A few weeks ago I started thinking about an end of the year "thank you" gift for Nicolas's preschool teachers. I wanted to do something fun and with an eye toward the summer season. I also wanted to make it myself.
That is when I found this great idea for a cute s'more gift kit. The best part is the cute note "We need S'MORE teachers like you!" I thought it was just perfect because his teachers are so good with all the kids. This particular post simply used store bought graham crackers and marshmellows and paired those with a fun-size Hershey bar.
Well, I LOVE to make candy. Actually, sometimes I have more of a love/hate relationship with making candy - like when my torrone refused to set up. But, I have been wanting to make my own marshmellows for a while now, and I thought this is the perfect excuse to try it. Plus, I would also have an excuse to make homemade graham crackers :) Yummy!
I found both recipes for the marshmellows and the grahams on this great website called Smitten Kitchen. I know I will be going back there again for recipes. I followed both recipes almost exactly. Making the marshmellows was pretty messy, just like when you make any kind of candy. But sugar is pretty easy to clean up with a nice soaking in hot water. The marshmellows were just as good as I expected, and I am sure that I will be using this recipe again... maybe with an addition of peppermint extract and red food color around Christmas time? For the graham crackers, you can make the dough ahead and just leave it in the fridge until you are ready to bake them. I have a feeling that you could probably freeze the dough as well because it has so much butter in it. Also, the recipe had a large baking time range (from 15 - 25 minutes), and she commented on how her's cooked up really quickly. Mine did as well, so just make sure to check on them early.
So, here is how it turned out all packaged and ready for Nicolas to take tomorrow.
Don't you love the cute saying? I hope the teachers like them.
And the best part: We have enough leftover to make s'mores for our Father's Day dessert :)
