Making s’mores is, for us, as synonymous with summer as sunshine itself. and while the epitome of a good s’mores night involves toasting marshmallows around the campfire with cousins in northern Michigan, we don’t wait until our trip to get started on our summer s’more memories. We have a s’mores maker that is really fun to pull out for family nights, but we actually made a fire in the fireplace the other night for our s’mores wars. Clarified, I made a fire in the fireplace the other night–Brett thought a fire in the fireplace in June in Florida with a bunch of people in our house was–and I quote–“a little bit ridiculous.” To which I replied, “Moments and memories, Brett.” And no, this isn’t the first time the “A little bit ridiculous” vs. “Moments and memories” discussion has come up in our home.
This year on our Summer Bucket List, we have “Concoct a New Kind of S’more” which started out as “Oh hey, let’s use a Reese’s instead of Hershey’s” and ended, as all the best ideas do, with a party and a plan that has, let’s say, expanded.
So here’s how it goes. You invite some friends over. You spread out every possible thing you could turn into a s’more on a table. Think cooking show and the theme is creative s’mores. The rule is you have to keep one regular element of a s’more, but you can change anything else. So if you have a graham cracker base, you don’t necessarily have to have the marshmallow and the chocolate square. If you use a marshmallow, you can switch out the graham cracker, etc. Each contestant must invent a creative s’more, give it a name and list the ingredients. Contestants can then taste each other’s concoctions, give them a point value from 1-10, and whoever has the most points wins the S’more War and the recipe goes into the Family Hall of Fame S’mores Cookbook. Here’s what we used:
And favorites:
The Berry Bliss…(graham crackers, cool whip, fresh berries)
Lainey’s Monkey Butter Baby… (almond butter, cool whip and chocolate on graham crackers–sooo good!)
And Heidi’s Salty Delight–toasted marshmallow with chocolate in between salty pretzel crips with a fresh raspberry on top. HEAVEN. Other fun concoctions: “The Savage,” “Sweet Explosion” (it had pop rocks) and “The Schlooby Dooby Delight”.
And Nella’s gaze as she looks at a table of sweets? That is the look of love.
But I have to admit, my summer-loving heart still loves a classic s’more best.
We are in Austin, Texas this week cooking up some fun with Ruby’s Rainbow, and I can’t believe how HOT it is! Happy Summering!
