Father's Day Picnic and S'More Cookie Bars

Happy Father's Day!  First I want to name off a few things that make me and my dad just alike... 
1. We both ride motorcycles
2. He has been making beer forever, and he's gonna help me make my beer
3. He likes to ride his bike everywhere, as do I! We are both seasoned RAGBRAI vets.
4. We share shoes (I have a pair of his cowboy boots, and he's wearing my shoes in this pic)
5. We are both excellent fisherpeople. 

I went over to Ames for a little picnic with my dad, and I fudged my eating local just a smidge to make these INSANE s'more cookie bars. 

It was well worth it, and I'd much rather spend an hour making these with my mom than picking up a box of Oreos to finish our meal... 

Photo by Miss Tracy Arthur

Now, don't get me wrong... I don't have any dilusions that these puppies are good for you in any way, or lack any of that fat and sugar that's in the Oreos, I just wanted to point out what you're actually eating, because you're not mixing them yourself, so you might not know.

Plus, don't these look much more appetizing than cold, hard oreos? 

I found the recipe on Pinterest from Amandeleine's Blog. 

S’mores Cookie Bars

Adapted from Always With Butter

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 11 oz. dark chocolate chunks
• 1 1/4 cup mini marshmallows, divided
• 3 regular (or 2 large) sized Hershey bars, broken into pieces
• 2 sleeves (boxes usually come with 3) graham crackers, broken into squares

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Incorporate vanilla then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Fold in dark chocolate chunks and 1 cup of marshmallows.
6. Lay out graham crackers on a large rimmed baking sheet leaving no gaps between them. Using an ice cream scoop, place balls of cookie dough on the graham crackers. Press out the dough to spread it out, but don’t worry about gaps as the dough will spread and fill the gaps in the oven.
7. Bake for 5 minutes then press Hershey pieces and 1/4 cup marshmallows on top. Bake for 5-7 more minutes.
8. Cool bars in pan. Cut through the cookie layer into squares, making sure to cut where the graham crackers meet. Store at room temperature in an air-tight container.

 They sure are a beauty to behold. 

We also ate actual food on our picnic...  And 99% local, might I add. 

The only thing that wasn't local was the sour cream and onion chips from Minnesota...  I ate one, but didn't indulge myself.  I had to save room for dessert. 

 Burgers (there's one in there... the South Union Bakery bun is just giant) Potatoes with onions and garlic scapes. 

A little homemade wine. Yeah, that's how we roll in my family. We make our own booze. 

Pretty awesome Father's Day if I do say so myself.  My dad picked the concept, I planned it and my mom and I made it happen. 

And then we played a little frisbee. 

I eventually joined after an action photo shoot. 

One of the best days I've had in a long time! And we made plans for a sequel in the next few weeks.