Wicked Weekend #4

If you don’t know my family, then you wouldn’t know that for every peanut butter recipe I create, or BORROW, I also have to make one without. 

You see, K….my youngest….is allergic to peanuts and ALL tree nuts.  My problem is….I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER!     The shame of it.       I should have banished it from my household when he was two years old.   Hold your horses…..don’t start yelling at your computer screen saying what an awful mother I am for having it in the house, AND baking with it.  K can be around it…smell it…and NOT have an anaphylactic reaction, requiring his epi-pen.  He doesn’t require a special table at the middle school…or junior high in my day (when did they change the name and WHY?  What was wrong with  junior high?….personally I think it sounds more grown up than middle school).  Once again, no one asked for my opinion!!  The ONLY time he would have a problem with it is if he ingested it!!  So apologize right now for the few curse words you thru at me a minute ago…. 🙂

Let’s get back to S’MORES!

Last weekend for Easter I tried to turn my peanut butter filling into “eggs”, completely failed….resulting in a crap load of peanut butter cups that PT is still on my case about.  Is it my fault he can’t walk past them without grabbing one…or two…or four?  Before I made these, however, I was making S’mores for K.  I have done the indoor way, graham cracker, bar of chocolate, marshmallow and another graham cracker zapped in the microwave.  I have also used Pampered Chef’s way of putting the graham cracker crust into a mini tart pans, followed with a half a jumbo marshmallow and the top dipped in chocolate.  What I wanted is the little s’more bite that I had at my cousin Mae’s 4th of July party 8 years ago.  Yep, I still remember that cute little s’more that popped right into your mouth.  No ooey, gooey mess…and definitely dangerous to the waist line.  Dial back into Christmas 2011, I was in my local Kroger’s and came across this wonderful creation by Kraft.

Where have you been all these years?  I promptly bought 3 bags, and a few days later bought another 3 bags.  Many s’mores later, and many happy children later…I was down to 1 bag at Easter.  No problem you say….just go buy more….. wish I could….. I CAN’T FIND THEM ANYWHERE!     Kroger’s, Walmart and Meijer’s….NADA!  Is this just a seasonal item, or is Southwest Ohio just not with the program?

Lay your graham cracker’s on a cutting board and cut the excess off.  You want the graham cracker to be even with your marshmallow.  At this point you and the kids can snack on the “ends”, or you can put them in a container to make a graham cracker crust later.

This is what they should look like!  Now we are going to melt the chocolate.  This isn’t always the easiest, so let me give you some tips that have worked for me. 

 I prepare a couple of my large cookie sheets with parchment paper and lay all of the graham cracker pieces in a row.  Put a small amount of chocolate on each one and seal with a marshmallow.

You are now ready to dunk the s’mores.  There will not be any pictures of this process as I was all by my lonesome, and dipping anything into chocolate can become VERY messy!  Just trust me when I say, have a second cookie sheet, layered with parchment, ready to go for the finished s’mores.  I have dipping chocolate utensils, but for these I find it easier to use a fork.  Dunk the graham cracker and marshmallow into the chocolate and turn to coat.  Tap the fork onto the side of the double boiler to remove any excess….on average I do 5-6 taps….hence the mess, as the chocolate tends to ‘spray’ up your fingers and hand.  Below is the finished product.

And a closer shot…..

You will need to let them set up.  If you are in a hurry, you can put them in the refrigerator, but I prefer to leave them at room temperature for a few hours. Aren’t they beautiful?

Ingredients:
Stackable Marshmallow, OR Jumbo Marshmallow’s cut in half
Milk Chocolate, either Hershey Jumbo bars or Almond Bark- melted
Graham Crackers

Directions:
This will be very generalized, and for any hints and tips please refer to the tutorial above. 

– Make sure your graham cracker and marshmallow are of equal size. 

– Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate.  Put a small amount of melted chocolate onto each graham cracker and lay the marshmallow on top and press lightly to seal.  Let these set up for a few minutes. 

– Using a fork, dunk the combo into the melted chocolate, tapping any excess off.  Put the s’more onto a parchment covered cookie sheet.  Refrigerate, or leave at room temperature to set up. 

– Store S’mores in a tightly sealed container. Layer with waxed paper if needed.

MANGIA….MANGIA

Related posts:

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups! Chubby Hubby Truffles!! Butterfinger and Caramel Bites!