S’mores From Scratch

Hi, this is Stephanie Masquelier, operations manager of Hands On Gourmet and pastry chef and business owner of Flours, a custom wedding cake business.  I have stopped in at the H.O.G. Food Blog to tell the tale of our recent S’mores experiment.  Homemade graham crackers have been on my list of recipes to test for a while now, so when I had the opportunity to experiment with a new S’mores recipe with Chef Stephen Gibbs at Hands On Gourmet, I couldn’t wait to get started.

But first, a little S’more history! S’mores have been around for almost a century. Yes, believe it or not, a Girl Scout troupe in the 1920’s was first to publish a recipe for this novel, American treat. And, get this, August 10th is National Smore’s Day! Most of us know, the easiest way to devour a s’more is to sit around a campfire and use pre-packaged ingredients. But is this the tastiest way? I wondered if it could be better. And aren’t s’mores often sticky and messy to assemble? Lastly, do they promise a perfect, gooey bite for every mouthful? Well, not always.

The challenge was to bring this nostalgic and fun dessert to the dinner table with a gourmet lift and sophisticated presentation!

We began baking the graham crackers two different ways: rolled flat on a sheet tray, and formed into mini tartlet molds. The entire crew at HOG absolutely loved the buttery flavor of these. No joke … when the crackers came out of the oven we were all like seagulls in AT&T Park devouring food leftovers at the end of the 9th inning. And once the crackers cooled, the texture became even crispier and chewier - just waiting to be layered with a soft and sweet marshmallow.

Once the marshmallow was completely cool from mixing and the chocolate was melted, we started the creative, assembly process. The marshmallow was unbelievably rich and creamy, and its smooth texture made it effortless to evenly distribute over the graham crackers. Then we filled the tartlet shell using a pastry bag, which, happily, kept our hands free of stickiness. The chocolate was integrated intermittently; sometimes we brushed it on the graham cracker first, drizzled it over the top of the marshmallow, or dipped half of the s’more in chocolate as a final touch. Either way, with this recipe you’re certain to have a delicious, and easy-to-eat s’more in the comfort of your own home!

H.O.G S’mores
Homemade graham cracker, dark chocolate, toasted homemade marshmallow

Serves 8-10 people

Ingredients

For the graham crackers
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¼ pound butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons molasses
3 tablespoons honey
¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
cinnamon sugar (1/2 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon)

For the marshmallow
3 cups sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup honey
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
10 sheets bronze gelatin
6 egg whites

To finish
1 pound melted dark chocolate

Instructions
For the graham crackers
Combine all the dry ingredients except the cinnamon sugar. Work the butter into the dry ingredients to form a coarse meal. Combine the wet ingredients and add to the dough. Mix to combine. Flatten out the dough, wrap in plastic and chill until the dough firms up. Dust a work surface with flour and roll the dough out to 1/8” thick sheet, dusting with extra flour as needed. Chill the sheet of dough. Cut into squares and dock the dough with a fork. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Oil tartlet molds and form the graham cracker dough into them. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes. When cool, remove the shells from the molds.

For the Marshmallow
Bloom the gelatin sheets in cold water. Cook the sugar, honey, vanilla seeds and corn syrup to soft ball stage (230 degrees F). While the syrup cooks, begin to whip the egg whites in an electric mixer. Time the cooking of the syrup to reach soft ball as the whites reach soft peaks. When the syrup reaches soft ball stage and the whites reach soft peaks, remove the syrup from the heat and stir the bloomed gelatin into the syrup.

As the eggs mix, slowly pour the gelatin syrup into the whites. Whip on high speed until cool. When cool, fill the marshmallow mixture into a piping bag and pipe marshmallow onto the graham cracker squares.

To Finish
Pipe the marshmallow into the shells and carefully torch the tops. If you don’t have a torch, place the s’mores under a broiler for 30 seconds, or until golden brown and dip partially into melted chocolate.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 9:51 am and is filed under Food Experiences, Sweet Treats, Tips and Advice , chocolate, graham cracker, marshmallow, piping, s'more. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.