I'm not American, so American Smores was something very different to bake, I didn't grow up with these as a kid. Never had them before, I just really wanted to try them because I thought they would be incredibly to photograph. I saw them on Pintrest and you know when you just see something on Pintrest you just have to try it.
Mmmm, whats better than toasted marshmallow, ozzing chocolate and a graham cracker!
Look how many there are, all just scattered around the bottle of milk.
In New Zealand these are not our traditional smores. That is why I have called them Amercian Smores because they are not what I grew up with. Smores for me go way back in my childhood. In the afternoon, Mum would tell us to go collect pinecones, sticks ,bark and stones to gather for our fire later that evening. When it was close to our bed time, Seany (one of my brothers) would prepare the Smores because we were too little. I would watch him fansinating in all the steps it took to create this beautiful creation. Slicing the banana, stuffing with halved marshmallows and bits of chocolate. Then finally sealing it with tinfoil. We would then light our fire that was constructed out of bricks and watch them cook. Unwrapping them is the best part and digging in. These are very fond memories of mine.
Crisp eadges of the biscuit but soft center just how I like my biscuits!
Using toasted marshmallows and New Zealand Whittakers Creamy Milk Chocolate these 2 components never would not go together!
Roasting marshmallows is another food that reminds me off my childhood. Mainly at the beach it would happen. But after a day of swimming, we would run down to the local 4-square and buy a packet of marshmallows. After dinner we would hunt round the neighbourhood for the best stick, the stick that would be the best for roasting. We would be so competitive on which stick has the best qualities to roast the marshmallow to perfection. The kids would be roasting marshmallows down by the camp-frie and the adults on the deck finishing that last glass of wine before the night comes to an end.
Today I will be showing you how to make the graham cracker, the biscuit of this amercian smore. Personally I found these too sweet because the marshamallow and chocolate are very sweet on their own.
Lets begin with the photo tutorial!
Add your all purpose flour and whole wheat flour and stir till combined.
Add your softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Mix the butter into the mixture until resmebles fine crumbs.
Heat your vanilla, milk and honey together until they are well combined. Pour into the crumbs mix and using your hands form a dough. Cover the dough with cling film and allow to sit for 1 hour at room temperature.
Roll your relaxed dough, and cut out desired shapes. Let them rest on the baking paper and chill for about 40 mins. Bake in a preheated oven of 180 degrees for 15-18 mins if you like your cookies soft, leave them in longer if you like them hard.
Let the biscuits cool on a wire rack before using.
Graham Crackers
Source:Smitten Kitchen.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (375 grams)
1/2 cup with whole wheat flour 1 cup (176 grams) dark brown sugar, lightly packed 1 teaspoon (6 grams) baking soda 3/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt (4 grams) 7 tablespoons (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and softened 1/3 cup (114 grams) honey 5 tablespoons (77 grams) milk, full-fat! 2 tablespoons (27 grams) pure vanilla extract
Method
-Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
-Combine the 2 flours until they are well incoperated in eachother.
-Add your brown sugar, cinnamon,salt and softened cubed butter and mix into the flours until well incoperated.
-Heat your milk, honey and vanilla until they are well combined. Take off heat.
-Pour the honey mixture into the crumbs mixture and using your hands gather the crumbs up to form a dough. Wrap in glad wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
-Roll out the dough to about 4cm thickness and cut to your desired shapes.
-Place on a baking tray lined with baking papaer and chill for 40 mins.
-Place your biscuits in the oven for 15-18 mins (longer if you lik them crunchy)
-Let them cool on a wire rack until completely cool before using.
Thats it, I hope you enjoy this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and give it a shot some day. Become an Amercian for a day and induldge in one of their favourite sweet treats!
Until next time lovelies...
