Chocolate Caramel S'mores Snack Mix

A few weeks ago, I made a double batch of this snack mix for our church youth group. The sheet pans were sitting out on the kitchen table, cooling, and my family kept stopping by for quality assurance testing. I told them to keep their hands off, that they were eating the Lord's food. But they were wholly (though not in any way holy) unrepentant.

All of which is just to say that if you're planning to feed this addictive combination to anyone other than the people living in your house, you might want to make a double batch, too.

Chocolate Caramel S'mores Snack Mix {print}

4 cups graham-cracker type cereal (I used Golden Grahams)
4 cups corn or rice or combo cereal squares (I like Crispix)
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (yes, this matters)
approximately 1 cup M&Ms
approximately 2 cups mini marshmallows

Line a large sheet pan with wax paper or parchment paper. Gently combine cereals in a large microwave-safe bowl. In a 2-cup microwave-safe measuring cup, microwave the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup uncovered on high power 1-2 minutes, stirring after one minute, until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from microwave and stir in the baking soda until dissolved. Pour this mixture over the cereal and stir gently to coat. Microwave on high power for 3 minutes, stirring after every minute. 

Remove from microwave and cool 1 minute. Sprinkle with marshmallows and gently fold in. Turn the mixture out onto your prepared baking sheet and immediately sprinkle the surface with M&Ms, pressing them gently into the cereal mixture. Cool completely before breaking apart and storing airtight. Makes 8 cups.

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S'mores Granola Bark

I was in the middle of trying to come up with a witty or motivational or inspiring story to introduce this post when it hit me: you don't care about a story because you JUST WANT THE RECIPE ALREADY. 

Entirely understandable. So here it is. 

In our house, we consider this a healthy snack, because we take a very broad approach to "healthy" and a very frequent approach to "snack." 

This recipe began life as Trail Mix Granola Bark; here, I've given it the s'mores treatment with the addition of marshmallows and graham crackers. I managed to stop eating my last batch long enough to put together this post, but just barely. 

S'mores Granola Bark {printable recipe}

1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup M&Ms (I used the plain milk chocolate version in red, white, and blue)

1 cup marshmallow bits (such as vanilla Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits)*

3 cups rolled ("old-fashioned") oats

1 cup graham cracker pieces and crumbs (equivalent or close enough to it to one "sleeve" of crackers...I like a mix of fine crumbs and larger cracker pieces, and you can really just smoosh them with your hands while they're still in the package and they'll be fine)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons water, divided

*I know! Specialty ingredients are such a pain. But I promise these are easy to find, aren't too expensive, and are necessary to this recipe. I also promise it's worth the hassle of rounding them up. Regular mini marshmallows won't work here because of the long baking time...they'll just melt and basically disappear. Better get the bits.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 10x15-inch baking sheet with parchment paper (or foil that you spray like crazy with nonstick cooking spray) so it hangs over the edges. Mix the chocolate chips, M&Ms, and marshmallow bits in a small bowl or 2-cup glass measure and put them in the freezer. Mix the oats and graham cracker pieces/crumbs in a large bowl. 

In a small measuring cup, whisk 3 tablespoons water, the vanilla, the oil, and the egg white.

In a microwave-safe 2-cup measure, mix the salt, maple syrup (which will slide right out of the measuring cup if you use the same one you did to measure the oil...aren't we clever?), brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon water. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds, or until the sugar has dissolved. Don't walk away and get sucked into checking Facebook because sugar syrup boiling over in your microwave is not something you want to see. 

Drizzle the oil mixture over the oat mixture and toss to combine. Drizzle the syrup mixture over the oats mixture, and toss to mix well. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Sprinkle about 2/3 of your frozen chocolate-chip/M&M/marshmallow mixture over the oats and toss gently to distribute. Dump the whole mixture into your pan and spread and press evenly. If one part is a little thicker than another, make sure it's the edges. Sprinkle your remaining chocolate/candy mixture evenly over the surface and press gently. 

Bake for 30-45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. You want your bark to be golden brown in the center or it won't be crunchy. Cool on a wire rack before breaking into irregular pieces and storing airtight. It'll keep about a week. I mean, theoretically. In our house, it gets scarfed down in a couple days, and it only lasts that long if I ration it. (Recipe adapted from Best Lunch Box Ever by Katie Morford.)

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