Please Sir, I want S'More - Pt. 1

Welcome Guest Blogger Holly T.!

I have spent the past few months learning a lot about chocolate and promised our lovely hostess Jill Bari that I would share a few tidbits. I decided to do a blog entry about dark chocolate s’mores. I made these at a local chocolate shop where I was learning for a few weeks, but you can also make them at home.

You will need:
ingredients for making marshmallow (depends upon what recipe you follow)
a few tablespoons of pure, unsweetened cocoa powder
a heavy-bottomed, good quality pot
a stand mixer
a candy thermometer
a sheet pan
parchment paper
a box of chocolate graham crackers
at least one pound of good quality, pure dark chocolate

FIRST, make a batch of marshmallow.
The recipe I used at the shop is not really practical for home use because it makes so much. Here’s a link to a recipe by Alton Brown. I haven’t made this one, but I’ve eaten it, and it’s good!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-marshmallows-recipe/index.html

Additional notes:
Even though Alton doesn’t say so, I would suggest putting parchment paper in whatever pan you use.
For these dark chocolate s’mores, add 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder just after you pour in the sugar syrup and before you crank the mixer up to high speed. Sift the cocoa before adding.
When preparing the pans, add another 1-2 teaspoons of cocoa powder to the confectioner’s sugar/cornstarch mix.

Here is how the marshmallow-making process looks:

Above: Hydrating the gelatin (the Alton Brown recipe has you do this in the bowl of the mixer)

Above: Adding the corn syrup to the sugar, stirring, and bringing the mixture to the proper temperature.

Above: Sifting the cocoa and adding to the sugar syrup with the mixer on LOW (unless you want a face full of cocoa powder!) (guess who learned this the hard way. not me, of course.)

Above: Watch it change in the mixer: Marshmallow Magic!

Above: The finished marshmallow before and after pouring onto the prepared pan. This is harder than it sounds as this stuff is STICKY. You can spray a piece of parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray and lay it over the warm marshmallow, then press on the parchment to help flatten and smooth out the marshmallow.