Becca Jane St Clair

Personal Blog

Recipe: An American Classic for Independence Day – The S’more

Question: Does England have a Fourth of July?
Answer: Of course it does, between the third and fifth!

Today is Independence Day in the US, the day which Americans celebrate their independence from Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the second continental congress approved the Declaration of Independence, having officially declared separation from Great Britain two days prior.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

It just turns out that my pursuit of happiness has taken me back to the UK!

Did you know they don’t call that war the Revolutionary War in the UK? It’s actually called the American War of Independence.

I am spending my day, sadly, alone, as Tim has gone back to his training. I DID order in some burgers from Tesco, so I’ll at least have a burger for dinner tonight. I have a sing-out with my chorus tonight, too, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get them to sing any of the “American” anthem songs. I don’t even have any fireworks! I originally wanted to get some back at Bonfire Night when they were selling them and hang onto them until July, but I forgot. I will have to make a note in my diary (US: organizer/date book) this year so I don’t forget.

But it did remind me of one of my all-time American campfire classics, the S’more.

S’mores are a barbecue and campfire classic in America. The melted chocolate and gooey marshmallow make for a tasty sweet treat after all that meat! In the UK, I understand that one thing people like to do here is take a banana and shove chocolate buttons in it and put that on the grill for a sticky, gooey treat. But I’m partial to S’mores.

Authentic S’mores are made with marshmallow, a graham cracker, and a bit of Hershey. All three are a bit elusive in this country, but we DO have marshmallows. Not as big as the Jet Puff ones, but they are marshmallows. Fortunately, my mom sent me a bag of American Marshmallows and I had been holding on to them for an occasion. The occasion turned out to be the first barbecue of the year at my friend N and P’s house back in April, but I was saving on posting about it until today.

For the cracker AND chocolate part, I cheated a little. I bought Chocolate Digestive biscuits so I wouldn’t have to worry about melting the chocolate. It worked well!

You will need, for each person:

1 skewer or stick
1 large marshmallow
2 chocolate digestive biscuits

And it’s quite easy. While the flames are dying on the barbecue, stick a marshmallow on a stick and hold it to the coals. Don’t get too close or the marshmallow will catch on fire! When the edges are crispy, it’s time to take it off. Now CAREFULLY pull the marshmallow off the skewer and place it on top of a biscuit, chocolate side up. Top with another biscuit and there you have it, an improvised S’more!

Edit to add: Ironically, I wrote this and scheduled it for publication today, and as I was going through Google Reader this morning, a post by Michelle at The American Resident caught my attention, as she’s also blogged about S’mores! How funny! So go read her blog if you want another way of making a S’more. Hers even includes indoor instructions!

~~*~~
The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, or the RSS feed(s), please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users can comment directly on Facebook.]

Share
5 comments

5 Comments so far

  1. Michelloui | The American Resident July 4th, 2011 13:20

    Ooooooh! I have to say there’s nothing like toasting a marshmallow over an open fire. My recipe allows for people to bypass the fire and sort of puff/melt them in the microwave but the crispy toastiness from the fire is the best!

    I figure smores MUST be an American classic if we both thought of it today!

  2. Rebecca July 4th, 2011 13:30

    It has to be! 🙂

  3. falnfenix July 4th, 2011 15:49

    have you tried making your own mallows yet? i made s’mores with homemade ones recently and the flavor was…more intensely vanilla, without that processed mouthfeel i abhor.

  4. Rebecca July 4th, 2011 22:49

    No not yet. I don’t know if I have that much motivation! LOL

  5. falnfenix July 5th, 2011 4:12

    oh bah, they’re EASY. i’ll email you the recipe i use, you should be able to convert it.

Leave a reply