s’mores

Please, sir, have s’more

/ Meg / 1 Comment

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Ever feel like you want the campfire experience … without having to, you know, build a campfire?

A friend recently found this take on s’mores bars — a family-friendly bar dessert that is simple to pull together, cuts cleanly, and pleases a crowd. Made similarly to Rice Krispie Treats, these are a sticky winner perfect for summertime get-togethers (socially-distant, of course … #2020).

I added rainbow sprinkles while mixing in the Golden Grahams. No one really needs a reason for sprinkles, but let’s get serious: this has been a very stressful six months. I need any touch of whimsy I can find.

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S’mores Bars

3 tbsp butter, plus more for pan
1 (12-oz.) package mini marshmallows
7 cups Golden Grahams cereal
3 Hershey’s milk chocolate bars, broken into pieces

Grease a 9″-x-13″ pan with butter. Melt 3 tbsp of butter in a large pot/dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add all but 1 cup of mini marshmallows, then stir until melted and smooth.

Remove from heat and quickly stir in Golden Grahams, making sure the cereal is evenly coated. Press into pan and top with chocolate pieces and remaining cup of mini marshmallows.

Heat broiler and bake until marshmallows are toasted, about 2 minutes.

Allow to set at least 30 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

Recipe from Delish

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S’mores cupcakes? Put a little teddy in it

/ Meg / 12 Comments

While I’ve stalled out a bit on my whole “learning to cook” plans, I definitely have not given up on the baking side of things. Riding high off the success of our macaroons, I sauntered back into the kitchen to try my hand at s’mores cupcakes last weekend.

Now, I’ve made an incarnation of these before — from a recipe I found on Bakerella’s (love her!) site. Y’all remember those? They were quite tasty and very, very chocolatey. It was probably all that cocoa powder I had to add.

These were faster, less intensely chocolatey — and cuter, honestly. I mean, teddy grahams? Stuck in homemade frosting? I couldn’t resist. You’ll see that I used miniature chocolate chips both in the cupcake batter and in the frosting instead of chopping up chocolate bars. You know, ’cause I’m a little lazy. They turned out great and I had plenty to share with my hungry family members, boyfriend and coworkers. Loved universally, my coworker’s 12-year-old daughter already told me that I “must make these again!”

And hey, who am I to disappoint the kids, you know?


S’mores cupcakes

Recipe from BettyCrocker.com

Ingredients for cupcakes:
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
4 bars (1.55 oz each) milk chocolate candy, finely chopped

Ingredients for frosting:
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons milk
1 bar (1.55 oz) milk chocolate candy, if desired
24 bear-shaped graham crackers, if desired

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Fold in graham cracker crumbs and chopped chocolate bars. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

2. Bake 18 to 23 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

3. Remove and discard lid and foil seal from jar of marshmallow creme. To soften marshmallow creme for easy removal from jar, microwave on High 15 to 20 seconds. In large bowl, beat marshmallow creme, butter and powdered sugar on low speed until blended. Beat in enough milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to make frosting spreadable. Spread over tops of cupcakes. Divide chocolate bar into rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally in half and place on top of each cupcake. Top each cupcake with bear-shaped cracker. After frosting has set, store loosely covered at room temperature.


Please, ma’am… can I have s’more?

/ Meg / 20 Comments

OK, I know that was a lame joke… but I don’t know any other way to describe these delicious S’more Cupcakes by Bakerella other than to say that the moment you finish your first one, you’ll already be thinking about the next. And the next.

I’ve gotten a little more adventurous in the kitchen lately, trying my hand at homemade soup, pasta dishes and, now, dessert. These cupcakes took me a little less than two hours to craft, start to finish, but that’s partially because I started out with very little clue what was going to be required of my limited skills . . . particularly when I had to actually break out the mixer. I’ve done it before — and it wasn’t too traumatic — but I try not to get too arrogant about what I’m actually capable of making.

But these turned out great! After I mixed up the two separate batters and carefully combined everything with the marshmellow and graham cracker topping, they were already looking very pretty . . . and when I popped them out of the oven? My little food photographer’s heart started pounding!

If you have the time and don’t mind the fact that these won’t be on your counter for very long at all, I definitely recommend whipping up a batch.

And I may have had one of these for breakfast this morning . . . Trying not to dwell on what that says about my willpower.


S’more Cupcakes

original recipe by Bakerella

Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup oil
6 jumbo marshmallows cut in half, plus more for decorating

Graham Cracker Crumb topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together with a wire whisk. Separate the mixture in half into two bowls.

Stir cocoa into one bowl and the graham cracker crumbs into the other. Add 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 cup oil to the cocoa mixture and beat on medium until combined. Repeat adding the same ingredients to the graham cracker crumb flour mixture.

Prepare the graham cracker crumb topping. Add the brown sugar and crumbs in a small bowl and pour on the melted butter. Stir until combined.

Pour a little graham cracker cake batter into the bottom of your baking cups and then sprinkle the topping mixture lightly on the surface. Place a marshmallow half on top and then cover the marshmallow with the chocolate cake batter until it is about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with more topping mixture.

Bake cupcakes for about 15 minutes. Place a cookie sheet underneath when you bake just in case.

Recipe will make at least 12 cupcakes (I made 16 with my batter).