S'mores - British Style

S’mores – British Style

            Every good Girl Scout in the States knows s’mores.  In fact, most people know what a s’more is and how good it is, thanks to the spread of advertising of s’mores and the fact you can actually buy s’mores already made now and even s’more Pop tarts.  Be that as it is, a good s’more is still made by hand over a campfire or barbeque pit or fireplace where you can toast the marshmallow to your own special taste and melt the chocolate or gobble it up before it’s totally melted.

            For anyone who doesn’t know what the heck I am talking about yet, a s’more is a graham cracker (Nabisco makes the best) with some plain Hersey chocolate rectangles on them (usually one to three depending on how much you like chocolate and how many people are sharing a chocolate bar), then a toasted marshmallow on top of the chocolate and covered with another graham cracker and smushed all together and eaten in a yummy, gooey mess.  According to very old Girl Scout lore, they were called “S’mores” because you always wanted some more.  It was a staple of every camping trip I ever went on as a child, every camping trip I ever took my own Girl Scout troops on and almost every barbeque event as well.

            So my husband and I have now barbequed several times in the U.K. and each time I think of how nice it would be to end the evening with some s’mores but each time, it’s been an afterthought and we don’t have the ingredients.  Finally, yesterday, we are stopping at Waitrose to get some meat to barbeque and I thought of it in time to search for the ingredients.

            Hmmm.  Forget about Nabisco graham crackers.  No such critter here except for some of the very expensively priced import stores and you can’t get them on a short notice plus it was Sunday so had we even been able to track one down (usually I just order and delivery), none would have been open.  We perused the biscuit aisle carefully and selected some biscuits that looked graham cracker liked but turned out more like Melba toast!  Ugh.  Not good s’more quality.  We had a backup though.  We got some biscuits that were somewhere between a digestive and a shortbread but had a layer of chocolate on one side.  As there were no Hersey chocolate bars to be found anywhere, we also got the thinnest Lyndt chocolate bar we could find but also thinking that we might be able to skip the chocolate step by putting the chocolate biscuits next to the hot marshmallows.

            Now for the marshmallows.  I don’t ever remember seeing any around but do remember seeing marshmallow crème in a jar.  Do hope we don’t have to substitute that and luckily we didn’t.  We asked some of the shop workers and they directed us to real marshmallows.  So we are set. 

            Off to the homestead and barbequed our meat and roasted our potatoes on the grill too and had a lovely meal.  We let the charcoal die down a bit and then went out to toast our marshmallows for our s’mores.  Oh wait; what the heck, it is now raining like the dickens!  After all that effort to get the ingredients and all the anticipation, we are not going to let a little downpour stop us!  We march out with our umbrella and take turns holding it over each other while one of us toasts two marshmallows at a time.

            The idea of using the one sided chocolate covered biscuits was brilliant.  The marshmallows so melted the chocolate that it all started dripping out the sides and making a horrible but delicious mess as soon as the dessert concoction was put together.  We shared the first s’more but that proved to be a bit too messy.  I had it all over my fingers and my husband had it all over his beard!  He holds the umbrella next and I make him a s’more.  He eats this one by himself and only manages to drip it on his coat.  He toasts the next marshmallows and I hold the umbrella.  This one is mine and I drip it on the deck but jump out of the way in time for it not to drip on my pants.  OMG this is good stuff.  NOT a true s’more but it is a good approximation for the supplies on hand. 

            Even though you always want some more s’mores, too many can give you a sugar heart attack I think so we finished up at two apiece which is good because everything was sticky by now and it was raining much harder.  What fun and we have satisfied a small U.S. itch