Gooey S'more Brownies-1st Blogiversary!

I'm back! It felt good to be back in the kitchen after 7 weeks away. Now I can say I was in Europe, and let me tell you, there is two very important things the Europeans don't do well, Brownies & Chocolate Chip Cookies. They have biscuits, and the one brownie I had (no it wasn't in Amsterdam) was supposed to be the 'to die for brownie' but it really wasn't. Kinda disappointing considering I thought I had hit the jackpot when I found it on my Birthday and opted for it over a slice of cake. I made it home and my first day I avoided the kitchen, not because I wanted to, but because I had a lot of stuff to do. Day two though and I was back. I was just going to make some Toll House Cookies, because they had really turned out well the last time I made them in the new oven. But then I started thinking about Brownies, and there really wasn't any further internal debating needed. So S'more Brownies it was because I miraculously had all the specialty ingredients needed and they weren't even old and stale.

But now I'm posting this to you on my one year Blogiversary. Which is pretty cool. If you want the whole sentimental spiel about me and blogging you should check out my 100th post. I really don't have anything else to say that I didn't say there. Especially because I've been out of the loop for awhile now.

They tasted amazing. I would not recommend removing them from the pan though until they are absolutely cooled. The bottom layer even slightly warm was just a mush of brownie pudding. But oh so tasty brownie pudding. I really liked my silicone baking dish for this one though. Because of the marshmallows in it and all the sugars, I figure it might be a bit tricky to get the edge pieces out of a glass dish.

The marshmallows did amazing things. Only in a few places are there still marshmallows left in marshmallow form as you know it. Everywhere else they simply melted into the brownie batter, making a chewy brownie with a really crisp top. One thing I may consider next time is to layer Brownie, Marshmallow, Graham Cracker, Brownie instead of doing Brownie, Graham Cracker, Marshmallow, Brownie. My original thought was that it'll be a lot easier to spread this thick brownie batter on the top layer over smooth graham crackers, than it would be to try and completely cover marshmallows that just want to jump around. I know it'll change the texture of the brownie layers though because the marshmallows would then melt over the bottom brownie layer, instead of under the top layer (the graham crackers softened up perfectly, but never dissolved. They created a border between the two brownie layers). I'm definitely going to have to try this other way and let you know what method I prefer. I have a feeling that it'll make for a completely different textured brownie.

Wow, that was easy. I've been blogging ever night about my trip on a different blog and I've been typing it up on my phone because I didn't take my laptop with me. This post came together so quickly being able to type with a full keyboard. Plus, I've been home for 3 days now and I still can't get over how big my laptop screen feels.

Recipe adapted from The Royal Cook & The Big Green Bowl.

Makes 10x10 pan

Ingredients

1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 C. All Purpose Flour

2/3 C. Cocoa 

1/2 Tsp. Salt

1 C. Butter, melted

2 C. Sugar

3 Eggs

1 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla

1 C. Chocolate Chips (I used mini ones)

2 C. Mini Marshmallows

14 Graham Crackers (14 Canadian ones, they are different than the American, but you can sub the American in just fine, except the number I'm calling for won't be the same)

Directions

~Preheat oven to 350 F.

~In a medium bowl combine flours, cocoa and salt.

~In a large microwave safe bowl melt butter. Stir in sugars.

~Add in Eggs and Vanilla. Stir.

~Pour dry ingredients into wet and stir by hand until just combined.

~Stir in chocolate chips.

~Spread half of the brownie batter into a greased pan (I used a 10x10 silicone dish).

~Top with a layer of (whole, not crushed) graham crackers, followed by the mini marshmallows.

~Spread the remaining brownie batter overtop the marshmallows and carefully try to spread it out and cover all the marshmallows.

~Bake for 26-28 minutes or until top is crispy and centre still feels soft.

~Cool completely (very important, trust me) before slicing and removing from pan.

Enjoy

The Inside-Out S'more Bars

Now to most of you, these may not look inside-out, but to me they do. Let me explain. My Mom makes a s'more square that is basically the same as Rice Krispie square, just with Golden Grahams. So she melts the marshmallows and stirs in the chocolate chips and cereal. The reason I don't make that type of square is because I really struggle timing it right. I either end up with marshmallow goop that is cooled too much and so nothing will mix into it, or too hot and so the chocolate melts and instead of having chocolate chips, you get a gooey chocolate flavoured marshmallow mess. So, this recipe is a lot safer for me (but I'd still like to share the recipe for her S'more Square, I'll just snap a picture of it one day when she makes it to show you). It's safer because you have melted chocolate and whole marshmallows (instead of melted marshmallows and whole chocolate chips - see, inside-out) and marshmallows need a lot more heat to melt than chocolate does (or so I've experienced).

This recipe was adapted from the Nestle Toll House recipe.

Makes 16 Squares

Ingredients

1/2 C. Milk

1 Tsp. Vanilla

1 3/4 C. Milk Chocolate Chips

3 1/4 C. Mini Marshmallows

1 1/2 C. Golden Grahams (or graham crackers cut into bite size pieces), 

Directions

~In a large microwave safe dish heat milk and vanilla until almost boiling (~2 minutes)

~Stir in the chocolate chips and return to microwave until fully melted (~30 sec)

~Make sure there is no lumps in the mixture and everything is thoroughly mixed, then set it aside to cool for ~5 minutes, or long enough so the marshmallows won't melt.

~Add in the marshmallows and stir to evenly coat.

~Mix in the graham crackers / cereal.

~Spoon into a greased 8x8 pan and cool in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

~When set, cut into squares. 

~Can be stored at room temperature.

Enjoy

The S'mores that weren't S'mores

So I'm Canadian, which means I've always heard that when you make a s'more you have to first break the graham cracker in half. Well, with Canadian graham wafers that would be impossible to do. I always wondered as a kid how you were supposed to break them in half, but now I know. They were actually talking about American Graham Crackers that actually look like this...

...whereas Canadian ones are already the half's.

About a month ago I was in the US for a music festival (best weekend ever!!) and we made a Costco run. In addition to buying a Costco size box of graham crackers, we also bought the Costco size box of Cheeze Its (which incidentally I shoved a handful of into my mouth and almost spat them out because they tasted absolutely nothing like I was expecting them to taste, much to the amusement of our neighbours at the campsite who were like 'what are you talking about? Cheeze Its taste like Cheeze Its,' except they didn't taste at all like they were supposed to.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised then when I bit into my first American Graham Cracker and just about laughed out loud. They tasted so different (in addition to looking very different). I couldn't place the flavour for a bit and then it clicked...they tasted like Teddy Grahams, which are supposed to taste like graham wafers. Obviously the graham crackers that I'm used to actually don't have a graham taste. The other thing that was different about them was that the crackers I'm used to are very dense and almost chewy, while these new species are light, crisp and almost flakey. Total opposite. Now, why am I saying this? Other than to prove that I probably need to be locked somewhere far, far away from society (or maybe that would be counterproductive and I'm actually this crazy from being a recluse and antisocial??) that is. Well, because I want to introduce to you the s'moreless s'mores. Yes, you read that right, now sit down (or stay sitting) and I'll explain.

Usually about part way through the summer a fire ban gets put into effect and we don't get to have any more campfires until the weather turns wet and cool again. Unfortunately, we have now survived 2 summers in a row where there has been no ban (meaning it's been too cold and wet out). Typically though we get our s'more fix from February to June (yes February, you read that right, we have some of our best fires when we're celebrating that's it's not snowing out, even though I love the snow. Run on sentence much?) Anywho, sometimes in August when I'm up at the cabin and just want a s'more that I can't have (and I don't want to roast one on the BBQ because it's just not the same), I have this little treat. It's really simple. Nutella and graham wafers. Nutella on the graham wafer and a wafer on top and squish. Mmm, because really, the marshmallow is not the best part of a s'more in my opinion. All it does is melt the chocolate (which is what you really want), but because the Nutella is not a solid, you don't need a hot marshmallow. So problem solved in an oh, so delicious way.

Ingredients

Nutella

Graham Wafers

Directions

~Spread Nutella on one side of a graham cracker.

~Place another wafer on top.

~Squish down to make a sandwich.

Enjoy

*On another s'more note, I just want to mention the other trick we have always used when making s'mores and that is instead of having to cart around a package of graham wafers and a bar of chocolate, you can use chocolate covered digestive cookies (Peak Freans) that have the one side of the cookie coated in chocolate. At one point they even had an orange flavoured biscuit which was very good.*