homemade s'mores
Summer means a few very important things: patio beers, long hot days, cottaging, fresh local produce and of course, s’mores!
I’m sure by now we all know how f-ing gross store-bought conventional marshmallows are. Ever looked at the ingredients? Welp, here’s a snippet: Corn Syrup, Sugar, Dextrose, Modified Cornstarch, Water, Contains Less than 2% of Gelatin, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Natural and Artificial Flavour, Blue 1.
Umm… exqueeze me? What even is that?
If, like me, you’re less than impressed with that list, you’re in luck! Making homemade marshmallows is super easy, all you need is a stand mixer to whip those babies up.
What’s a s’more without it’s graham cracker counterpart? While we’re on the subject of questionable ingredients, why not check out those bad boys: Unbleached Enriched Flour, Graham Flour, Sugar, Soybean Oil, Honey, Baking Soda, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavour.
Seems innocent enough compared to most highly processed and refined packaged foods, but I’d much rather make my own with wholesome ingredients like almonds, buckwheat and oats. Did I mention they’re also gluten-free.
homemade marshmallows
Recipe inspired by Urban Poser.
Ingredients:
1 cup water, split in half
3 tbsp gelatin (Great Lakes is a good quality grass-fed brand)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
Directions:
1. Line a pan with parchment paper.
2. In your stand mixer, add 1/2 cup water with gelatin.
3. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup water in a medium sized pot with honey, vanilla and salt.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil at medium heat.
5. Continue to boil for 8 minutes, then immediately remove from heat and let it cool slightly
6. With the stand mixer on low/medium, pour the mixture in (slowly!) with the gelatin.
7. Now turn the mixer on high until it becomes thick and fluffy, this should take about 10 minutes.
8. Pour the marshmallow mixture in your pan right away (it starts to solidify pretty quickly) and smooth out the top with a spatula.
9. Leave the marshmallows to set for a few hours and then slice them up and toss them in a bowl with powdered sugar, coconut, crushed nuts, cacao or whatever your heart desires!
homemade graham crackers (gluten-free and vegan)
Recipe inspired by Oh She Glows
Ingredients:
Wet:
- 3 tbsp melted coconut oil
- 3 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tbsp ground flax
Dry:
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1/2 cup raw buckwheat groats (to be processed into flour)
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats (to be processed into flour)
- 5 tbsp arrowroot flour
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp ginger
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
Directions:
1. Mix all wet ingredients.
2. In blender, combine the buckwheat grouts and oats and blend until they are a flour-like consistency. Then mix all dry ingredients together.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
4. Form into two dough balls and prepare a clean lightly floured surface to roll out the dough.
5. Preheat oven to 350.
6. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin (or wine bottle if that’s you’re style) so the dough is about 1/8 inch thick.
7. Use a cookie cutter and the rim of a cup and cut into your desired shape and carefully transfer the cookies to a lined baking sheet. I used a fork to make a design on my little crackers.
8. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for 6 more minutes and transfer to a rack to cool.
Choose some good quality chocolate and you’ve got yourself a s’more… all that’s missing is a campfire.