We spent our weekend camping.  Finally, after what seemed like an entire month of rainy weekends, we were able to take our new-to-us tent trailer out for another spin.  And so, as promised quite a while ago:  my first (of what will hopefully be many!) camping food post.

The weekend was exactly what we needed:  time to focus on just being together as a family.  No schedules, no chores to do, and no electronics.  Just a handful of toys, some books, our beach towels and a camera.  Also: copious amounts of hot dogs, corn on the cob, and s’mores.  

I’ve been experimenting with some new s’mores flavours that I wanted to share with you.  

Have you tried any different twists on classic s’mores, or do you prefer the old standard graham wafer, chocolate and marshmallow kind?

Here’s what I experimented with:

Chai marshmallows with ginger cookies and dark chocolate

Vanilla marshmallows with peanut butter cookies, white chocolate and haskap jam

I’m going to share with you my recipe for marshmallows ASAP.  They’re not too difficult to make, and contain no ingredients that you can’t pronounce (always a good thing!).

These s’mores were incredible, and taught me a few lessons:

• Homemade marshmallows melt faster than store-bought marshmallows.  Act accordingly.
• You know how you always want your s’mores chocolate to melt but it’s hard to get the marshmallow hot enough to actually melt it?  And how that’s totally frustrating and somewhat dissatisfying?  Here’s a tip:  use those chocolate bars with the mousse-y filling.  Brilliant.  Total gooey melty-ness.
• Make your own damn cookies.  You don’t need me to tell you that graham wafers are not actually that tasty.
• Alternatively, use Ritz crackers.  This was a revelation to me when we were out camping and forgot cookies for our s’mores.  We’d picked up a box of Ritz at a gas station along the way to quieten the chimes of “cacka! cacka!” coming from the back seat, and I’m not sure I’d want my s’more any other way now…

Enjoy!