S'mores indoors!

From The Sandlot:

Ham Porter: Hey, Smalls, you wanna s'more?
Smalls: Some more of what?
Ham Porter: No, do you wanna s'more?
Smalls: I haven't had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?
Ham Porter: You're killing me Smalls! These are s'more's stuff! Alright, now pay attention. First you take the graham, you stick the chocolate on the graham. Then you roast the 'mallow. When the 'mallows flaming... you stick it on the chocolate. Then cover with the other end. Then you scarf. Kind of messy, but good!

Simply put, s'mores are amazing. I probably love them so much because I have so many childhood memories with them. My dad used to take me and my two other sisters on these father-daughter camping trips when we were younger and I know for a fact that s'mores were half the reason I actually went. I would get so excited about making s'mores. As I got older and my perfectionism (OCDism) developed further, getting the perfect brown marshmallow became a game to me.

Now, living in a city I often miss the great outdoors. Obviously there are a ton of options close to San Francisco that I could travel to for camping, but that's a whole other issue I don't want to get into right now. So how nice would it be to bring the warm-fuzzy feeling of roasting some marshmallows with friends to your very own living room? Well, that's how indoor s'mores came about.

What's different about this recipe is that instead of using graham crackers as a base I used matzo. If any of you are unfamiliar with matzo it's a cracker like flatbread made of flour and water. However, the dough is pricked in several places and not allowed to rise before or during the baking process which creates the flat bread.

My roommate Jenny is my live-in Martha Stewart protogé and she sent me a link to this Marta Stewart recipe that used matzo as a base. In this recipe she drizzle the matzo with chocolate to give it the sweetness. What make it extra special is by using the lightly salted matzo there's a nice combination of salty and sweet that you don't normally get with the typical graham cracker.

Now how did we roast these mallows you ask? Well, being scared of what kind of toxic fumes might be in the DuraFlame logs we opted for the sterno can. A sterno can is what is often used in the food service industry to heat buffet platters. It's a little can that is filled with a flammable jell. You light it with a lighter and it stays lit for a long time. It's small, portable, and clean. Much easier than logs! Martha Stewart suggests putting them under the broiler. Alternatively, you could also use your gas stove if you have one.

Ingredients

For the ganache:

• 2 oz dark chocolate
• 1T butter
• 1T milk or cream
  

For the s'mores

• Chocolate bar of your choice (Hershey's is classic but you can go gourmet if you like)
• Marshmallows
• Streit's lightly salted matzo
• Sterno can
  

To make the ganache heat chocolate and butter over a double boiler stirring often. Be careful that the bowl doesn't touch the water. When melted, add a touch of milk or cream until it's at a consistency that drizzles well. I added roughly 1-2T.

Lay out matzo pices on a piece of wax paper and break up into desired size. Drizzle chocolate over the matzo pieces. Let rest for roughly 30 minutes at room temp or put in the refrigerator for 5 minutes if you need to speed the process.

Now you're ready to assemble your s'mores. If you don't know how to make a s'more that's very unfortunate. I suggest you follow Ham Porter's advice above. That or just follow Zach's method below.



Boun Appetito!
- Lindsay