Pretty. Delicious. [Campfire]

Welcome to the first dish in our new series, a showcase of fabulous cooking styles and food that we find, well … pretty delicious.

Are you on Pinterest? We are wildly addicted to this creative, crafty sharing space. Particularly the recipes. Fueled by the launch today of our new kitchen accessories, we decided to choose some of our favorite pins and test them out once a month, plated and prettied with Vera Bradley’s colorful new garnishes.

First up: S’mores Bars with a side of Canyon. We saw this pin, taken from the blog Lovin’ from the Oven, and thought it was a perfect treat for time spent outside in the fall weather. The rich crust paired with gooey marshmallow is lovely. We suggest sharing this goody at your next glamping getaway.

S’mores Bars

From the blog Lovin’ from the Oven

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
4. Divide the dough in half and press half of the dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over the dough. (Two king-sized chocolate bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate if necessary to get it to fit in a single layer no more than ¼-inch thick.) Spread the marshmallow fluff over the chocolate. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).
5. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Bonus recipe!
Since this is our introductory installment of Pretty. Delicious., we thought you might enjoy an extra treat. Not only are we including a chocolate chip cookie recipe … we’re sharing Co-founder Barbara Bradley Baekgaard’s personal Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe! It doesn’t get much better than these monstrous, marvelous morsels.

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies

From the kitchen of Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, Vera Bradley Co-founder

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 12-ounce packages semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and salt.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and shortening in a large bowl until fluffy. Add the sugar, brown sugar, sour cream and vanilla, and beat to blend. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add the flour mixture and fold in chocolate chips.
4. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 tablespoons of batter per cookie. You can bake 6 cookies per baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 14 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through. Cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 3 dozen