Happy Birthday Deputy Handsome!

in our
younger
days :)

today is Deputy Handsome's 30th birthday! We are celebrating by him taking the day off work :) It has been great having him home today and I've been treating him to special meals all day ... his favorite donuts this morning (come on, he's a cop! of course he loves donuts), yummy Italian sausage rolls for lunch and tonight I'm making ribs. But I wanted to share with you what I made instead of a cake this year. It is quite possibly the best dessert I've ever eaten: S'mores Cookie Bars! Having grown up in HB, beach bonfires and s'mores are part of my DNA. We've been trying to recreate the yummyness this summer using our gas range, but it just isn't the same. I was thrilled to find this super delicious recipe for s'mores cookies and I knew Deputy Handsome would like them because he gobbles up anything with marshmallow or graham in it. He even gets graham crumbs as his one topping on frozen yogurt.
These cookie bars are perfect cookie consistency - crunchy at first, then soft with a chewy marshmallowy-chocolaty middle and to top it off, I had every ingredient in the house already (thanks to the early summer graham, marshmallow, chocolate sale promotions). Delicious and straight from the pantry ... sounds like a happy birthday indeed!!
We'll be celebrating this weekend with a big friends and family party and I'm planning to make ahead 100% in the next few days. More on that later!!