No Campfire Required

Smore's are the quintessential summer dessert. Images of campfires and flaming marshmallows come to mind... and then that yummy flavor of crispy and sweet graham crackers with gooey warm chocolate and crunchy/fluffy marshmallows... it's pretty delicious. So, when my mom emailed me this recipe, I got quite excited: Smore's... no campfire required!

Individual Smore's Cups and Bars

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 cup butter or margarine, melted

16 snack size Hershey bars

4 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir together cookie mix and crumbs. Stir in melted butter until soft dough forms. Place cupcake liners in muffin tin. Press the dough into the bottom of each slot (should be 1/8 or ¼ inch thick). Take the rest of the dough and press into the bottom of an ungreased 8x8” pan.

Bake muffin tin for 10-15 minutes and the 8x8” pan 18-20 minutes or until set. Break the hershey’s bars in half and immediately put one in each of the cupcake liners. Once the 8x8” pan is out of the oven, do the same. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. (You can stick them back in the oven for 1-2 minutes if it isn’t melting)

Set oven control to broil. Sprinkle marshmallows over melted chocolate. Broil with top 4 to 5 inches from heat 20 to 30 seconds or until marshmallows are toasted. (Watch closely; marshmallows will brown quickly.) Cool 10 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Serve warm. Store any remaining bars/cups tightly covered.

Mise en Place

You can take out your frustration on the
graham crackers by pounding them
into oblivion...

After you add the butter to the dry mixture

Press the dough into the bottom of the cupcake liners

Press the dough into the baking pan

All baked!

Add the chocolate...

Nice and melty!

Do the same with the large pan

Add the marshmallows!

Ta-dah! :)

So, there you have it! The most yummy of smore's... and you don't have to be outside in the woods to eat them! Now, as a VERY IMPORTANT side note, do NOT stop watching them when they're under the broiler. I repeat: DO NOT take your eyes off of them. Why? This, my friends, is why:

Is it the surface of the moon? Nope. It's a lovely lava field of flame-broiled mini marshmallows. Don't do this. You'll be sad. Remember: only YOU can prevent marshmallow fires. :)
 
~ Mari

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

So, sweet potatoes are delicious and nutritious. They are also one of my favorite foods. Also, who doesn't like French fries? So, I consulted someone that I seldom consult: Paula Deen. Nothing wrong with Paula, but I would never have dreamed that she would have a healthy sweet potato fries recipe. Surprise! She did. So, I tweaked it a bit... and here's what I made!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

3 large sweet potatoes

extra virgin olive oil

salt

black pepper

sugar

cinnamon

allspice

paprika

onion powder

First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Then peel the sweet potatoes. Next, use a mandolin (or cut them by hand like moi...hehe) to cut the potatoes into French fry shapes (potato sticks). Place the sticks into a large bowl and drizzle olive oil over them. Toss the sticks to coat them with the oil.

Sprinkle the potatoes with 2-3 Tbsp. of salt, 2 Tbsp. sugar, and enough of the other spices to coat the fries. Don't overdo it, but make sure that the spices are on there enough that you can see it.

Spread the potato sticks onto a sheet pan (make sure that they aren't overlapping too much so that they cook evenly). Stick them in the oven and allow them to cook for about 25-30 minutes. You'll know when they're done if the edges are a little crispy and caramelized. Granted, these aren't going to be super crispy fries, but they taste DELICIOUS and are much better for you that fried fries.

Let the fries cool for 5-10 minutes. They are good to go now, but what are french fries without ketchup? And since tomato ketchup would not be the greatest with sweet potatoes, I made a maple butter sauce. All I did for the sauce was mix a little whipped butter with pure maple syrup.

And voila! They're done! Ryan and I ate them with homemade bison burgers. Yummers.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

~ Mari