Halloween PEEPS S'mores Trifle

Tweet

My mail, probably yours as well, consists of bills, junk, a few magazines, more junk, maybe something I ordered, and more bills. Every once in a while something unexpected and fun comes along with the usual daily mail. It's the hope that there might be something fun and exciting in the day's mail that makes me keep an eye out for the mail delivery truck. A couple of days ago I received a box full of Halloween PEEPS in the mail. Now that's what I call fun mail! The nice folks at PEEPS sent me a few of their Halloween themed PEEPS to try. Thanks PEEPS!

In case, if you didn't already know, PEEPS are not just for Easter anymore. Nope they've gone multi-holiday! There are now Halloween and Christmas PEEPS, in addition to the traditional Easter PEEP. No more waiting and entire year for PEEPS to return! 

Anyway, I wanted to use my PEEPS in a fun Halloween-ish dessert. With PEEPS being super fun marshmallow treat, I immediately thought of doing s'mores. PEEPS and s'mores, are a perfect match, but I didn't want to melt my  PEEPS, I mean look at how cute they are! So I decided to layer the PEEPS in a s'mores trifle. How cute and yummy is that? PEEPS, chocolate, whipped cream...Happy Halloween!

Two-Bite Peanut Butter S'mores

Tweet

Can you improve a classic s'more? The simple delicious combination of graham crackers, chocolate and toasted marshmallows, what could be better? How about crushing the graham crackers, combining them with peanut butter, making them into little cups filled with rich chocolate ganache, topped with toasted marshmallows? Oh yeah. It's are like having a Reese cup and s'more all in one delicious bite. Or make that two-bites... truth be told, although I called these Two-Bite Smore's, I can totally eat these little smore's in one delicious bite.

Two Bite Peanut Butter S'mores
Ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs (or about 7 graham crackers, crushed)
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons peanut butter, softened in the microwave for 10-15 seconds
1tablespoon butter, melted

1 recipe of ganache, recipe below
12 large marshmallows

Method:
In a bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, softened peanut butter, and melted butter. 
Place about 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture in each cup of mini muffin pan. Press crumbs to form shallow cups with your fingers or a mini tart press, in you have one. Bake 4-5 minutes until slightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool, in the pan.

Chocolate Ganache Filling
Ingredients:
6 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely (or use chips)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Method:
Pour chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips) into a mixing bowl.
Heat whipping cream and butter in the microwave in 30 second intervals until it's almost to a boil but don’t let it actually come to a boil. You should see bubbles forming around the edges. If you’re using a thermometer, heat it to about 180 degrees. Stir in vanilla.
Immediately pour hot cream mixture over chocolate and use a small whisk to mix until completely smooth. Allow ganache to cool and thicken somewhat. I put in into the fridge for about 20 minutes. When cool, stir the ganache a few times. It should be a scoop-able consistency. If it seems too firm, microwave it in 10 second intervals until you get the right consistency. Fill the peanut butter graham cracker cups with the ganache. I used about 2 teaspoons of ganache for each cup, give or take.

Cut marshmallows in half horizontally with kitchen shears or a sharp knife, dipped in cold water. Place one marshmallow half, cut-side down, into each cup. Return to oven with the broiler turned on. Broil on high for 1-2 minutes or until marshmallows start to get a little color. Do not walk away from the oven the s'mores burn quickly. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes. Carefully remove cups from pan.

* Note: I found that a small off-set spatula worked great for getting the s'mores out of the mini muffin pans. If the bottoms of the s'mores are sticking to the pan, dip the bottom of the pan into warm water. This will warm the graham cracker crust slightly making it easier to remove them from the pan.

Who needs two bites?

give me s'more of those brownies!

Tweet

I have to confess that I've have little no desire to bake, as of late. You may have noticed from the lack of any baking going on here! Life events, mostly Hubs being deployed back to Iraq, have zapped my mojo. I've just been totally blah...not interested in cooking much of anything.
The lingering heat hasn't helped either. It's those end of summer doldrums. I seem to get them every year around the end of August. Hubs heading out just made even worse than usual this year. Then I saw these brownies while flipping through a magazine. "I want those!" What could be better than a s'more? A s'more brownie! Cookie crust, rich chocolaty center and gooey marshmallow top... oh yeah, these will make you want to head to the kitchen, tie on an apron, and start baking!

S'more Brownies
source: Taste of the South, September 2010
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients: 
1 12-ounce box vanilla-wafer cookies
2 1/4 cups sugar, divided
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 cup plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
5 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 16-ounce bag large marshmallows,  cut in half

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 13x9-inch pan with aluminum foil, letting foil hang over sides of pan. Set aside. In the work bowl of a food processor, pulse together cookies, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until mixture is fine. With processor running, slowly add 5 tablespoons melted butter, and continue blending until mixture is well combined. Press crumb mixture firmly into the bottom of prepared pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together remaining 1 cup melted butter and melted chocolate until mixture is well combined. Whisk in remaining 2 cups sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, whisking constantly, until mixture is smooth and glossy. Whisk in flour and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Pour batter into pan, smoothing top.
Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with just crumbs, about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Preheat oven to broil. Place marshmallow halves on top of brownies, in rows, as close as possible. Broil until tops of marshmallows are golden brown and puffed.you may have to rotate the pan a couple of times to get even browning.  Let cool slightly before cutting brownies into squares. Use a sharp knife to cut brownies. Dipping the knife in a glass of warm water between cuts helps it not to stick to the marshmallows.

The best part about these smore's is that no campfire is required!