Kids of all ages love them, so pull out a s’mores kit by the campfire and you’ll become a campground legend! Here’s everything you need to know about making the perfect campfire s’more.

S’mores Galore

Who doesn’t love s’mores? Yes, they’re American as apple pie (another fabulous dessert) but whip them out around a campfire anywhere in the world, and mark my words, you’ll be met with utter delight (and a few drooling mouths).

Sure, toasted marshmallows are a campground staple, but pair them with a coupla graham crackers and some milk chocolate and you’ll have escalated your camping experience tenfold!

* Disclaimer: We Are Explorers takes no responsibility for the sugar addictions induced and inevitable calories gained from eating your weight in s’mores. We do, however, encourage balancing it out with a hike the next day!

 

What the heck is a s’more?

S’mores are an American and Canadian campfire treat, very popular with boy and girl scouts (kids love sugar? Who knew?). The word is a contraction of ‘some more’, which is exactly what you’ll be asking for after you’ve devoured your first one.

To make s’mores you need three key ingredients;

  • Marshmallows
  • Milk chocolate bars
  • Graham crackers AKA any kind of plain, digestive biscuits

Essentially a s’more is the combining of these ingredients into a sandwich-style delicious treat! But there’s a fine art to crafting s’mores and plenty of possible variations out there to experiment with. Let’s make s’mores, shall we?

Read more: Winter Warmer Drinks For Sipping Around a Campfire

 

How To Make S’mores The Traditional Way in Australia

Servings:

4

Preparation Time:

Making a fire – 30 minutes

Cook time and assembly – 5 minutes

Essential Equipment:

  • A campfire – firepit, matches, tinder, kindling, wood
  • 4x long sticks for toasting
  • 4x plates

Ingredients (& Aussie Equivalents)

When it comes to making s’mores, the choice of ingredients is possibly more important than the actual preparation technique. It’s make or literal break out there! So you’ve gotta get it right.

  • 1x Bag of marshmallows (a few small marshmallows or one large marshmallow per s’more)
  • 1x Block of plain milk chocolate
  • 1x Packet of graham crackers

Marshmallows

Asking for a friend, what the heck is marshmallow made of? Whatever it is, a well-toasted one is essential to a good s’more. When making your selection, my suggestion is to avoid funky flavours (do they still make those tropical-style marshmallows?) and the bigger the better.

Do away with those mini marshmallows used for decorating cakes and placating children, and if you can find a large marshmallow packet, grab it! If not, the standard-sized marshmallows will still work just fine.

 

Milk Chocolate

Look, technically you can choose whichever flavour of chocolate or chocolate bars you like – mint crisp, gooey caramel, popping candy – but with a bunch of flavours and textures already going on in the s’more, I suggest keeping it as simple as your dessert-motivated brain will allow.

White chocolate is not going to give you the same flavour combo as milk chocolate, and if you’re buying for a crowd, dark chocolate isn’t always an across-the-board winner. Milk chocolate is the safe option, but the call is yours!

Ultimately the more flat and square a chocolate bar you can get, the more easily your s’more will come together at the end. Chocolate chips will work at a stretch, but will be fiddly when trying to assemble your s’more and you’ll more than likely lose a few to the campground floor.

 

Graham Crackers

The traditional s’mores recipe calls for a graham cracker to be used in every serve. But where the heck do you get graham crackers in Australia?

Instead, opt for a plain, digestive biscuit that’s thick and load-bearing enough not to crumble to pieces in your fingertips (or your hiking pack). You also don’t want the biscuit to be so thick, like a Scotch Finger, that the s’more is too tall to bite into.

Digestive biscuit options in Australia include;

  • McVittes Digestive Biscuits
  • Arnotts Granita
  • Arnotts Marie

Once you’ve carefully selected your ingredients (and stashed away some extras for yourself), let’s make s’mores!

S’more Method

Step 1. Light a campfire

Although technically not essential for making a s’more, an outdoor campfire is the natural habitat of s’mores and arguably the best place to enjoy them.

It also happens to be the best way to perfectly craft toasted marshmallows, an essential step (and the only real ‘cooking’ that happens) when making this sweet treat.

When making a campfire, it’s best practice to keep it contained to a pre-existing fire pit.

Use some tinder to get it started before slowly adding larger pieces of wood.

Never made a campfire before? No stress! We’ve outlined everything you need to know so you can spend more time enjoying your s’mores and less time cursing smoke in your eyes.

Read more: How To Make a Campfire Without Matches

 

How To Make An Awesome Campfire Without Matches, photo by Neil Massey, fire, wood, sticks, fire pit, hands

Photo by Neil Massey

Step 2. Prepare The Ingredients

Now that you’ve got your campfire roaring, it’s time to grab your s’more ingredients.

For each s’more serve, you’ll need;

  • 2x Digestive biscuits or two graham cracker halves
  • 2x Pieces of milk chocolate
  • 1x Large marshmallow or 2x regular size marshmallow

It’s best to have your biscuits and chocolate pieces on a plate ready to go, because when that hot marshmallow comes out of the flames, you won’t want to be scrambling!

 

Step 3. Toast The Marshmallows

Is there anyone more impatient than a camper with a marshmallow on a stick?

This is very much a ‘do as I say not as I do’ scenario, as I personally light the thing on fire for a few seconds, blow it out, put it straight in my gob and instantly burn the inside of my mouth. Don’t do that.

If you’re blessed with patience (and if not, it’s a good opportunity to practice it), slowly toast your marshmallow over the hot coals of the fire, rather than chucking it straight into the open flame.This will take a little longer, but at least half of your s’more won’t be burning ash!

On the flip side to this, you don’t want to undercook your marshmallow, as the heat from the hot marshmallow is essential to melting the chocolate.

Ultimately, you want to get the marshmallow to a nice golden brown that will melt when squished between two biscuits or graham cracker halves.

 

Step 4. Assemble The S’more

On your plate you should have two biscuits, with a piece of chocolate on top of each one, ready to welcome the final ingredient.

With your marshmallow perfectly toasted, carefully slide it off the stick and onto one of the chocolate-and-cracker halves. Add the other half of the cracker / chocolate combo on top and press gently down to slowly squish the marshmallow and allow the heat to melt the chocolate.

 

Step 5. Eat!

What are you waiting for? Wrap your tastebuds around that s’more!

Just be sure to keep your plate close by to catch any melting chocolate that’ll inevitably drip.

 

S’more Recipe Variations

If you’re a s’more connisour, you’ve probably dabbled and experimented with possible flavour combinations to take your s’more experience to a higher level. There’s really no limit to what you can add to a s’more, but here are a few of my favourite flavour variations.

 

Peanut Butter

Whether you prefer crunchy or smooth, peanut butter is a killer addition to a s’more. Simply spread some on the inside of each graham cracker half and add the chocolate on top.

 

Raspberry Jam

Raspberry jam (or whatever flavour you please) is another easy and delicious addition. Evenly spread some on the underside of each graham cracker half or biscuit and slam your chocolate square on top.

 

Change Up Your Biscuit Choice

Traditional s’mores call for graham crackers, but with so many variations of biscuit out there, why not mix it up?

Oreos or chocolate chip cookies are a great alternative, just be careful not to break the Oreo when you twist it open!

And if for whatever reason, you find yourself fresh outta milk chocolate, you can always grab a packet of chocolate graham crackers AKA McVitte’s Chocolate Digestive Biscuits with the chocolate layer already built-in! Voila!

 

 

Sliced Fruit

If the sugary trio is a bit too much for you, break up the decadence with a few slices of fresh fruit. Strawberries and banana both pair perfectly with the flavour combination of a s’more. But if you’re feeling especially daring, chuck on a slice of pineapple!

Hot tip! Pineapple pairs best with white chocolate rather than milk. Sprinkle some coconut flakes in too for a real tropical treat.

 

Chocolate Bar

Ok ok, I know I said plain milk chocolate is your safest bet. But who wants to play it safe in the dessert game?

Choosing your favourite chocolate bar to melt onto a s’more will make you feel like Willy Wonka at his chocolate factory. Obviously the flatter and more chocolate-heavy the bar is the easier it’ll melt. Chocolate bars with nuts, caramel, nougat, and biscuit inside all add flavour and texture, but possibly at the loss of eat-ability, so be wise in your selection!

Cherry Ripe and Kit-Kat should work well!

 

Caramel Sauce

If you’re a true blue sweet tooth, what better way to dial up the sugar than by pouring a bit of caramel sauce onto your s’more?

Buy it from the store or make it yourself. Heat it up or keep it cool. Spread it on the underside of your graham cracker or drip it on top of your oozing marshmallow. However you do it, there’s no denying, this is the pinnacle of s’more decadence.

 

 

S’mores Frequently Asked Questions

There’s more to s’mores than people think!

 

Are s’mores a thing in Australia?

S’mores are a hiking staple in America. And although many Australians will know what a s’more is, they’re not considered a must-have on a camping trip in Aus.

But who could resist this sweet sandwich treat after a big day of exploring?

 

Why are they called s’mores?

The original name for a s’more was a ‘graham cracker sandwich’, when the recipe first appeared in a cookbook in the early 1920s. By 1927, the same recipe was published again under the title ‘Some More’, and the contraction ‘s’more’ appeared in the recipe description.

Ever since, your favourite sandwich style dessert has been known as a s’more.

What is the difference between s’mores and marshmallows?

A marshmallow is just a single ingredient of a s’more, while s’mores are a whole dessert sandwich.

What s’more do you want?

There you have it! Everything you could possibly need to know about making s’mores at the campground. Now go grab your marshmallow stick, light a fire, and reminisce on some campfire childhood memories, s’more in hand (and mouth).

 

Feature photo by @kellysikkema