A Labor of Love (Day 27 of 30)

I started another blog briefly a while back just for my recipes. I would include some quick fixes and some "labor of love" recipes. Today, I was inspired by an episode of a Bobby Flay show to make some S'mores...from scratch. Graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate ganache to pour over. I wanted to do an all-natural graham cracker. I found a recipe and tweaked it some to my liking. After making them, I tweaked them a bit more. Here's the recipe:

Whole Wheat Honey Graham Crackers
1 cup + 2 T whole wheat flour
¼ cup raw sugar + 1 T extra for sprinkling
½ t baking powder
¼ t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon
2 T raw honey
2 T water
1 t quality vanilla extract
½ stick organic butter, melted


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt stick of butter in a pan on the stove. Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4. Add the liquids: honey, water, vanilla, and melted butter.
5. Stir well until a nice ball of dough is formed.
6. Cut two pieces of Parchment paper the size of the cookie sheet.
7. Lay one piece of parchment paper on the cookie sheet.
8. Place the ball of dough on the parchment paper.
9. Lay the other piece of parchment paper on top of the ball of dough. Squish dough down a little with your fist.
10. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough between the pieces of parchment paper. Roll until the dough is about 1/4 “ thick.
11. Remove the top piece of parchment paper. Cut rolled dough into 2 inch squares, or cut shapes with cookie cutters, being sure to separate the shapes from the surrounding dough a little.
12. Puncture small holes in the top with a fork and sprinkle with remaining sugar.
13. Bake in oven for 18 minutes.
14. Turn oven off, but leave crackers in the oven to get crisp.
15. Remove from oven after 30 minutes.
16. Eat immediately or store in an air-tight container.


Recipe makes about 10 2” x 2” graham crackers

Then I found a recipe for homemade marshmallows that did not contain corn syrup. I thought I completely messed up my marshmallows because I poured the liquid into the egg whites when it was still pretty warm, but i just kept mixing them in my mixer, and they came out perfect. This picture shows right when I poured the marshmallow into the pan to set up. I altered the recipe a bit to make them vanilla marshmallows. Yum!

Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows
1 ½ T powdered gelatin
1 cup cold water
1 cup sugar
1 egg white
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted, plus more for dusting pan and marshmallows
Butter, for greasing pan


1. In a small saucepan soak the gelatin in the cold water. After the gelatin has softened, approximately 10 minutes, add the regular sugar and then gently dissolve over low heat, approximately 8 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla extract, and allow to cool to room temperature.
2. In a mixer, beat the egg white until stiff peaks, and then fold in the sifted confectioners' sugar. 3. While the mixer is on low, slowly pour in the cooled gelatin mixture. Increase the speed and beat until white and thick. The volume should double in size and should form between soft and firm peaks.
4. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with high sides with foil, grease slightly with butter, and coat with confectioners' sugar. Alternatively, you can use a baking sheet, but the marshmallows will not be as tall. Pour marshmallow mixture in and top with more sifted confectioners' sugar. Leave out overnight or for at least 3 hours to set. The marshmallow should be light and spongy when set.
5. Loosen marshmallow from edges of tray and invert onto a large cutting board. Peel off foil and use a large knife to cut the marshmallows into cubes. Dredge each piece in confectioners' sugar.


For the chocolate part of the s'mores, I made a ganache with organic heavy whipping cream and bittersweet chocolate. I will have to assemble another one tomorrow and photograph the completed version. It was definitely quite yummy! Love cooking for my family.