S’mores! With homemade Marshmallow & honey cinnamon cookies!

Honey Cinnamon Cookies…

Marshmallows all cut out…

ready to be broiled

broiled on high

broiled on low

Used leftover marshmallow pieces (from between the circles), toasted on square pretzels & topped w/ ganache

So… if you read the recipe for these S’mores… you might have noticed that I made 24 marshmallows and 44 cookies. Then you’ll do some basic math and realize that there aren’t enough cookies to make every S’more a sandwich. What’s a girl to do!? Weeeeeell… you could roll the cookies thinner, or you could eat the extra marshmallow, or you could do what I did and just use one cookie for some of them.

 

I made these over 2 days because the marshmallow has to sit for at least 4 hours before you can cut out the shapes. And because I wanted to sit on the couch and hang out with Hubs and the animals. Who am I kidding? I was feeling REALLY lazy this weekend, and lacking the motivation to do anything. But if you’re ambitious (or slightly motivated)… it could be done in a day.

 

The marshmallow recipe I used was from Miss CandiQuik. You should check out her post. Then you should go read about what happened the first time I tried to make marshmallow. This time around it worked out much better! I boiled everything in a MEDIUM saucepan, but it took me nearly 9 minutes to reach 240 degrees (AFTER the sugar was melted). Hmph. I don’t think the heat was high enough.

 

The cookie recipe is from Add A Pinch. I stumbled on it when I was searching for homemade graham cracker recipes. I started off mixing the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar/honey in my stand mixer… but finished it by hand with a wooden spoon.

I may have eaten one or 2 of these cookies as soon as they came out of the oven. Oh. My. Gaaaaaawd. So delish!

 

When I was putting these together I realized that one of my favorite thing about eating S’mores is the crunchy toasted outside & gooey inside of the marshmallow. So I broiled the first cookie sheet on HIGH, those kept their shape well, and got a nice brown color on top. The second batch got broiled on LOW for closer to 4 minutes, totally spread out and didn’t get really brown on top. I like the look of the ones I broiled on HIGH the best. They held the ganache better, and left a little room on the edge of the bottom cookie to catch the drips!

 

This is the part when I have to confess something. I used closer to 2 ½ cups of chocolate chips for the ganache and I ended up using a tablespoonful (or more) on each S’mores. I couldn’t help it. I originally planned on using only 1/3 the amount of ganache, but soon realized it wouldn’t be NEARLY enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.

 

I’m pretty proud of these S’mores. They came out just like I wanted!

 

I’m keeping some in the fridge (will the cream in the ganache spoil if I leave them out?), and nuking them for about 10-15 seconds to warm up the marshmallow before I eat it. Just be careful, you don’t want it to explode!

 

Happy Baking.

-Hey Waitress!!

 

Also… it was Memorial Day this weekend. Not just the start of the summer, but a time to remember all the men and women who have fallen in service to our country. Please Bless Them.

 

Boozy S’mores Cupcakes

Ever since I made the alcohol free version of this cupcake I’ve been thinking about making an “adult” version. I also felt the need to redeem myself for not realizing the mini marshmallows would melt. Duh.

 

I used cinnamon graham crackers for the crust because they’re nice and sweet. If you noticed in the picture I accidentally bought the reduced fat ones. Oops.

Because I got over excited during the crushing, I ended up with 4 cups of crushed graham crackers. I mixed the extra crumbs into my leftover “crust” mixture, and after I put the ganache on the cupcakes I dipped some of them into the leftover graham crackers! Even S’morey-er!

 

Speaking of ganache, I love this recipe. Even though I’m still not sure if it’s really ganache (there are like a million recipes online for “ganache”). I usually spoon it over the cupcakes, but this time I put it into a pastry bag, snipped the end off, and drizzled it over all the cupcakes. It was less messy, and (in my opinion) makes the cupcakes look a little nicer/ neater. Plus it was good practice for making designs!

 

For my favorite S’more component (marshmallow!) I used the Fluff buttercream recipe from the alcohol free version, but took out the vanilla, and added 2 tablespoons of marshmallow vodka. YUUUUUMMY. I will say one thing, It’s a pain in the rump to make. My hand mixer has been on the verge of crapping out on me for, like, a month and the Fluff is super sticky so I stirred it, beat it, scraped it, stirred it, beat it, scraped the beater, stirred it, beat it some more… Getting the picture?

This time around it was much easier piping the frosting onto the cupcakes, I used the number 10 tip, and they came out looking pretty nice. I didn’t have nearly as many problems getting it on the cupcakes, as I did the first time I made it. And I have no idea why. But, because I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I’m going to shake my head in wonder and move on. 😉

 

The Teddy Grahams on top of the cupcakes were purely selfish… I needed an excuse to buy some.

 

Happy Sunday Cupcakery!

-Hey Waitress!!

 

Boozy S’mores Cupcake Recipe

Vodka S’mores Brownies

Pinnacle Whipped Vodka Brownies on a cinnamon graham cracker crust which is topped with mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and cinnamon Teddy Grahams. (recipe)

 

Random thoughts on these:

• The graham cracker “crust” was the same recipe as the one on the S’mores cupcakes, only halved. I didn’t exactly (or at all) measure the graham crumbs… I just used 9 cracker “sheets” (one whole paper pack), because that’s what I had left in the box. I used the cinnamon flavor, but that’s just because I like how sweet they are. You can replace them with regular graham crackers. The husband begged me to use chocolate grahams but I don’t really like chocolate all that much. I know, I use it ALOT for someone who isn’t a fan.
• The brownie recipe I used was the same as the Grand Marnier Brownies, I just subbed the vodka. Be gentle when pouring the batter, or you’ll displace your crust.
• I baked these for closer to 40 minutes.
• I wanted to use more than the 3 cups of mini marshmallows, but that’s all I had left over from the S’more Cupcakes last week. If I make these again I plan on using more marshmallows. There wasn’t enough for me. It’s all personal preference though. I also had the chocolate chips left over, so I threw those on top as well. I used Teddy Grahams instead of making extra “crust” to use as a topping because I wanted to have a little fun. It didn’t hurt that they were on sale at the grocery store.
• watch them closely while you’re broiling. it literally takes a second to go from toasted to burned marshmallow.
• Don’t forget to grease the sides of the pan that aren’t covered by foil… I did. and it was a huge pain in the rump to get these brownies off the edge. Trust me, and let them cool almost completely in the pan. Then pull up the edges of the foil and lift the sheet of brownies onto a wire cooling rack to finish. If you (like I did) try to pull them out of the pan too early it’s much harder and they fall apart.
• After they’ve cooled all the way… gently peel the foil off and cut into 20 pieces. I only got 16, and you can probably tell from the pictures that they’re not the same size. I’m rationalizing the awkward sizes by saying  I cut the small ones for me, and the big ones for Hubbs. But really, I just suck at cutting.
• Helpful hint- wet the knife a little between each cut. It (kind of) helped me.
• These are pretty chewy and close to being undone (not cooked all the way, you know what I mean?), but that’s how I like my brownies.

 

Happy Sunday Baking.

-Hey Waitress!!

S’mores Cupcakes

One of my favorite things about Summertime is S’mores. I mean, what’s not to love about gooey marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers?! It doesn’t hurt that usually I’m making them over a fire while imbibing on some sort of booze and surrounded by family (or friends). unfortunately, we’re not allowed a grill here, and I don’t think the apartment complex owners would appreciate me building a fire on the lawn. So… here’s my new take on an old favorite.

 

I used a standard/ common recipe for the graham cracker “crust”, but substituted cinnamon instead of regular graham crackers. I like the sweetness from the cinnamon flavored grahams compared to the regular ones. To each her own, I guess. I also made mine last night, and left it in the fridge overnight… mostly because I didn’t want to make it this morning. I think making it the night before and leaving it in the fridge helps prevent the graham crackers  from burning. Maybe? The downside to that was the melted butter hardened, and it was a bitch to break it all apart again.

 

The cake was also a standard yellow cake recipe (i got this one from Betty Crocker’s Big Book of Cupcakes), I just added the chocolate chips and marshmallows! It’s a very thick and fluffy batter that is originally supposed to make 24 cupcakes. With the addition of the CC & MM i ended up with 30.  You can probably fill the cupcake tins 3/4 full, as they didn’t rise really well.

Oh! some of my cupcakes got stuck to the tin (melted gooey marshmallows), so I used a plastic knife around the edge to push them apart.

 

I’m not sure if this chocolate ganache is really ganache… there are like a million different chocolate ganache recipes online. I forgot to bookmark the website that I got this one from. Sorry!! Make sure you let it cool all the way before you start putting the Fluff Frosting on, or else you’re going to get streaks and spots on the tops.

 

I used Rachael Ray’s Fluff Frosting recipe. I had a few problems… nothing serious, though. First was the massive amount of butter!! 4 STICKS, aka ONE POUND, aka 2 CUPS! Yikes. This was the only recipe I found that didn’t use egg whites ( I despise separating eggs), so I went with it, despite the massive amounts of buttah (that was my hometown accented butter). The next problem was how much trouble I had stirring the Fluff in. I swear I almost pulled a muscle. Maybe I should have used the hand mixer? Thirdly, I used a little under 3/4 of the frosting, and I over-frost my cupcakes like it’s nobody’s business. The frosting was a little hard to get on the cupcakes… I ended up dropping a heaping tablespoon on top, and then flattening it out toward the edges. It got a nice “melted” gooey marshmallow look, which I liked.

 

And If you want to make them a bit easier: Use a box yellow cake mix. Instead of the ganache I imagine you could use that chocolate shell topping (for ice cream), but I’m not sure if it would actually work…  Or, you could use chocolate cake mix and skip the ganache.

 

Happy Sunday Cupcakery!

-Hey Waitress!!

 

 

*UPDATE 5/1/12*

Ummm… as much as I hate to say it… these cupcakes were SUPER dry. I won’t use that yellow cake recipe again! And I totally didn’t realize that all the mini marshmallows would melt! Sooooo sad. I’ve got plans for another S’mores cupcake, though, so don’t you worry!