A Look Into Our S'Mores

New Jersey has a lot of history with the S’mores! In the early 19th century, New Jersey Presbyterian minister, Sylvester Graham, believed that the ingredients to make a graham cracker would curb sex drive so he named the cracker recipe after himself. And as Food & Wine reports, in the 1890s, marshmallow roasting is said to have become a fad with resorts in Asbury Park, New Jersey hosting marshmallow festivals for young folks.

So here we are now in New Jersey, the seemingly home-state of S’mores ingredients. Today we sat down with Tristan from the Penstock Kitchen to talk us through how they came up with a modern recipe for a classic tradition— torched, house-made cinnamon maple marshmallows + house-made graham crackers + Askinosie Super Dark chocolate squares.

Cinnamon Maple Marshmallows

Penstock co-owner Ben has long loved making marshmallows from scratch in his home. He found them to be texturally and taste-wise far superior than store bought marshmallows. So in starting the Kitchen at Penstock, it was one of his first aspirations to bring his home recipe to the café to share with more folks. House-made marshmallows are something not many people would necessarily do themselves, but he knew are highly enjoyable to have— light, delectable and just the right touch of sweetness.

The marshmallows in stores normally use corn syrup. We start with pure maple syrup as the only sweetener of these marshmallows— no added sugars. It contributes a subtle flavor of their own. The maple syrup is from Sabinsville, Pennsylvania where it takes a whopping 40 gallons of tree sap to make just 1 gallon of syrup. We stir in cinnamon, gelatin, a pinch of salt and water. That’s it.

This blend is brought up to a boil. Boiling candy has stages to it. At different temperature ranges, the composition changes. We bring our marshmallow mix to a soft taffy. Then it’s whipped for ten minutes to introduce air and make them light and fluffy instead of dense and chewy. Then we gently pipe it out onto a tray and smooth it out to let set overnight. The next morning, they’re hand cut it into squares and dusted lightly with cornstarch.

These cinnamon maple marshmallows are then what inspired our Penstock S’mores… and the rest is history! More New Jersey S’mores history!

Graham Crackers

Homemade graham crackers are just tricky. They start out flat and can rise up an entire centimeter in the oven. They’re sensitive depending on how the butter is folded in or how it’s mixed. The dough is also fragile. So needless to say, many a days were spent next to these crackers tweaking and perfecting.

Traditionally, graham crackers are made with Graham flour. We use River Valley Community Grain’s Warthog Winter Wheat berries. It’s a hard red, nutrient-dense winter wheat with a similar protein content to Graham flour. It’s locally grown and harvested at Ruthie’s Farm right here in Marksboro, New Jersey and we use it in our Sourdough Blueberry Scones too!

We ground the warthog whole wheat in-house, add all-purpose flour and then some salt, baking soda and of course cinnamon. Then we fold softened Vermont butter and brown sugar in. Add grass-fed milk gradually and there we have a perfect dough that goes straight into the refrigerator to chill overnight. The sun rises and we roll out the dough into sheets 1/8” thick, cut them into squares, and dock the squares with forks for that traditional graham cracker look. Immediately after baking, they come out soft. We let them cool on a rack until they harden to a perfect snappier cracker.

Chocolate

Throughout the different batches of test S’mores, we were looking for balance. A high quality chocolate and a good ratio of chocolate too. Ultimately we chose to use Askinosie chocolate. We use their chocolate for our house-made mocha sauce behind the coffee bar and we love sharing similar missional and relational values as companies. They are direct-trade, transparent about sourcing and love their craft.

These S’mores showcase a generous dipping into melted Askinosie Super Dark Blend. It’s a bold 88% dark blend of Tanzania and Ecuador chocolate. The chocolate is smooth and nutty with hints of burnt caramel which ties it all together perfect.

This S’mores is thoughtfully layered and brings all the wonderful memories of childhood summers into an elevated grown-up delight. The cinnamon in both the marshmallows and crackers make it a unique and cozy S’more that is perfect through the end of a summer and into a new Fall. We make them in the Penstock kitchen in limited quantities so when they’re out, be sure to grab one.