Homemade Marshmallows + Homemade Graham Crackers

Levi loves marshmallows.  He likes them in his pancakes, his oatmeal, by themselves in a big blue bowl, and roasted over the flame with a big hunk of bittersweet chocolate and a graham cracker. Marshmallows are his vice.   


Marshmallows are really very easy to make.  They take about 20 minutes to make and assemble.  I like to make toasted coconut marshmallows, chocolate covered marshmallows, rocky road and flavored marshmallows.  However, I like them best roasted and  wedged between a homemade graham cracker and some really good chocolate.  Who out there doesn't like a s'more?  

S'mores evoke so many emotions.  Childhood, camp fires, camp, and the joy you see when your child eats one for the very first time.  Melted marshmallows on a stick!  Come on....so good!

We get invited to a lot of bbq's during the summer months and I hate to arrive empty handed.  At the beginning of the summer I make a huge batch of Nancy Silverton's Graham crackers (see original post, here ).  The dough is really sticky and somewhat hard to work with, but the final result is unbeatable.  I make and shape the dough.  Cut them out to size and then freeze the shaped graham crackers until I am ready to take them to someones house.  The day of, I bake off a dozen or so and package it all up with the marshmallows and some chocolate bars. It's the perfect hostess gift!

Homemade Marshmallows

adapted from Martha Stewart

yield: 48 marshmallows

ingredients:

3 tablespoons +  1 1/2 tsp. unflavored gelatin

3 cups sugar

1 1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

sifted powdered sugar

instructions:

• spray a 9 x 13" baking dish with cooking spray.  line with parchment allowing for some overhang.  spray the parchment. set aside

• put sugar, corn syrup, salt, 3/4 cups water in a heavy duty saucepan.  bring to a boil over high heat. stirring to dissolve the sugar. cook without stirring, until mixture registers 238* on a candy thermometer.

•while that is cooking, put 3/4 cup cold water into the bowl of your electric mixer and sprinkle with the gelatin.  soften for 5 minutes.

• using the whisk attachment on your blender, turn on low speed and gradually add your hot syrup.  start on slow speed and once combined, increase the speed to ultimately the highest speed.  The mixture should be very stiff, mix for about 15 minutes.  Beat in vanilla to combine.  

• pour into prepared dish and smooth with an off set spatula.  

• set aside, uncovered for about 3 hours or overnight

• sift 1 cup of powdered sugar in a jelly roll pan.  cut marshmallows with a well oiled knife.  i like my marshmallows 1" squared.  roll the cut marshmallows in the powdered sugar.  if you need more sugar, sift more into the pan.

• store in a container for 3 days or freeze for 2 months.

S'mores = Summer!

A brief summary of what summer represents:

• the beach
• the ice cream man
• lazy day
• sleeping outside in a tent
• staying up late
• movie's under the stars (at Jeni's)
• family vacation
• no homework
• s'mores
• fireworks
• Dodger stadium

S'mores, baked in a pan.  Go figure.  I found a FANTASTIC  recipe for a s'mores bar. Although the action of putting the marshmallow on the stick, setting it over the campfire, burning it up is all fun and games, these bars, baked in the oven can't be beat.  I whipped up these, last minute, for a party that Eli was going to.  Because these are made in an 8" square pan, it doesn't really make enough (especially since I was eating them faster than I was cutting them).  I optimized my 2" squares.  After I cut them, I put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes, then cut them in triangles.  Instead of getting 16 squares, we had 32...just enough to go around!

One recipe won't make it to your party.  Double it!

S'mores Cookie Bars
adapted from bakedperfection
yield: 16 bars

ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temp
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/3 cups whole wheat white flour
3/4 cup graham crackers crumbs (about 7)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 3.5-oz bars valrhona bittersweet chocolate
1 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme (about 1 1/2 cup)

instructions:
• preheat oven to 350*.  grease an 8" square pan
• in a large bowl, cream butter & sugar until light. beat in eggs and vanilla.  in a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  add to butter mixture and mix on low speed until combined.
• divide dough in half. press half the dough into the bottom of the pan.  place chocolate bars, evenly over crust. spread marshmallow creme over chocolate.
• take the other half of the dough and and set on a silpat mat. place a piece of plastic wrap on top.  roll it into an 8" square.  place square on top of marshmallow and press lightly, with the plastic wrap, into an even layer.
• bake 35 minutes or until light brown and crispy at the edges.

Bite Size S'mores

What could be better than homemade graham crackers, chocolate truffles and homemade marshmallow cream? NOTHING!

I have recently had the pleasure of working with Jamie Cantor of Platine Cookies. Eli has sampled most of her desserts and the one he just can't stop talking about are her little s'more bites. He has been begging me to make something similar.

I remember reading a recipe for graham crackers in Nancy Silverton's Pastries. As most everything from that book has been good, I choose to make her graham crackers. This dough is a mother to work with. It is very, very wet and super sticky. After rolling out part of the dough, I had trouble. I decided that it would be best to roll the rest of the dough onto parchment sheets and freeze until they got firm. When I took them out of the freezer I immediately cut them into small rounds and then rerolled the scraps and froze those. And repeated it until all the dough was gone. The last of the scraps I baked off and then threw in the Cuisinart and made crumbs. They will be used for the next cheesecake I make.

These baked quickly. They were a little more crispy than I would have liked, but the taste was oh-so good. I baked these for around 10 minutes, which I found was a bit too long. Next time, I will adjust.

For the chocolate layer, I made the truffles from Sherry Yard, Desserts by the Yard and they were easy and perfect. I froze them and then when ready to use put them atop the little graham crackers.

Lastly, I made an easy marshmallow frosting from the Martha Stewart website. Not nearly as good as the marshmallow from the last Daring Bakers challenge, but the MS marshmallow frosting was way less steps. I needed something quick and easy.

I do need some lessons in piping. My piping leaves much to be desired. Hence, my kids didn't care. They were simply happy that these were finally assembled and complete. All that was left to do was to to torch them and eat them....

Graham Crackers

Pastries from the La Brea Bakery

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp. Unbleached pastry flour or unbleached flour
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 tsp. Baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. Kosher salt
• 7 tbsp. Unsalted butter, cut into cubes and frozen
• 1/2 cup mild flavored honey
• 5 tbsp. Whole milk
• 2 tbsp. Pure vanilla extract

Topping

• 3 tbsp. Sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda & salt. Pulse or mix on low. Add the butter and pulse on and off until it is the consistency of coarse meal.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the honey, milk & vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and pulse until the dough barely comes together. It will be soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat the dough into a rectangle, 1” thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm; about 2 hours or overnight.

4. Prepare the topping, combine sugar and cinnamon and set a side.

5. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the fridge. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into along rectangle 1/8” thick. The dough will be sticky. Cut the dough to your desired size. Gather scraps together and re-roll. Place on parchment and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and chill until firm, 30-45 minutes. Repeat with other half of dough.

6. Adjust oven racks to upper and middle and turn oven on to 350*.

7. bake for 25 minutes until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets half way through.

Chocolate truffles

Desserts by the yard by Sherry Yard

Ingredients

• 8 oz. Bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. Unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp. Jack Daniels or whiskey

Directions

I adapted these for the kids. I omitted the whiskey and didn’t roll them as I wanted

To make s’mores. I also omitted the coating as I was going to coat them in marshmallow cream.

Make the truffles:

1. Place the bittersweet chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate and butter. Let sit for one minute. Using a rubber spatula, stir slowly from the center out. Be careful not to add too much air, about 2 minutes.

2. Add liqueur if using it. Allow the ganache to cool until it is firm. 4 hours in a 65* room or two hours in the refrigerator.

3. Once the ganache is firm, it can be formed into truffle balls. Using a piping bag, a mini ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, and make 1” blobs. If the truffles begin to warm, refrigerate for 10-15 minutes until firm.