So many of my childhood memories are food related! One of those memories is making microwaved s’mores for dessert after dinner, and then making seconds when my parents left the kitchen. I would layer tons of chocolate chips and marshmallows on the graham crackers then watch the ‘mallows grow in the microwave then deflate. So much fun to watch! And yes, I used to eat food behind my parents backs! Is that one of the symptoms of a food addict? I also used to snack on nachos while no one was watching, but that story is for another time. So when I found this recipe for s’mores pop tarts, it reminded me of being a kid and I knew I had to try it right away. I mean, I literally went grocery shopping the day after I found this recipe and bought all of the ingredients. Get ready for the sweet goodness of s’mores and pop tarts, all homemade and delicious.
There isn’t much I can really say about how good these taste! You just have to try the recipe for yourself. It is so much fun and you get to play with your fo.od.
S’mores Pop Tarts Ingredients:
Based on a pop tart recipe from CHOW.com
Dough
9 whole graham crackers (1 sleeve)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp fine salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) cold unsalted margarine, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup soy milk (not nonfat)
To Assemble Tarts
Flour, for rolling the dough
1 egg
1 tsp water
1 cup (or more) marshmallow creme
Topping
6 oz. chocolate chips
I placed the graham crackers in a plastic bag, pressed the air out, and rolled out the crackers until fine using a rolling pin.
I had around 1 1/4 cups of fine uniform crumbs and it was so much fun to roll them out! I added the crumbs to a bowl with the flour and salt and whisked together.
I added the cold margarine to the graham cracker mixture and, using my hands, tossed until well coated. Then came the fun part! I could have used a pastry blender but my hands are the best kitchen utensil I have. So I cut the butter into the dry mixture until reduced to pea-size pieces.
Separately, I whisked the egg and milk together and added to the butter mixture. Then I got to use my hands again! I mixed everything together until a sticky dough was formed. I divided the dough into 2 equal portions and wrapped each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated for at least 2 hours. You can make the dough up to a day ahead of time, which I recommend, so you can just pop the dough out of the fridge when you are ready to bake.
When I was ready to assemble the pop tarts, I took the dough out of the fridge and left it on the counter for 10 minutes. In the meantime, I turned the oven to 375 degrees. I also lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside. I lightly dusted my cutting board with flour and rolled one portion out into a rough 12 by 10 inch rectangle. Tip: flour the rolling pin often so it doesn’t stick.
I trimmed the dough to a 10 1/2 by 9 inch rectangle using a ruler and a sharp knife. I then cut that into 6 equal rectangles (each about 3 1/2 wide by 4 1/2 inches tall). You don’t have to use a ruler, but I thought it would be nice if they were all the same size and shape.
Using a flat spatula, I transferred the rectangles to the prepared baking sheet and placed it in the fridge. I whisked the egg and water together and set aside. I rolled out the second ball of dough using the same dimensions as the first, then trimmed and cut into 6 pieces.
I pulled the baking sheet out of the fridge and began the process of putting the tarts together. Hooray! I brushed the egg wash over the refrigerated dough rectangles and spread 2 heaping tablespoons of marshmallow creme in the center.
At this point, my marshmallow began to settle so it got a bit messy. So here’s a good tip based on my experience: as soon as you place the creme on the rectangle, place a non-chilled rectangle over the top and press down the sides. Once all of the rectangles were covered, I pressed down the creme slightly to flatten. Using a fork dipped in flour, I crimped the edges of the tart. This is done to keep the marshmallow inside of the tart. Some of mine went a little wild, but they were still tasty once baked. I cut an X in the center of each tart, although I think mine were bigger than described in the original recipe. You’ll see what happened soon…I popped them in the fridge for 15 minutes so the dough could stiffen up slightly.
When the dough was ready to bake, I baked them until golden brown, about 20 minutes. The marshmallow puffed up a lot then settled while cooling. I mentioned before that my X’s were a bit too big and now you can see what happened. The all opened up! It didn’t affect the taste at all but they certainly didn’t come out like the picture from CHOW.com. I transferred them to a rack to cool then moved on to the chocolate topping.
It couldn’t be more simple! I placed the chocolate chips in a bowl and microwaved in 30 second increments until melted, mixing along the way. I just spread some chocolate over each tart and tried one right away. YUM!
It was like eating a real s’more at a campfire!As a kid in Seattle, we actually used to go on a ton of camping trips, so I didn’t just eat s’mores out of the microwave in my house but I really got a taste of an authentic roated over-the-fire s’more. Warm marshmallows, melted chocolate…what a delicious mess!
These s’more pop tarts invoke some serious childhood memories. Hopefully you will remember some of your own. You are welcome to share them with me.
