Indoor S’more Bars

The s’more summer thing never really made much sense to me.

In Tenerife it’s too hot to go camping and toast marshmallows over a roaring fire during summer. Way too hot. During August, we spend most of our time indoors with the fans blaring and all the doors and windows tightly shut. It sounds strange, but I’m at my least-tan during the height of summer because it’s too hot to go outside!

To me, s’mores are much more appropriate for fall. It’s the perfect camping weather, pleasant enough during the day, with a light chill in the air on an evening that makes you want to grab a blanket and edge closer to the fire. Yes, s’mores are definitely fall food.

But what are you to do when it’s the peak of summer and you’re craving some delicious chocolatey toasted-marshmallowey s’more goodness? Make indoor s’more bars!

Indoor S’more Bars

Ingredients

3 eggs, separated

¼ cup white sugar

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

18 marshmallows

¼ cup chocolate sauce

½ cup crushed cookie crumbs

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and whisk together the egg yolks,sugar and vanilla until pale and thick. Sift the cocoa into the egg mixture and stir.

2. Beat the egg whites with an electric whisk until soft peaks form and gently fold them into the egg yolk mixture.

3. Spread the batter evenly into a 9”x9” greased dish and bake for around 25 minutes until firm. When fully cooked, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

4. When cooled, divide your chocolate base into 6 rectangles. Cut each of your marshmallows in half and place six on each chocolate base. Broil for a couple of minutes until the marshmallows are all yummy and toasty.

5. Remove from the oven, pour on some chocolate sauce and sprinkle on some cookie crumbs.

Has anyone tried substituting a fun-size Mars bar for regular chocolate in a s’more? I’m so trying that tonight!

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S’mores Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Nigella. (I’m not sure what the odds are that Nigella reads my food blog, but I’d like to think that they’re in my favor, so humor me and pretend, too.)

I was searching for a new chocolate cake recipe to try and was drawn in by your Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake. I decided to follow the measurements and recipe exactly – no matter how much I wanted to alter it to make it my own – in order to get the best result. What did I get? Two bricks. Not even thick bricks. Two very hard, very flat brown bricks which I sandwiched together with frosting and called a cake.

There are so many things that could have factored in to the disappointment of this cake – the fact that it is now over 100°F outside thanks to the calima, maybe my oven wasn’t fully preheated before I put the cake batter in or maybe I just suck at following recipes. However, after discovering that I can’t even bake a cake, my ego needs a boost so I’m going to blame you, Nigella. I’m sure you’ll get over it, just like I got over craving a wonderfully soft chocolate cake but ended up chomping on a chocolate paperweight.  

So forget the cake and let’s focus on the frosting. The gooey, sweet and sticky Toasted Marshmallow Frosting that just screams summer.

Oh yeah. Thankfully, the frosting turned out great. Toasting the marshmallows really makes a difference and adds a whole other level of flavor to this frosting, reminiscent of roaring fires and sleeping under the stars. This frosting sets really well, so if you’re looking for a gooey texture, bang your piece of cake in the microwave for about 10 seconds to get wonderfully gooey frosting.

S’mores Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients

2 cups marshmallows (I used my homemade marshmallows. You should, too!)

¼ cup butter

2 tablespoons cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Graham cracker

Recipe

1. Using your favorite chocolate cake recipe, bake your cake and leave to cool. Don’t frost the cake until it’s completely cool.

2. Place the marshmallows in a bowl that can withstand head and blast them with a mini blow torch (or flame thrower, as I prefer to call it) and toast until they’re brown – not black! – all over.

3. Using a hand-held processor, blend the marshmallows until you’ve got a thick gooey syrup. I wouldn’t recommend dumping the marshmallows in a blender to do this. If you haven’t got a hand-held processor, use a hand-held whisk or even a fork to blend.

4. Add in the butter, cream and vanilla and beat until well incorporated.

5. Use half the frosting to sandwich the two chocolate cake layers together and use the remaining frosting to coat the top of the cake. Sprinkle on crushed graham cracker crumbs and you’re done!

Be thankful I didn’t post the chocolate cake recipe I used whilst you’re eating a moist, soft chocolate cake and I’m building an extension using my left-over pieces. 

Here are the link parties I take part in.

Come and join the fun!

Goodbye Summer S'more Cups

One of America's most popular summertime treats, s'mores are no longer restricted to the BBQ. There are a vast number of new recipes circulating which incorporate s'mores - muffins, brownies, even cheesecakes! So I thought I would add my own recipe as a way to say goodbye to summer and welcome autumn.

I remember first being introduced to s'mores - on my 15th birthday when a group of friends and I went camping. We were all sat around a fire on a beach as dusk was rolling in and a friend born in the US pulled biscuits, marshmallows and chocolate out of her bag. The result was magical.

Boyfriend and I go camping all the time and authentic BBQ s'mores are one of the reasons I love it! Being without Graham crackers in Tenerife, I always substitute digestive biscuits, which seem to work just as well. 

There is something oh-so-satisfying about sitting next to a hot fire and biting into the warm crunchy biscuit, leaking gooey marshmallow and silky liquid chocolate all over your face and hands. 

They may not look it in the photos, but these s'more cups are really tiny - about 4cm wide and 2cm tall. The recipe yields 12 this size, if you want to make larger ones, you're going to have to double the ingredients or half the amount you wish to make. 

Ingredients

200g digestive biscuits

70g icing sugar

5tbsp melted butter

50g chocolate and 1tbsp butter

3 marshmallows

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Crush the digestives into fine crumbs - either by hand, in a bag with a rolling pin or in a food processor. 

2. Melt the butter in the microwave or on the hob then mix with the digestive crumbs and icing sugar. Mix well. Press the mix into the bottom and sides of small muffin molds, creating cups.

3. Pop them into the oven for five minutes, until they just begin to puff up. Whilst the cups are in the oven, melt the chocolate in a bowl above a pan of simmering water with 1 tbsp of butter. At the same time, quarter each of the marshmallows with scissors.

4. Share half of the melted chocolate mixture between the cups and then place a quarter of a marshmallow on top of each one. Replace in the oven for 2 minutes, or until the marshmallows just begin to brown.

5. Remove from the oven and share the rest of the chocolate mixture between the cups, spooning a little on the top of each marshmallow. 

These can be stored in the fridge or at room temperature in a sealed container.