Some important notes for perfect S’mores:
- Purchase one of these nifty S’more grills (pictured below, available at most camping supply stores) or use a piece of foil over the grill rack of your fire ring.
- Preheat your chocolate by placing on top of one of your graham cracker pieces on the grill.
- Wait until the fire has reduced the wood to hot coals or you will burn the bottom of your graham cracker and make it difficult to toast a marshmallow without turning it to carbon. Be patient -- life is too short to eat lousy S'mores.
- I give the chocolate preheat times in parentheses at the end of recipes. All times are approximate and based on using the same kind of chocolate we used. Various types melt very differently.
- Be extremely careful when picking the cracker and warmed chocolate up -- it will be pretty hot. Take the S’more griller OFF the fire and give it a minute or so to cool a bit before trying to touch it.
We owe a big hat tip to our friends AJ and Rachel for this one. A few years back we tried to roast a marshmallow Peep over a fire and found the results quite revolting. The problem was we got it too close to the flame and it burned. Then along came AJ to school us in the fine art of slow-roasting. If you hold said Peep at just the right distance (use a stick, not your hands!) and turn slowly (the Peep, not you -- no dance skills required here) you get a wonderful sort of creme brûlée effect. Add to that a chunk of Hershey’s Symphony with Toffee Bits, pre-melted by the fire and your palate will find a new definition of bliss. (pre-melt time: 2 mins.)
It is exactly as it sounds, a chunk of white chocolate (use the good stuff like Ghirardelli) and a few fresh raspberries with your toasted marshmallow. The result tastes a bit like cheesecake. I have nothing more to say. (pre-melt time: 4 mins.)
This recipe was the serendipitous result of the need to use up some fresh pineapple and simultaneously discovering a dark chocolate bar with almonds and coconut in it. A stroke of genius (plus having already eaten three bowls of chili and predicting a tummy ache) led to the addition candied ginger which totally took it up a notch or five. The construction is a bit complex so I’ll outline this one. Also, I have no idea where to tell you to get this particular chocolate bar that I used so I suggest just following this recipe. You could try using a Mounds Bar, but I think it would be too sweet.
- two graham crackers
- fresh pineapple slice
- small slice of candied ginger, to your taste
- dark chocolate
- 1 Tablespoon of shredded coconut
Layer the pineapple, ginger and coconut on one piece of graham cracker. Use the other piece as a base for warming the chocolate. Grill the pineapple while the chocolate is warming. To assemble, place the toasted marshmallow on the layer with the fruit, then top it with the chocolate-and-graham piece.
This concoction was surprisingly difficult to get right. Finding just the right kind of caramel without breaking the budget on gourmet candy shop treats proved harder than I imagined. We tried several options and in the end the winner was the one I expected to be the worst: Cadbury Caramello. Smoosh it a bit to let some of the caramel out then preheat for about two minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt or coarse kosher salt and assemble with your marshmallow. I tried this one with some of the bacon salt we picked up in Port Townsend and it was fine, but the bacon flavor is not strong and it got lost. I find it is just as good with plain old coarse salt.