So let me preface this post with reminding you, looks aren’t everything. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. And whatever other Pinterest quotes in front of sunsets that I can find to say that these cookies taste delicious, but might not look quite as nice as I wanted them to. So the whole reason I picked Colleen over the other applicants for the room two years ago, is because of our mutual love for all things s’mores. We think the S’mores flavored iced coffee at Sidewalk Cafe was legitimately laced with cocaine because it was so insanely good you would wait 35 minutes in the blazing sun on a Saturday morning just to get some. I couldn’t bring myself to text Colleen a pic of these cookies tonight though because now that she’s not my live-in taste tester that would just be cruel and unusual. Because while on the outside these look a little meh, they still pack a mean punch of S’mores flavor.

You probably don’t remember, but I have attempted S’mores cookies before, about two years ago. The blog post was called “S’mores cookie experiment fail” because that’s exactly what it was. Such a fail that I ended up just chucking all of the dough into the trash. The issue is with the friggin marshmallows. I don’t like the dehydrated ones. But if you use regular mini marshmallows, if they are exposed on the outside of the cookie, they end up melting and getting chewy and the cookie kind of falls apart.

So I had given up on these for a while, until I saw a brown butter s’mores chocolate chunk cookie from one of my favorite food bloggers A Picky Palate. Her pictures came out amazing. So either she has mastered the marshmallow, or she did what I did and just took the best looking few cookies and only took pictures of them. Either way, I would still recommend trying this, because it was by no means an epic fail. It was just not perfect, which of course drives me nuts with my Type-A personality.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup ground graham crackers, about 8 full crackers
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups mini marshmallows
• 2 cups chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brown the butter in a medium saucepan and set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes.

Step 2: Add brown + granulated sugars to the mixing bowl with the cooled brown butter. Beat on a medium speed until well incorporated. Add in the eggs and vanilla, and mix until combined.

Step 3: Add flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, and salt. If you don’t have a food processor or didn’t buy graham cracker crumbs, put the graham crackers in a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.

Step 4: Add in marshmallows and chocolate chips, and mix on a low speed just until evenly incorporated.

Step 5: Using a larger cookie scoop, place dough on a sil-pat or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 12-15 minutes.

Step 6: The marshmallows will inevitably ooze out, so as soon as you take them out of the oven, use a small spatula or a butter knife to push the oozing marshmallows back around the cookies. (Or just eat the hot crunchy marshmallowness, because yolo right?). Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet to set for at least 10 minutes before moving them over to a wire rack to finish cooling.

This is what about half of them came out looking like at first:

 

But with a little cleanup of the marshmallow ooze, they are looking much more photogenic! 

I was happy when I read the Picky Palate’s recipe in more detail, because it sounded like she had some of the same marshmallow issue that I did. Which means nobody’s perfect when it comes to baking with marshmallows.

So all in all, I would say this is definitely a recipe worth trying as long as you don’t freak out at the marshmallow ooze; just try to fix it up right when they come out of the oven.

I have a lot of pictures on my phone from the past week so I am going to have to pick and choose what to include in the highlights of this week. Mostly because it’s 10:30 and I am getting tired. and I have a bengay patch on my right shoulder so I smell like an old lady while wrapped in a snuggie watching the Tony’s. (still single, shocker I know right?) So, if you want to keep up with the Salted Cookie in photos all day every day, make sure to follow on instagram: @thesaltedcookie. Tell your friends.

This is the first Sunday night in a while where I don’t have a wicked case of the Sunday Scaries. I took Friday off because I needed a day to get a bunch of things done, because the next 3 weeks at work are going to be brutal. And I didn’t leave the Cape until almost 4 today, so I feel like I got 3 full sunshine-filled days down there, which is probably why I am a little more relaxed tonight than normal. Let’s hope I can channel this tomorrow morning when I get into work.

Firstly, I could totally be a stay-at-home Mom. Or an 80 year old. Whichever comes first. Friday morning after bootcamp I drove down to the Cape early morning and got my car serviced at Toyota in Hyannis because it’s cheaper than getting it done at the Lexus dealership. And I was pleasantly surprised the formerly ghetto Toyota service center had been totally redone. They had like 20 lazy-boy recliners and I got to watch Good Morning America + Kelly and Michael with a bunch of senior citizens. Which I probably haven’t done in over 3 years. And it was great. When the service guy came over to ask if I wanted some $50 filters in my car, I was like yeah yeah do what you need, but shhh Kelly Ripa is talking.

So we had some family visiting from Connecticut + Florida this weekend. One good thing to note, is both of my aunts tell me they read my blog every week along with my 14-year old boy cousin, so at least now I have 5 loyal readers including my parents. (oh, and my Cape friend Caroline’s mom!). So 6, loyal fans. So before everyone arrived on Friday, I enjoyed my day off with my mom and had a nice lunch by the water in Harwichport at Brax Landing, my old waitress stomping grounds. The lobster roll there is unreal. I like it over a garden salad because it’s so huge in the sandwich form that you can’t eat it like a lady. And I’m working on being more ladylike.

Speaking of being un-lady like, I may have taught my 14-year old cousin Ryan a new word this weekend that I use all the time. Basically, the Southie version of the eff word. Like how we say Lobstah and Pahk and Wicked? Today I asked Ryan (my taste tester for the day) what he thought of the cookies, to which he replied “pretty fahkin good.” Woops.

For the record, I have been teaching him ghetto habits since he was a wee little nugget. This is the last time we hung out at Disney World in 2008. 

And now he’s 14. And I kicked his butt in mini-golf. And by kicked his butt, I mean, somehow our parents beat us but I beat him, so that’s all that matters.

I honestly can’t tell you how friggin great the weather was this weekend. Last night we had an awesome sunset. Skip drove us all out to the middle of the lake, he turns the boat engine off so we just sit and float quietly while watching this sunset. And by quietly, I mean that I find obnoxious songs to play on my phone because I can’t sit still or just enjoy a peaceful moment. So after playing “We’re on a boat” (one of my personal faves) I played “Circle of Life” from the Lion King, because that’s what the final moments of the sunset look like. And then I played “Hakuna Matata” because why not?

So on the topic of Hakuna Matata, this morning I made a Hakuna Frittata. (ba da boom, cha) Now I’m making jokes like Skip! But I emailed my personal chef the other day (my uncle jimmy) for some frittata recipes, because if you need to see a man about a recipe, you go see Uncle Jimmy. (if you need to see a man about getting an ex boyfriend to sleep with the fishes, he’s also the man to see about that.) So with some coaching from Uncle Jimmy, I made my first frittata this morning after a nice 3.5 mile run. And let me just say, HAKUNA FRITTATA, what a wonderful breakfast, HAKUNTA FRITTATA it means no worries for the rest of your days, it’s our carbohydrate-free breakfast for me, hakuna frittata.

One day I will put things other than cookies on this blog. And I will start with this frittata. This one had a bunch of leftover food in it, which is why frittatas are awesome. This one had roasted potatoes, red pepper, onion, spinach, cheese and some bacon. Nom nom friggin nom. It’s even good reheated for dinner.

Okay, I realize you guys are starting to play the music like my Tony acceptance speech is too long, so I will wrap this post up with some nice inspirational thoughts. When mom and I installed these shelves in the kitchen, I figured I would collect some Cape Cod swagger to really pull the room together. So I had picked up a few things over the past month. But then I found this sign in Chatham Friday afternoon and it just felt right. Probably because I really like french fries, so I can relate to seagulls with french fries making their day.

So take that inspiration into the week, will ya? Happy Sunday.