Don had been wanting to burn our overabundance of sticks and small branches that presented themselves all over our back yard during the last storm. He thought that while doing so the kids would have fun roasting marshmallows. And I, of course, wasn't going to settle with just roasted marshmallows, I wanted to make Smores!
It was a perfectly cool, almost fall-like night -- a more perfect night for such an activity could not be found. There was ever so slight a chill in the air. The stars were out in abundance. I couldn't have asked for a better Smore-making night! But we had to construct them a little differently. My kids are not eating candy. Haven't since early June. I decided that candy was become a way too common fixture in their lives so I bribed the older two not eat it all summer long. I offered up $100 each. (Alexander is not participating because I still have almost complete control over what he eats and is not as affected by candy as the other two are.) They accepted my offer and have done amazingly well! But how does one make a Smore without a Hershey Bar? We thought of some very clever ways to try to come up with our own Smore recipe. And you know what? I liked them, one in particular, much better! As anti-American as it may sound, I loathe chocolate Hershey bars. Always have. I do not like the flavor and find them way too gritty. Like chocolate flavored chalk, really. So we went out to the grocery store to find some ingredients.
We found a super Butterscotch/Caramel sauce and a dark chocolate fudge sauce. We substituted chocolate grahams for the regular variety. We found we liked those better. They were more flavorful and crispier. The kids also decided they would like to try their Smores with a little Nutella and peanut butter as well. (Not together, separately!) So we got out all our ingredients and we tried many variations. My favorite, hands down, and I will make these for the rest of my life, was the caramel Smore! I took 2 graham squares, placed my melted marshmallow one one half and a generous spoonful of butterscotch/caramel sauce on the other, sandwiched them together and voila! Perfection!
Another wonderful evening to go down in memory!