Gourmet S'mores

The weather here in the UK has been positively dismal.  Having just returned to soggy ol' England from holiday in Toronto where the weather was 38°C (100°F) has only reinforced the fact that our summer so far has been absolutely crappy. 

It was so nice to get away and spend some time in a tropical climate - even if it was on the beaches and streets of Toronto, and not the Caribbean.  No visit back home to Canada is complete without some serious food (ingredient) shopping.  I always return to the UK with a suitcase full of North American treats that are hard to find in UK stores.  I made numerous visits to a fantastic bulk food shop where I stocked up on sprinkles and candy melts -  almost an entire carry on suitcase full!  I also visited Golda's Kitchen - the most amazing cake supply store, thanks to a recommendation from Jodie Whitley via the Made With Pink Facebook page (I'll be posting pictures of the cake shop and my holiday purchase on my facebook page shortly!)

A few days before I left on holiday I decided to perk myself up and get into the summer spirit by making some gourmet s'mores (sans campfire) using some of the ingredients I'd picked up from my previous holiday to the States. 

I'd had a few bags of speciality marshmallows and a couple boxes of graham crackers sitting on my baking shelf for the past few months,  I'd always intended to use them for gourmet s'mores, but I just never got around to it until now.  Plus I needed to make room for my new impending purchases!

I made four different s'more combinations:

Pina Colada:  Original graham crackers sandwiched together with white chocolate, pineapple & toasted coconut marshmallows, and a slice of freshly grilled pineapple. 

Chocolate Mint:  Chocolate graham crackers sandwiched together with mint chocolate marshmallows and dark mint chocolate.

Peanut Butter Cup:  Chocolate graham crackers sandwiched together with flat vanilla marshmallows and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

Salted Caramel:  Chocolate graham crackers sandwiched together with caramel flavoured chocolate callets, flat vanilla marshmallows and a spoon full french salted butter caramel (not pictured).

Don't think you can't make these if you don't live in the US, or don't have the graham crackers or fancy marshmallows.  I've seen toasted coconut marshmallows in the UK before in several stores, and most recently I've been able to find them in the South African grocery stores near my home.  Regular marshmallows will work just as well in all of these s'mores, but my tip is to cut them in half so they lay flat instead of standing tall like they normally would.  All of the chocolate I used is from the UK, and is available in any major grocery store with the exception of the caramel callets which were a gift from my March Foodie Penpal who bought them in a local shop in Manchester.  If you don't have the caramel callets or the salted butter caramel, then you can use the new flat Rolo chocolate bars that have just been launched for sale in the UK. 

As for the graham crackers, you can make your own at home by following the recipe here that I used to make my mini s'more pops a couple of years ago.

To make the s'mores you'll need the above ingredients and an oven.  If the UK weather ever gets better then you can make them the way they were originally intended - with a camp fire.  But until then you'll need to pre-heat your oven to 200°C (400°F).  


Assemble your s'mores together and wrap them in a square of aluminum foil (this will ensure your chocolate and marshmallow don't melt and ooze out the sides of your graham crackers and into the oven.)  Place them in the hot oven for 3-5 minutes before removing.  Carefully unwrap each s'more and enjoy - just make sure you don't burn yourself on the hot gooey marshmallow and chocolate!

I think that the salted caramel s'mores were my favourite out of the bunch.  They were so so soooo good, but also very rich.  I couldn't have eaten more than one.  I also really liked the Pina Colada ones, they were so different from any other s'more I'd made.  I only got to try a small bite of the chocolate mint s'more before my husband gobbled it up.  As for the Reese's s'more, while it was good, it wasn't my favourite.  I'd still prefer to eat the Reese's cup by it self.

What other unique flavours of s'mores have you made?  Do you have any other suggestions for me??