S'mores

When I was young I belonged to Blue Birds and Campfire Girls. My mother was a counselor while my sister and I were members and we all got to go to Campfire Camp up around Monarch, Mont. It was there that I was first introduced to S’mores. The other day I received the recipe for S’mores Cupcakes in my email and it got me wondering how many other recipes I could find with the S’more theme. Well.... I’m thinking that there will be “S’mores, the Sequel” as there are quite a few.

S’mores Cupcakes

Paper cupcake liners work best for these cupcakes. Foil liners trap moisture, resulting in gummy, soggy cupcakes.
Makes: 12 cupcakes
1 1/2 c. powdered graham cracker crumbs - (about 12 whole graham crackers)
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. baking soda
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter - room temperature
1 c. sugar
3 eggs - room temperature
1 T. molasses
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 recipe Chocolate Ganache and Marshmallow Topping
2 c. marshmallow creme - can be substituted for the marshmallow topping
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners.
For the cupcakes, whisk together graham crumbs, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl; set aside.
Cream butter and sugar in a bowl with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until incorporated.
Mix in molasses and vanilla.
Alternately add graham mixture and buttermilk (starting and ending with the graham mixture) until combined.
Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full of batter. Bake cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 25–30 minutes; cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes to a rack to cool.
To assemble, spread 2 t. Chocolate Ganache over top of each cupcake, then pipe on Marshmallow Topping.
Prepare the ganache first, then whip up the marshmallow topping while the chocolate sets up.
FOR THE GANACHE:
1/3 c. heavy cream
2 t. light corn syrup
4 oz. milk chocolate - finely chopped
FOR THE MARSHMALLOW TOPPING:
1 pkg. unflavored gelatin - (.25 oz.)
1/4 c. cold water
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1/4 c. water
1/8 t. kosher salt
1 t. vanilla extract
For the ganache, heat cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium until simmering. Pour cream over chocolate in a bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Whisk mixture until chocolate is smooth; let stand until thickened, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
For the marshmallow topping, sprinkle gelatin over cold water in bowl of stand mixer; set aside.
Boil sugar, corn syrup, ¼ cup water, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until mixture reaches 240° on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes; immediately remove from heat.
Slowly drizzle syrup down side of mixer bowl into gelatin mixture, mixing with whisk attachment on low speed. Once all syrup is added, gradually increase speed to high.
Whip mixture until billowy and lukewarm, about 6 minutes.
Add vanilla to mixture during last minute of whipping.

S’mores on a Stick

2 c. graham cracker crumbs
4 Marshmallows
4 c. semisweet chocolate chips
Special equipment:
4 cocktail picks
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the graham cracker crumbs in a shallow dish and set aside. Spear the marshmallows with the cocktail picks.
Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Dip the marshmallow sticks in the chocolate, one at a time, and let any excess drip off. Roll in the graham cracker crumbs and place on the prepared baking sheet. Serve immediately. Or if you’d like the chocolate to set, refrigerate about 1 hour before serving.

S’Mores Bars

1 c. of butter, room temperature
1/2 c. of brown sugar
1 c. of sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 2/3 c. of flour
1 1/2 c. of graham cracker crumbs
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 regular sized Hershey bars
1-7 ounce jar of marshmallow creme
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of your chosen pan. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to your butter mixture at low speed until combined.
Divide your dough in half. Press one half of your dough into the bottom of your pan in an even layer.
Next, take your marshmallow creme and spread it across the crust. (I find it’s easiest to try to dump it all out, kind of spreading it in piles as I go [not one large clump], and then gently spread it out.)
Evenly distribute your crumbled chocolate bar pieces over the marshmallow creme.
Finally, place your remaining dough on top of the chocolate pieces. This is best accomplished by rolling out your dough into an even sheet. If you use a pan smaller than a 9×13, you can place it inside of a gallon-size Ziploc bag and roll it out (it’s too small for a 9×13 pan [near-about perfect width but too short] but you can do 2 pieces and press them together to make a larger piece). You can also put your dough between 2 pieces of wax paper and roll it out that way. However you choose to do it, remove the top layer of your plastic/wax paper/whatever and carefully flip this over onto the dish. Once this is done, you can remove the remaining piece of plastic/wax paper/whatever. Trim up the edges (I do this by running a knife along the edge to even everything out) and then lightly press the edges down to seal it all in.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly browned. And do your best to wait until it’s almost completely cooled before you cut into it. Print this post