Peanut Butter S'mores (No Campfire Necessary!)

With the linguistic logic of the 2 1/2 year old, Felix calls the squishy confection in the middle of the s'more a s'marshmallow.  

There hasn't been a campfire yet this summer, but we've been throwing foil-wrapped dessert sandwiches on the barbecue as the coals burn down just about every time it's lit.  I learned this trick from my childhood best friend's glamorous mom, Lana.  These were from summer days that almost always ended in a campfire, but she would still come with her s'mores ready to go neatly wrapped in foil packets to place right on the dying embers of charcoal before the wood was piled on.  I don't think it was so much about avoiding sticky hands for her as it was the elegant ease of just tossing the whole thing on there ready to go.  Or maybe it was about really truly oozy chocolate.  

A tray of s'mores ready for the top graham cracker and their foil wrap.

To Lana's recipe, I've added peanut butter.  It's helps glue on the marshmallows and adds a salty note that I totally dig.  

Which was unfortunate last weekend when I took a heaping basket of pre-made s'more packets to a potluck barbecue.  I thought it would be the perfect vegan contribution.  I brought a hearty salad that could be a side dish for anyone and dinner for us if it turned out there was nothing else without meat or cheese, and the s'mores which would go on the grill at the end of the night once all the meat grilling was done.  This could also be fall back dinner for the dudes (What? Peanut butter.  There's an added benefit - emergency summer dinner rationale.) if it turned out they ran around and played the whole time rather than eating, which is what happened.  But it also turned out that one of the hosts had a serious peanut allergy and the thought of a dozen kids running around with aniphylactic death paste oozing down their chins and being smeared across every surface in the yard made me a little panicky so I put them away and divvied them up later with the nonallergic host.    

Method 2: Put marshmallow-topped cracker under broiler.

If you have no plans to light the barbecue in the near future or simply demand the pleasure right now, you have another option.  I think the broiler might make the best s'more of all.  You toast the marshmallow topped graham cracker for a minute before immediately smacking the chocolate and second cracker half on top.  This way you get it all - extreme ease, melted chocolate, and beautiful caramelized crust on your still puffy marshmallow.  

This would not only be an unexpectedly fun end to a dinner party, but is also a totally required treat for all living room tent building (obviously?).

Maybe we've made them so often already in this little bit of summer we've had because of the dripping combination of flavors, or maybe because it's just such an easy, yet festive dessert, or maybe because I want to hear Felix say s'marshmallow as many times as possible before this summer ends and he's all grown up.  

Times a'fleeting friends.  You best light the barbecue...or the broiler.  

Peanut Butter S'mores
Even apart from the cooking method you have so many options here.  Leave out the peanut butter if you want to go classic, or skip the marshmallows all together and use the peanut butter as the glue in the foil-wrapped version.  Though we now live in a world with vegan marshmallows, they can still be a little hard to come by and pricey.    
makes: 4 s'mores
takes: 10 minutes for barbecue, about 3 minutes if you're using the broiler 

• 4 graham crackers
• 8 squares of dark chocolate
• 12 marshmallows (We've been using Dandies which are on the small side.  If you have the big Sweet and Sara's, one per sandwich will probably do.)
• about 4 teaspoons of salted peanut butter (optional)

Barbecue: Carefully break graham crackers in half.  Spread one half with about a teaspoon of peanut butter.  Apply marshmallows.  Gently smash two squares of chocolate and the second graham cracker half on top.  Wrap in foil.  You can make them up to this point several hours ahead.  Then toast them over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes per side.  Gently peek at one.  If your fire's too hot, it's easy to over toast a graham cracker.

Broiler:  As above, smear on your peanut butter and adhere your marshmallows.  Put these halves under the broiler for a minute or until you smell the sugar beginning to caramelize.  It happens fast.  Keep an eye on it.  Arrange the top halves of graham cracker with the squares of chocolate on a plate so that you can smash them on top of hot marshmallow the second they come out of the oven.  

Either way, devour with abandon.  It's summer, man.