Summer is not over just yet, but the weather is changing and the amount of dinners outdoors are limited. So I have created an indoor version of a favorite campfire dessert: the s’more.
I don’t make a ton of desserts. Frankly, I am usually too full after dinner to eat it. I do, however, sometimes have an afternoon craving for something sweet, so if I succumb to it, this is often when I prone to do it.
This summer I have made several desserts that are worth mentioning. The first was mid-summer when it was super hot. I made homemade ice cream sandwiches. This was pretty simple and they were amazing.
Basically, you make a thicker, richer cake batter. Then you stuff it with ice cream and refreeze. To make it different, I dipped half of it in melted chocolate. Refreeze and serve whenever. I stuffed mine with salty caramel ice cream, made them on the smaller size and wrapped them individually. They were so good.
I followed the basic recipe here. I doubled the recipe, but the only change I had to make was that the cake part wasn’t quite thick enough to cut in half so I just had a thicker sandwich.
The next thing I made that I thought turned out especially well was a chocolate moose pie. The chocolate moose part was fairly standard — melt dark, unsweetened chocolate with freshly whipped cream and a small amount of sugar.
What made the pie unique was the crust. I had read a recipe that used ice cream cones as the crust. This was a first for me. I have made graham cracker crusts and Oreo crusts many times, as well as the standard pie crust. I have even made a ginger snap crust, but who would have thought of using an ice cream cone?
Well, I should have and will again. The sugar cone crust was one of the bests I have ever had. It was a little crunchier than most. It had a simple, but lovely, flavor. It really is my new favorite pie crust, and it would be nice with an ice cream pie, too.
Here is a similar crust recipe if you are interested.
And finally, last but not least, I made indoor s’mores. I started with a recipe I found online, but made some changes to it so I am providing my version below. What is fun about this recipe is that you can extend summer by simply serving s’mores in any weather. You can make them ahead of time too.
While these are stuffed with the classic chocolate and marshmallow, you could certainly play with the insides and add your favorite candy bars, too (yum, I may do this next time).
I brought the leftovers to a meeting recently and someone there said they were kind of like “crack”, so make them at your own risk. A tray quickly disappeared from my house in 24 hours…
I made mine a la mode!
Ingredients
- 3 crushed cups cinnamon graham crackers
- 1 cup melted butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup mini marshmallows
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the over to 350-degrees.
- Crush the graham crackers in a food processor while you melt the butter.
- Mix the butter and graham crackers in a bowl with the sugar.
- Place half of the graham cracker mixture in a 9 inch by 9 inch square, glass baking dish.
- Sprinkle the marshmallows and chocolate chips over the layer and add the rest of the graham cracker crumbs. With a spatula, press them down into a firm layer.
- Bake until the marshmallows and chocolate are melted (about 15 minutes).
- Cool in the pan until completely chilled. Cut into squares.
- Note – it may be a little crumbly. I served mine with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream