Oven S'mores

There is something about S'mores that I love. We were a little disappointed when we made s'mores with our homemade graham crackers and homemade marshmallows. The graham crackers were far to flavorful and completely overwhelmed the marshmallows and chocolate. We tried roasting the marshmallows but their square shape didn't work as well (they're more rectangular and slightly thin). We made the first batch in the oven and I realized it wouldn't take much to make graham cracker-less s'mores the same way. I will give you both directions since they are quite similar. When cooled you can store them in a ziplock bag so they are available any time.

Oven S'mores
12 small squares of graham crackers (for store bought 6 crackers broken in half, gf graham crackers are 12)
Chocolate chips or chocolate bars
6 marshmallows
non-stick baking sheet

Preheat broiler in oven.
Place 6 graham crackers on baking sheet. Top with a square of chocolate that leaves about 1/2" of space from edge of cracker or place a single layer pile of chocolate chips (again leaving about 1/2 inch of space around the chocolate). Top with a marshmallow.
Put baking sheet in oven. Your oven rack should be in the second slot or 6-8 inches away (depending on oven). Broiler for 2-3 minutes. Remove when the marshmallows are golden but not too puffy (if they expand greatly, you over cooked them and they will be a sticky mess which is not bad tasting at all but tough to remove from pan). Top with remaining graham crackers and eat.

For graham cracker-less s'mores, omit the graham crackers and lay the chocolate directly on the baking sheet. Make sure your chocolate chips all touch the marshmallow if not using bar chocolate. Broil in oven (same as above). Because you do not have the graham cracker to hold together all the gooey goodness, you have to place the baking sheet in the freezer for several minutes. Don't let sit too long because the delicate flavor of the marshmallows will absorb freezer flavors. Use a stiff spatula (I use a cake frosting spatula) to pop the candies from the baking sheet. Enjoy.
This is a great way to eat the homemade marshmallows but can be done with storebought marshmallows as well.

Homemade Marshmallows

I had a busy fun fourth of July weekend. I got time to do lots of cooking and creating which helps me move this blog forward. There's something about spending time in the kitchen when there's nothing that has to be done. We BBQ'd for the 4th but it didn't really require a lot of preparation so everything I did in the kitchen was because I wanted to.
On the Feingold diet we discovered that S'mores was not a possibility. The marshmallows and graham crackers both had things our son couldn't eat. I had made marshmallows once before with little success but I was willing to try again. I used this recipe from Alton Brown. It was quicker than I thought. My marshmallows didn't need all the mixing time stated which meant that my vanilla came in a little late but we'll know better next time. Within 2 hours the marshmallows were set.
I was excited to find that Karo syrup has gone back to a natural recipe - corn syrup, salt and vanilla. No more High Fructose Corn Syrup which kept me from having to come up with an alternative. I may still work on making golden syrup to replace corn syrup but I don't have to. I didn't really like the corn starch/powdered sugar blend so I may try it with just powdered sugar.
It did set up fast so I wasn't able to smooth it out to be pretty but it was sure easy and tasty - don't see any reason to ever buy marshmallows again. I used a stand mixer (just thought you should know) and I think the marshmallows alone will make that a must have. I think that if I don't let them set up right away I can make pretty simple rice krispie treats out of it.