or until golden brown. Do not take your eyes off them! Serve immediately.

Notes

*The recipe looks really long, but it is actually really easy! *When you put the marshmallows on top and broil, they may sink down below the edges of the chocolate cake. This is normal. The cake it still more than halfway to the top. *These are pretty rich and sweet, and make a really great dessert for two people to share with two spoons… but can still be eaten by one. *You can use other sizes of jars, just use your eye to decided how much batter to use, never going over half way. If you have too much batter, just make a few cupcakes.

Perhaps tonight’s dinner should be more… balanced? Nah.