As it so often happens, my kids wanted a snack.  Same with all kids, isn’t it?  They’re all about the snacks!  I didn't really have anything they wanted, so it must have been time to hit the grocery store when I made these. 

Let’s take a trip through the pantry, shall we?  Hmmm…besides all of the regulars (flour, sugar, baking stuff, cooking staples, etc.), I managed to scrounge up a small amount of mini marshmallows, a few lonely graham crackers, and big bonus--two Hershey bars! 

How in the heck had all four of my four kids missed the chocolate bars?   I must have hidden them really well!  I should work in witness protection or something where you have to be ridiculously good at hiding things that people really want.  “What?  You witnessed a major crime and need to go into hiding?   Let’s put you up on the top shelf in the pantry behind the grown up cereal.  No one will ever check there.  It’s true!”  Ha!

These are super easy to make.  It’s the usual method--stir the dry, whisk the wet, add the two together.  I toss the extras (marshmallows, chocolate, and grahams) into the dry ingredients just to make sure everything’s coated and not stuck together when they hit the wet ingredients. 

I decided to make the muffins themselves chocolate.  Chocolate overload paired with the Hershey bars?  No way!   There’s never too much chocolate in any one thing.  Ever.  They’re not sweet at all, either--just right!  You get hits of the milk chocolate, the pieces of graham cracker (which you want to be able to see, so don’t pulverize them, ok?), and the sweet, little bursts of marshmallows.  Which,  by the way, are the reason you don’t want to leave these to sit in the muffin tin for too long.  If there are any melty mallows on the edges of the muffins,  they’ll hang on to that pan for dear life once they’re completely cool.

Chocolate S'mores Muffins
makes 12

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup mini marshmallows
2 (1.55 oz) Hershey milk chocolate bars, broken into chunks
3 whole graham crackers, broken into chunks, but not too small
2 eggs
1 cup milk
6 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan.
In a medium bowl, stir all of the dry ingredients together (flour though brown sugar).
Gently fold in the marshmallows, chocolate chunks, and graham cracker pieces.

In a smaller bowl, whisk all of the wet ingredients (eggs through vanilla).
Stir the wet mixture into the dry, and gently fold till everything is incorporated.
Divide mixture between the 12 muffin cups, and bake for about 17-18 minutes.
Do the toothpick test.  Should be clean.
After baking, cool on a rack for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges, remove the muffins from the pan, and continue cooling on the rack.

YOU MUST remove them from the pan after the 5 minutes or so, or they'll want to stay in the pan forevaaah!
Trust me.

The verdict:

• The kids (and grown-ups) loved these!  They’re a quick snack that incorporates the elements of a S’more without the sticky mess. 
• They’re not too sweet, believe it or not!  The cocoa in the batter adds the chocolate without the sweetness. 
• These make me want to bake with milk chocolate more often, which is something I rarely do.
• All in all, a nice little tasty snack that comes together very quickly.