Tart Bites: S'mores Coffee Break

Transcribed by Otter.ai; Lightly edited by Linda. Please forgive typos or grammar errors.

Episode 334 - S'mores Coffee Break

3:36

Linda 00:00

Welcome to Tart Words. I'm your host, Linda Hengerer. And I'm a writer, a reader, and a baker. I talk to writers about their latest book and what inspires them, chat with fellow author Suzanne Fox about what writers can learn from reading their favorite authors, and share fast and easy recipes for anyone looking for a sweet treat. Join me as I share Tart Bites, Tart Thoughts, and Tart Words. 

Today I'm talking about a S’mores Coffee Break.

I love s’mores. I can’t overstate how much I love them. They have everything I like in a treat: crunch, chocolate, sweet gooey marshmallow. 

I don’t always have access to a warm grill when I want to make s’mores, and it’s a waste of gas to heat the grill just for them. 

Enter my economical hack. Instead of buying a butane torch for the times when I want to make a sugar crust (crème brûlée) or torch some marshmallows for s’mores, I bought a butane long-barrel lighter with a flexible barrel. A. Flexible. Barrel. OMG – it was love at first bend.

I didn’t want to use the regular long lighter and potentially have the flame travel back up the barrel into the butane reservoir. I was in my local hardware store looking at butane torches and saw a lighter with a flexible barrel. It suited my needs and cost one-fourth of the butane torch. 

I had an idea about how to make s’mores any time I wanted them and tried out my new lighter as soon as I got home.

Having chocolate-covered graham crackers was another hack, instead of having chocolate bars and graham crackers on hand. Another idea was using marshmallow crème instead of marshmallows.

Using what is most likely already in your pantry is key to having treats on demand. I get on a kick eating Fluffernutter sandwiches (peanut butter and marshmallow Fluff), so periodically I have Fluff on hand. Sometimes instead of a closed sandwich with bread, I’ll toast English muffins and spread them with peanut butter and top it with Fluff, then torch the Fluff for a taste and texture treat.

The possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

Ingredients:

3 or 4 chocolate-covered graham crackers

Mini-marshmallows

Marshmallow crème (I use Marshmallow Fluff), optional

Using a butane torch or lighter with a long, flexible barrel, warm the chocolate on the flat side of the chocolate-covered graham crackers. Put as many mini-marshmallows as you like on the melted chocolate. Torch the top of the marshmallows and top with another chocolate-covered graham cracker or leave open-faced.

Optional: Warm the chocolate and top with marshmallow crème; torch the top of the marshmallow crème and top with a chocolate-covered graham cracker or leave open-faced. 

All the traditional flavor elements of s’mores are in this fast and easy treat. 

Having s’mores instead of cookies is a delicious change from your usual coffee break!

Thank you for joining me this week. To view the complete show notes and the links mentioned in today's episode, visit tartwords.com/tart334. Follow now in the app you're using to listen to this podcast or sign up for email alerts through an easy signup form for bakers, readers, and writers at tartwords.com/about. Thank you again for joining me, Linda Hengerer, for this episode of Tart Bites.