S'mores Hand Pies

S'mores are kind of magical thing for me. They are full of memories in every bite and they make me love what I would normally never eat. 






Like most, s'mores were the epic camping food that somehow would make the whole trip worth while to me. Sitting next to the campfire as a kid, trying to burn my marshmallows till they were about to fall off the stick. All of my crazy family around me, Grampa smoking cigars and playing backgammon with my aunts and uncles. My mom always taking care of everyone and my grandma probably taking care of me and my sister to give my mom a break. Camping used to be a once a year tradition for my family. Go up to lake tahoe, to the same campsite every year, swim in the freezing lake, if only for a second. While those days are very far behind me, from people moving away. And from the last time we went getting snowed on and our tents collapsing on us in the early hours of the morning. I remember my sister getting the bulk of the tent falling on her, so there were tears streaming everyone. My Grampa, standing outside the tent taking photos and laughing. We ended up having to pack up our frozen things, after trying to defrost the shoes filled with snow that were left out, and staying at a hotel. Somehow a next trip never happened... My family is crazy, 100%, but they are mine and as much as I have refused to go to family functions, tell them all they are mental, it was always a good time camping and I love those crazy people.







So back to the food. Chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. Two out of three I would generally eat. Marshmallows are something I would normally never eat. Too chalky, squishy, the after taste, everything just always seemed wrong with them to me. Admittedly the only marshmallows I have tried come in big clear packages from the grocery store, I should give those handmade ones a go.

But when you mix just those three ingredients together, add a bit of fire, it's heavenly.
 
So given that I have gone camping once in the past probably 15 years or so, I get massive cravings for s'mores. I've had them a few times outside of camping, probably in someone's back yard or over the stove in high school when we all got bored. So I new I had to do some type of s'mores-ish post for here. Now there will be more variations to come in the future. This one isn't perfect, you dont get that crunchy char from the open flame but it's the gooey marshmallow and melty chocolate that this recipe will tide me over on. 







I used mini marshmallows to stuff in the pies but I'm thinking that mixing the graham cracker crumbs and chocolate together with marshmallow fluff to create more of a batter you would scoop on to the pie would work better. Give it a go, give both a go if you are extra hungry, change it up a bit, these pies are meant to be fun. Don't take them too seriously, how could you, its marshmallow chocolate and graham crackers stuffed into a flaky shortcrust. Sugar overload loveliness