The Smushiness Factor

I'm not really on top of trends, food or otherwise, but every single day for the past two weeks, I have come across some awesome article or recipe for s'mores. Why is this makeshift camp dessert so popular right now? Since it's such a basic treat, it's pretty easy to throw in your own twists. No matter what, I think the real attraction is that melted chocolate with warm marshmallows always looks and tastes amazing.

For me, the smushiness of the s'more itself is really the essence of the dessert. The warm, gooey, slightly charred marshmallow enhances the flavors of both the graham crackers and milk chocolate.  Burnt sugar is truly the flavor of summer.

With no campfire in sight, I decided to make my own s'mores bars at home. I bravely turned on the oven in our hot apartment and had Anthony pick up a jar of Fluff. I'd never actually tasted Fluff before and it's much sweeter, and stickier, than I expected.  Our graham crackers were semi-stale but I crushed them up and used them anyway. The directions tell you to wait until completely cool to cut and eat, but seriously, how can you eat a cold s'more? That's a step to be ignored for sure.

The results weren't beautiful but these bars are still tasty.  I immediately thought that the pan looked like a Frankenstein dessert for some reason though. It reminded me of a cartoon mummy with the warm oozing Fluff popping through the cookie crust.  You can't tell me that you don't see it too.

However, this is the one variation that I keep coming back to:

Martha Stewart's Hazelnut S'mores recipe calls for grilled french bread as a base instead of cookies. It's like she has a window that looks straight into my heart.  And I bet the smushiness factor is off the charts. xo




Recipe adapted from Lovin' In the Oven; Hazelnut S'more recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart.