Hey… psst… as of midnight last night, er, this morning, the cookie jar giveaway is officially over! Congrats to the winner, Sarah – enjoy your cookie jar! And thanks to everyone else who entered. I hope to have many more in the future.
❇
…
I bake after midnight a lot. More than most, I’d guess. And lately I’ve been in baking mode; clafouti & cookies & cupcakes, oh my. But see, here’s the rub. When the weather gets hot, I hate to turn on the oven, so I try & do my baking at night (or the early morning) when it’s cooler. I’m kind of old fashioned like that. Even with air conditioning… I still hate to have the oven on when the temperature is over 80º degrees unless it’s 100% necessary. And you’d think that with cupcakes it’d be necessary. And it is. But not necessary enough. So I do it at night when everyone’s asleep (well, almost everyone… Jay does work until 2:30 a.m. after all) & the sun is down, & it’s way cooler. This guy might or might not be awake, too.
…
Anyway. If I’m lucky, it’s cool enough (and the humidity is low enough) after midnight to fling all the windows open and get fresh nighttime air. I’m a full-on night owl, that’s when I do my best thinking too. It’s when I came up with this.
…
S’mores cupcakes have been done before. Tons of times. You’re probably thinking, “Been there, done that, seen it on Pinterest.” And you’d be right. But I don’t really like to try & reinvent the wheel, here. I like the classics. Forget about inventing taco cupcakes or some crazy shit. I like reworking the classics & trying new ways of doing them. I’m just nutty like that. I mean, isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over & over & expecting different results? I think someone said that once. It probably wasn’t anyone I know, though, they’re all a bunch of damn lunatics themselves.. It..
At any rate, I decided to recreate a classic cupcake in a way I never did it before. S’mores cupcakes are some of my favorite cupcakes ever. The last time I made them was quite some time ago, and it was this recipe. That recipe is awesome- don’t get me wrong. But I wanted to try something different. Side note: do you think it’s normal I look back on my blog posts from 4 years ago and cringe? ‘Cause I do. Mainly because the pictures suck. Anyway… s’mores. What’s there not to like about them? And they’re pretty much perfect for this time of year; s’mores themselves are a summer staple, aren’t they? They’re made at cook-outs, barbecues, camping trips, etc. And this is a less messy way of having your s’mores and eating them too. Although a messy s’more right off the fire is a lovely thing.
This time I decided to make a rich dark chocolate cupcake and sprinkle it with graham cracker crumbs before baking it.
…
Then once they’re out of the oven and almost cooled, I put a large marshmallow on top…
…
And then stuck ’em under the broiler; toasting the marshmallow and melting it, creating a “frosting.”
…
As it settles, it melts down onto the cupcake. And there you have it.
A new take on the s’mores cupcake.
S’MORE CUPCAKES
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup Hershey’s® Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- about 4 or 5 honey graham crackers, crushed
- 12 large marshmallows
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350º degrees F. Line a 12-count cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
- Sift together cocoa powder, flour and baking powder. In another bowl whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk and vegetable oil. Gradually whisk flour mixture into sugar mixture. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Add a heaping teaspoon of crushed graham crackers on top of each cupcake. Bake in preheated oven for 12 – 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for several minutes in the cupcake pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool just enough so they can be handled. Once cooled, but yet still warm, transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Top each cupcake with a large marshmallow. Slide under the broiler and broil until browned, bubbly & melted. Remove immediately. Allow marshmallow to cool enough so that it won’t burn your mouth, then eat away!
I got my brown cupcake liners from sweet estelle’s baking supply. I like using dark brown liners when making chocolate cupcakes, I think it looks much nicer than a white one or a colored one. Most colored ones aren’t greaseproof enough to work on chocolate cupcakes. Unless they’re from the Confectionery House or Sutton Gourmet Paper. But that’s just my two cents. I prefer to use brown or black liners for dark cupcakes, I like the look. But I also like potato chip sandwiches, hot sauce in macaroni & cheese, dipping french fries in blue cheese dressing, the smell of gasoline and shaving the sides of my head. I don’t expect you to fully agree with everything I say.
…
The neat thing about these is that the next day, the marshmallow is still soft & gooey. So they’re good warm and they’re also good the next day.
Or for breakfast. Not that I’m encouraging that at all, kids. S’mores cupcakes and Coke are NOT a balanced breakfast, but I eat it anyway and feel the same silent, secret shame I feel when I actually like a Coldplay song.
…
…
I'm Marilla. A 30-something artist, hobby baker, home canning enthusiast, gardener, DIY-er, wife, mommy of a baby boy and dog mom (to another baby boy) from New York. 
ohemGEE!! i’m sitting here drooling ‘rilla!!
if i ever start cooking, i think i’ll just start baking. seems funner and much more rewarding haha!
Haha! Well, cooking may be easier, but baking is definitely more fun (I think so, anyway).
WOW! De-LISH looking. Definitely trying these next. Also going to take the advice of baking either in the AM or late night. I have a gas oven on top of a tiny apartment that once the oven warms up the whole apt does too, not so great when it’s 95 degrees out. Thanks for the ideas and great recipe 🙂
Thanks Sarah 🙂 Sometimes those old school ways of doing things are the best ways. There’s a reason why they’ve stood the test of time! People say “Why bother when you’ve got A/C?” and I say, “Do you open your windows when you have the A/C on? Then why put the oven on and override all the cool air with heat?” Makes sense to me! Especially if your oven heats the entire freakin’ kitchen AND living room like mine does!
What a great idea…I am vegan, but I think I may make this for my children who are not. 🙂
They’re DELICIOUS. DELICIOUS.
These look awesome! Living in Texas, I long for the days when it was only 80 degrees and I used the oven regularly. I have a question, though. Any time I bake things that can be shipped, I double the recipe and send some to a friend of mine that’s stationed in Afghanistan. Any suggestions on recipes that can be easily shipped? I generally stick to things like cookies and muffins since the frosting on cupcakes makes them so hard to ship.
Ugh Gail.. it’s currently 99 degrees here and my face is melting off. So I know the feeling.
I don’t know of any good cupcake recipes, because of the frosting like you said. Unless you make a filled cupcake, but I don’t think that’d hold up well on the trip. I have a coffee cake recipe coming up in a few days, that might travel pretty well.
I just sent cupcakes over to Afghanistan to a friend of mine. I sent it in a medical supply grade styrophoam shipping cooler. I put the cupcakes in 2 half dozen containers that you would see in a grocery store, and then wedged them in the cooler with ice packs on either side. They made it there ok, but the frosting was smashed. He and his friends didn’t seem to mind though!
It only cost about 10.50 to ship though probably because I used a styrophoam shipping box. Let me know if you have any better luck with any other types of cupcakes and frostings (I sent Margarita cupcakes with lime buttercream)
Mackenzie thanks so much for commenting with that! I hope Gail sees it.
Thanks for every other wonderful article. Where else may just anyone
get that type of information in such a perfect method of writing?
I’ve a presentation next week, and I am on the search for such information.
Inspiring story there. What happened after? Thanks!
Needed to compose you that little remark in order to say thank
you once again considering the gorgeous methods you’ve contributed on this site.
This has been quite incredibly generous of people like you to make openly just
what many people would have supplied as an e book in making some profit for themselves, especially considering the fact that you might have tried
it in the event you decided. The creative ideas in addition worked to become a fantastic way to be certain that other individuals have a similar zeal just as mine to learn a whole lot more around this matter.
I’m sure there are many more pleasant moments in the future
for folks who check out your blog post.
Loving the information on this site, you have done great job on the posts.
Currently it seems like Expression Engine is the best blogging platform available right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
I like this web site very much, Its a very nice situation to
read and find information.
I intended to compose you one very little note to finally say thanks again for those
pleasant views you have discussed here. It’s quite particularly open-handed of you to deliver unreservedly precisely what many
of us would have made available as an e book to end up making some bucks on their own, most importantly considering the fact
that you might well have done it if you desired. These smart
ideas likewise acted to provide a fantastic way to understand that some people have similar eagerness just like mine to learn a little more pertaining to this condition. I
think there are numerous more pleasurable instances
in the future for those who read carefully your blog post.
Hello everybody, here every one is sharing such familiarity, so it’s pleasant to read this blog, and I used to pay a quick visit this weblog every day.
I really love your blog.. Very nice colors & theme. Did you create this amazing site yourself?
Please reply back as I’m wanting to create my own personal website and want to find out
where you got this from or just what the theme is named.
Thank you!
I think this is among the most important info for me.
And i am glad reading your article. But should remark on some general things, The site style is ideal, the
articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers
This is my first time pay a quick visit at here and i am actually happy to read everthing at alone place.
I read this post fully on the topic of the difference of most recent and previous technologies, it’s amazing article.
We’re a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community.
Your site offered us with valuable information to work on.
You’ve done an impressive job and our whole community will be thankful
to you.
Fantastic beat ! I would like to apprentice while you
amend your web site, how could i subscribe for a blog
site? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little
bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear concept
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your site.
It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me
to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create
your theme? Superb work!
I’ve been browsing online more than three hours these days,
yet I by no means discovered any interesting article like yours.
It is lovely price enough for me. Personally, if all web owners and bloggers made
good content material as you probably did, the web will probably be much more useful than ever before.
Good day! Would you mind if I share your blog with my zynga group?
There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content.
Please let me know. Many thanks
This information is worth everyone’s attention. When can I find out more?
That is a great tip especially to those fresh to the blogosphere.
Brief but very precise info… Thanks for sharing this one.
A must read article!