How to make chocolate s’mores and what chocolate works best
12 Jul 2021
Any American will tell you: If you’re going camping, you have to make s’mores! Read on to learn how to make this classic campfire snack.
Watch any American film featuring an open fire, or camping trip and at some point, someone will be making s’mores. If not, they’ll be saying they want some! These moreish marshmallow and chocolate-filled crackers are still quite uncommon here in the UK, but we’re here to help. This is our guide on how to make chocolate s’mores — the ultimate summertime treat.
S’mores are typically made from malted milk biscuits (or graham crackers), milk chocolate, and marshmallows. But of course, here at Hotel Chocolat, we like to add a little luxury to all of our recipes. That’s why this s’mores ‘how-to’ is based on our premium 40% milk chocolate, for that quality cacao-richness that’s so hard to find. S’mores are known as a sweet treat. But as they already contain marshmallows, we think that low sugar, high-cacao chocolate is the way to go…
Ingredients for chocolate s’mores
As we’ve mentioned, s’mores contain just three key ingredients. To make four luxury s’mores you’ll need:
- 8 malted milk biscuits
- 4 squares or chunks of our 40% Milk Chocolate Slabs or Batons
- 4 marshmallows
If you’re inviting vegans to your s’mores party, you’ll need to make some substitutes. But this is easily done. Just find the best vegan equivalent to malted milk biscuits at your local shop, along with some vegan marshmallows. You can use dairy-free dark chocolate, like our Free From Slab or our exciting new 45% Nutmilk Chocolate.
If they like it rich, go for the dark chocolate. If they love milk chocolate, our Nutmilk is made from milled hazelnuts to create the creamiest texture around. Either way, they’ll love that you’ve thought about their dietary needs and made the effort. Vegan s’mores — now that’s a triumph!
Steps
Now for the practical part — making your s’mores!
- Preheat your grill — you’ll need it nice and hot for toasting
- Line a large baking tray with baking parchment
- Place your eight malted milks on the tray
- Add one small chunk of your chocolate slab or baton to four biscuits (it doesn’t have to be perfect)
- Place one marshmallow on each of the other four biscuits
- Keep them in the grill until the chocolate and marshmallows are melting (here’s our guide on how to melt chocolate without burning it)
First step complete. You then need to pair one chocolate biscuit with one marshmallow biscuit, creating four s’more ‘sandwiches’. Eat them hot and oozing in your hands.
While this is a recipe for making s’mores in your grill, they’re traditionally cooked over a campfire. Some people say that this is crucial to s’more making, as the fire adds a rustic smokey flavour to the roasted marshmallows.
To make your s’mores this way, simply roast your marshmallows over the fire using wooden skewers. Hold them just above the flames until they’re gooey and golden brown. You can then sandwich them between your two biscuits along with a chunk of chocolate. Done!
This being said, if you want your chocolate to be extra melted, wrap the s’more in foil and hold over the fire with tongs. In a minute or so you’ll have an oozing chocolatey treat on your hands.
What’s the best chocolate for s’mores?
We might be a little biased, but we think s’mores are far superior when our chocolate is involved. In our ingredients list, we listed our milk chocolate, as most people tend to use milk over dark when making s’mores. Still, that doesn’t mean that you should be confined in your chocolate choice!
We’ve tried and tested quite a few of our chocolate flavours and percentages with s’mores and we’ve got to say, none of them disappoints. If you have a favourite chocolate that you fancy experimenting with, why not try it? There’s no harm in doing things a little differently. After all, that’s how we ended up with most of our most-loved cacao creations.
Our R&V Colombia Almond Pralines are perfectly sized to fit on malted milks and contain exquisite cacao from the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. You’ll taste smooth roasted almonds shining through this 75% dark chocolate, which adds a gloriously nutty edge.
If you really want to try something new, you can switch the malted milk biscuits for two of our luxury biscuits. Our Chocolat Shortbreads are particularly indulgent. And as there are 18 biscuits in this tin, you can just double our s’mores recipe. Plus, you’ll have two spare biscuits for prep-time nibbling!
Are s’mores a summer or a winter thing?
S’mores are known as a summer snack in the US and Canada, most likely because this is the best season for camping trips. As they only have a few easily portable ingredients, they’re a handy and filling dessert to help you re-fuel after a long hike.
Still, as s’mores can be made both outdoors on a fire and indoors with a grill, nothing is stopping you from enjoying them all year round. After all, they’re hot and comforting enough to be an ideal winter warmer! Cuddling up with a s’more and hot chocolate on a cold night… Sounds dreamy to us.
What to add to s’mores
S’mores only have three ingredients, which makes them a) incredibly easy to make, but also b) ripe for lots of delicious embellishments! Fancy adding another layer of yumminess between your malted milks? We say go for it. We think peanut butter, chocolate chips and chopped bananas all work particularly well.
If you want to make your s’mores a little more interesting but keep your ingredients to a minimum, make them with chocolate that already contains different toppings. For instance, our Raspberry Chocolate Bar Selector contains cacao biscuits and real raspberry pieces.
Drinks to pair with s’mores
We don’t think that s’mores are complete without a nice hot cup of tea, or even better — hot chocolate. We always make ours with our own high-quality hot chocolate flakes and our superstar velvetising machine — the Velvetiser.
If hot chocolate isn’t really your thing, there are some other drinks that pair perfectly with s’mores. Try an Irish coffee or a tawny port for an alcoholic beverage. Want to add a grown-up edge to your hot chocolate? Add a shot of your favourite alcohol to your hot cacao.
Good luck with your s’mores and hosting your summer parties! With these scrumptious treats up your sleeve, all will be smooth sailing.
P.S. If you’re learning how to incorporate chocolate into your cooking and baking, here’s a little help with how to cook with chocolate.
