Who doesn't get excited for Rice Krispies Treats when they are put out at a barbecue or other get together? It's a classic that reminds many of us (myself included) of our childhoods. In my humble opinion there is just something so wonderful about grabbing a Rice Krispies square, pulling it apart, and seeing these strings of gooey marshmallow and crisped rice form. Your head dives in, mouth first, to make sure none of it falls on the ground. When it does fall, don't lie to me that there isn't that 2 second pause where you look at it and think "if I grab it right now, it'll be just fine." We do have the "five second rule" for a reason folks.
The s'more is another childhood staple that I cannot get enough of. Any time there is an open flame I start thinking about perfectly roasted marshmallows, slowly melting chocolate, all sitting on top of a crisp graham cracker. Evenings sitting around the backyard fire pit are not properly capped if we do not walk away needing to rinse sticky s'mores bits from around our mouths. Right after college a friend and I moved into a townhouse with a balcony. Of course we trotted out and got ourselves a small barbecue. With the barbecue came the desire for s'mores and so I sacrificed old metal coat hangers to a very worthy cause. We would not be denied our gooey marshmallow chocolaty goodness.
Now what would you say to putting those two things together? Don't worry, I can hear you all saying "yes, yes please!" I had been seeing versions of Rice Krispies Treats S'mores on Pinterest and while I was certainly intrigued with the idea of them, I was not sold on how others were putting them together. Most versions used treats dipped in a fluff or marshmallow frosting then dipped in chocolate. Graham cracker crumbs would be sprinkled on top for affect. I'd also seen graham cracker bits and chocolate chips mixed into the standard treats' recipe. I wanted something that not only looked like a s'more but also included the standard treat and didn't include the cop out of using fluff or frosting (yes, my foodie obnoxiousness is showing, but every girl needs to have her standards and my line in the sand gets drawn here!)
What follows is my answer to the "not quite there yet" versions of Rice Krispies Treats S'mores floating around the internet. I followed Alton Brown's recipe for homemade marshmallow. I swear, making your own marshmallow is not difficult, it just requires a healthy dose of patience....and a candy thermometer.
For the Marshmallow:
Ingredients:
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water
12 ounces granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
Directions:
Pour a 1/2 cup of cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer and add gelatin. Give it a quick mix to prevent globs of semi-wet gelatin from sticking to the bowl. Let this sit while you do the next step.
Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and remaining water into a medium saucepan. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 4 minutes. Uncover, clip candy thermometer to edge and continue to cook until mixture registers 240 degree. The mixture will have begun to boil during the initial 4 minutes. It will be cloudy at first but becomes noticeably clearer at minute 6 or so. You should see a full rolling boil by minute 9 and after around 16 total minutes you should be hitting 240 degrees.
Once the mixtures comes to temperature, remove from heat immediately.
Attach whisk, and with mixer on low speed, slowly pour hot syrup down the side of the bowl into gelatin mixture. Once all the syrup is added, raise speed to high; beat until mixture is very stiff, about 12 minutes. During the final minute, beat in vanilla. Do not worry if the mixture does not smell all that great during the whisking process because it won't. It'll get a little better once the vanilla is added and it does not affect the taste.
Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with an oiled spatula. Sprinkle the top with some of the corn starch and sugar mixture. Allow the marshmallow to sit, uncovered, for at least 4 hours.
For the Rice Krispies Treat S'mores:
Ingredients:
5 cups Rice Krispies
1/2 batch liquid marshmallow
1 marshmallow, fully set, 9x13 in size
1 1/2 bags chocolate chips
7 graham crackers
Directions:
Transfer your whole 9x13 inch marshmallow to a tupperware container so that you can use the same baking dish to make Rice Krispies treats by the standard recipe on the box. My reasoning for this is so that your two main layers are the exact same size. (Of course you are going to find out in a second that it was all for naught.) I made a second batch of homemade marshmallow for the Krispies treats, the only change was I beat the marshmallow for just 10 minutes and immediately combined it with the Rice Krispies.
Once the Rice Krispies treats were formed in the pan, flip them over - you want to be working with the flatter more even side.
In a microwave safe dish, melt approximately a half bag of chocolate chips. Brush the top of the Krispies treats with the chocolate.
Place the previously made marshmallow on top. Press down a bit to make sure they stick together. It was at this point I faced the awkward predicament of having a layer bar the same height as my dish with two layers still to go. This would not have been a real problem if I was only going to brush on the next layer of chocolate and then add the graham crackers. However, this did not jive with my vision. I wanted a distinct and thick layer of chocolate like you would have if you had placed a marshmallow on top of a Hershey Bar segment for your s'more. What is a girl to do? Well, this girl grabbed her chef's knife and did some trimming. Now my half completed layer bar fit snugly into the tupperware with enough height left to prevent any chocolate related spillage.
 |
Melt a whole bag of chocolate chips and pour into the center of the marshmallow. Using a spatula, spread all the way to the edges. No need to be too dainty with the spreading though. It is the ooey gooey nature of the s'more that holds a lot of its appeal.
While the chocolate is still soft, place the graham crackers on top. I broke all the crackers into their individual quarters in the hopes that it would help with cutting them later. The lines basically acted as guides and allowed for a cleaner look to the finished product. That is the theory anyway, the execution is a bit more "ish."
Let the treats sit in fridge until the chocolate hardens. I let the treats sit in the fridge overnight but you probably only need a couple of hours. To cut them, make sure you have a really big and sharp knife.
I promise these will be the hit of the party!
No comments:
Post a Comment