I had heard we aren’t supposed to use the gas stove to heat the house. I assumed that meant I couldn’t use it to heat marshmallows, because sometimes these kinds of ideas get lost in my brain like it is a house of mirrors. But then we went shopping for camping food, just me and Wild Greg, and I was told I could buy all kinds of favorite snacks. Only, it had been so long since I shopped for all my favorite junk food, that none of the stores had it. I guess I was the only one eating it…
So, I decided to go wild and buy some chocolate pin-stripe shortbread cookies. A whole package just for me for the weekend. Well, I would share. If I was asked. About the same time, we realized we had forgotten to pack the graham crackers and chocolate for the s’mores, but it occurred to me that I could just slap a toasted marshmallow on a shortbread cookie. Thus was born my new favorite snack food, The Helpless Female UnCamping S’more.
I am calling it the UnCamping S’more because I have now discovered that I can toast a perfect marshmallow over the flame of my gas stove. No mosquitos. No smoke in my eyes. No trips to the bucket in the middle of the night… I don’t have to go camping to have this and I can’t believe it has taken me 53 years to figure this out! (The recommended method if you don’t have a gas stove is to use the broiler in the oven.)
Maybe it is because camping food has a reputation for never being as good at home. I remember the time I begged my mom to make this delicious campfire hash we had had recently on a camping trip. She graciously tried to warn me, but I really wanted it. It had been SO good out in the woods. I nearly gagged on it at home. Not my mom’s fault at all. And so it was that any food particularly associated with camping became suspect for home cooking.
It might also be because, let’s face it, s’mores are notoriously messy. The traditional graham cracker ones require a bit of a production line AND fall apart into a million pieces when you try to take a bite. This is not nearly as bad with The Helpless Female UnCamping S’more. The one cookie underneath the marshmallow is much easier to control and eat, well, almost delicately. If you want to.
Then there is the marshmallow to cookie ratio. I have to think that most people are like me and are really eating the s’mores for the toasted marshmallow, liking the crunch of cookie and hint of chocolate, but always searching for the correct proportions. With the UnCamping S’more, I have found the most excellent mix.
One would think that with my love and snobbery for chocolate I would want more and darker chocolate for my s’mores, but the amount of chocolate on these cookies was just right. I am beginning to feel like Goldilocks. But now I have a new problem. Do I go and regularly buy these chocolate dipped shortbread cookies just to make sure the supply is there when I really need it? Will you all support me and work with me in this endeavor? Maybe I can get Chef Betharoni to help me find a suitable recipe to make my own chocolate pin-stripe cookies?
Even though these s’mores are officially an UnCamping food now, I have to admit that I probably would not have discovered The Helpless Female UnCamping S’more if I had not be cooperative about going camping. I know this will be used against me. But how can I argue with the man that let’s me buy whatever favorite snacks I want to.
