Graham crackers splinter upon bite impact, resulting in a s'more experience I'd like to have s'less. So with help from some friends, I recreated a campfire in my lab to experiment with improvements.
marshmallows
Want to have fun cooking with your kids, and get them so high on sugar that they'll clean up the mess? If you're like me, you love s'mores. But after all these years of campfire greatness, I think they need some new ideas.
Dan and Mark come in from the cold of winter to talk hot chocolate, whether made with milk, cream, or even water and Swiss Miss. They debate marshmallows, whipped cream, booze and other warm, weighty issues. /mark Photo: Flickr CC / scottdshaffer
Alongside our s'mores episode, where we heard clever new ideas from a wise young Sporkful fan (and first member of the Sporkful Junior Eaters Society), Dan proposed an ingenious solution to core s'more problems. It addresses the structural deficiencies of the graham cracker, as well as the varied melting points of marshmallow and chocolate. Dan's now much-lauded solution involved employing pie crust
This story of s'more improvisation didn't quite fit in our latest episode, but you might find it useful, especially if you're ever craving s'mores in the proximity of a bar, oilcan inferno and an Asian restaurant. It can be done. We have done it. /mg
We move beyond the traditional combo of marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker to experiment with alternative ingredients like peanut butter and ginger snaps, and alternative structures like mini graham cracker pie crusts. See photos of Nathaniel's back yard research here, and Dan's mini pie crust approach here.