There are few desserts that can conjure up images of summer quite like s’mores. S’mores are a classic summer treat, so if you’ve been taking advantage of the opportunity to spend time around your fire pit with friends and family this season, the odds are good that s’mores have been your go-to dessert. Although it’s practically impossible to ever truly get tired of eating s’mores, the same old combination of plain graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows can start to get a little less satisfying as the summer wears on. If you’ve been craving variation as you roast marshmallows around your fire pit for s’mores, consider how a few of these alternative s’mores options might improve your summertime s’mores-eating experience:
- Adding grilled berries. Bright colored berries like raspberries and blueberries are easy to come by in the summer, and they can add a pop of juicy flavor to your s’mores. Just slide a few berries onto a roasting fork and hold them over the fire for a few seconds before smashing them into your s’mores.
- Adding lemon curd. Like berries, the citrusy flavor of lemon curd smacks of summertime. Drop a dollop on your graham cracker before adding a freshly roasted marshmallow.
- Sprinkling on cinnamon and chili powder. If you tend to prefer a spicy flavor over a sour one, try sprinkling a pinch of cinnamon and chili powder on top of the milk chocolate square before placing a roasted marshmallow on top. This Mexican-style s’more can make you feel like you’re on vacation south of the border!
- Smearing on nut or cookie butter. One of the most common complaints you might get from guests who aren’t big fans of s’mores is that they are too dry, even with a well-roasted marshmallow. You can resolve this issue by smearing peanut butter, nutella, or cookie butter on your graham cracker. When it comes into contact with the hot marshmallow, it will quickly melt, so there’s no way your s’more will taste dry. Plus, you’ll get a punch of unique flavor from whichever nut butter or cookie butter you try!
- Replacing the chocolate. Another way to mix up the flavor of your s’mores is to choose a different candy than milk chocolate. Peanut butter cups are the perfect size for graham cracker squares, so they make for a great replacement, but you can also arrange candy bars like Snickers and Milky Way onto your graham crackers before sliding on your marshmallow. Alternatively, for a more sophisticated treat, replace the milk chocolate bar with Andes mints or a high-quality dark chocolate bar.
- Breakfast / brunch-style s’mores. As we discussed in an earlier post, most of your summer fireside gathering probably take place at night, but lighting up your fire pit on a weekend morning can actually make breakfast or brunch a lot more fun! For a sweet morning treat, add banana slices to your s’mores or replace graham cracker squares with your favorite flavor of pop-tarts. Adventurous eaters even suggest adding candied bacon.
- Strawberry cheesecake s’mores. Like s’mores themselves, strawberry cheesecake is another summer dessert staple. You can combine the two by smearing cream cheese on your graham cracker, briefly searing a strawberry over your fire pit using a roasting fork, and sandwiching a well-roasted marshmallow in between.
- Graham crackers swaps. The graham cracker swaps you can make for your s’mores are practically endless. Chocolate wafers, peanut butter cookies, Ritz crackers--all are fair game when it comes to creative alternatives to graham crackers in your s’mores.
- Flavored marshmallows. These days, you can find lots of different marshmallow flavors on store shelves, including chocolate and fruity flavors. If you’re not looking for too big of a change to your s’mores, flavored marshmallows tend to add a milder twist on the classic flavor. Plus, it’s fun to watch the colored sugar melt as you roast the marshmallow over your fire pit!
The Best Way to Make S’mores Around Your Fire Pit
When you’re trying to make any of the s’mores variations discussed above, you need to have the right tools. For s’mores, that means using a high-quality, multi-pronged roasting fork. With a roasting fork, you’ll get the best roasted marshmallows possible, which means optimizing the quality of your s’mores--no matter which variation you choose. Plus, because roasting forks are perfectly straight, they make it easy to evenly roast your marshmallow, so you’ll spend less time worrying about your marshmallow ending up undercooked or catching fire--and that means you’ll have extra time to put together your creative s’mores concoction! They also allow you to roast up to four marshmallows at a time, which is ideal if you’re trying to feed a crow or if you’re partial to double-decker s’mores.
No matter what s’mores variation you cook up, Cutting Edge Firewood wants to see pictures, so remember to tag us on Instagram! To order your roasting forks and the firewood for sale you need to roast the perfect marshmallow, visit our order page now!
