Shot Glass S’mores

Happy National S’mores Day!! I had original plans to celebrate this day, but thanks to a surprise mailer full of fall goodness from Wilton (Pumpkin Spice Candy Melts!), I decided to put in the extra effort and do something else.

And if you know anything about me, it’s that I lack any type of coordination to make even one post for a food holiday. Let alone two. The timing at which these posts are going out should be enough proof. But I had the inspiration, and it was what I needed for that push.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m a member of the Wilton Sweet Treat Team! And that baking version of a Loot Crate is what I get every few months so I can show you guys how awesome Wilton’s products are. In fact, they’re so awesome I had to make something with that shot glass pan as quick as I could. And with National S’mores Day today, August 10th, it didn’t take long for this to pop in my head. As was talked about on Instagram with Danielle from Framed Frosting, the possibilities are endless with this pan! So many things can be done it’s unreal. From chocolate to candy to ice, as soon as I saw this pan my mind started working. And I think you could hear that excitement in the unboxing video.

Of course, I had to experiment and weed through a few speed bumps, but I’m extremely happy with the end product. My first attempt was a graham cracker cake. But while it held up ok I think, it wasn’t as sturdy as I would’ve liked since the cake was naturally moist. So I went with the next best thing: a graham cracker crust. Yes, the same crust you’d find on the bottom of a cheesecake. Yes, a no bake cheesecake would be perfect for this pan. Come on, cheesecake in a shot glass made of graham crackers?! Sign me up for Dessertoholics Anonymous right now! (Get it? Shot glass? Cheesecake in… nevermind) Anyway, I think these came out a lot better than expected and is a great way to break in a new pan!

Shot Glass S’mores

Graham Crust

2 1/4 cups – Graham Crackers, crushed
1/2 cup – Sugar 1/2 cup – Butter, melted dash of salt

Chocolate Ganache Filling

1 cup – Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup – Heavy Cream

Marshmallow Fluff
Crushed Graham Crackers for garnish

Notes:

• You’re kinda sorta gonna need Wilton’s 8-Cavity Round Shot Glass Silicone Mold.
• I don’t know if you noticed, but this recipe is easy as pie.
• The most challenging thing you would probably run in to would be making the ganache. And even then that is simple, unless you have a fear of working with chocolate. If you do I totally understand.
• But it’s still freaking easy.
• Heck, there’s barely any baking involved! I mean, seriously, there’s nothing to be afraid of here.
• My original recipe yielded only 6 of the 8 shot glass molds. So I mentally adjusted the ingredients as I was typing this up. You’ll be fine. It’s a graham crust, not a soufflé.

A little about Ganache

If you’re not savvy around the kitchen, odds are you hear the word ganache and you think it’s some ultra fancy type of chocolate that you could never make at home. Well I’m sorry to break it to you but it’s quite the opposite.

Ganache is simple and works wonders. It can be a filling which you typically see in chocolate truffles, and it could be a glaze or icing for cakes or anything else you want to spruce up. And as you can see above, there’s really nothing to it. No crazy ingredient list, nothing exotic or hard to find, no wizard is going to come to your kitchen and incant a spell over your bowl. Just equal parts cream and chocolate. That’s it.

Of course, there are different ratios that would give you different results, so it’s best to research the type you’re looking for. For instance, if you want a truffle type consistency, it’ll be 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream. O0o0o0o0o0o, curve ball.

The chocolate can be whichever you prefer. Dark, bittersweet, semi-sweet, ball’s in your court. If you’re using chips it’s alright to use them as is, but if you’re using baker’s squares or a block of chocolate, it would be best to chop it up small so it’s easier to consistently melt.

The use of flavors in the form of liqueurs, liquors, and extracts are generally used. It’s a great way to add another depth to the ganache and to pair it with whatever you’re using it for. Grand Marnier infused in chocolate? Oh, baby.

So yes, it’s just another fancy word created by those old evil French pastry chefs to make you think you have no business in the kitchen making your own desserts. Don’t give in! Make your own ganache today! And if you have leftover, great, it’s a freaking chocolate sauce, I’m sure you could figure out something to do with it.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get s’morin’.

• Oven to 375.

• First thing you might want to do is the ganache. So put your chocolate into a bowl and put the cream in a saucepan to heat up. Take it off the burner just when it starts to boil and you see steam rising off it. Pour the cream into the chocolate and leave it alone for about 30 seconds or so. Let the hot cream do its thing and melt the chocolate. After 30 seconds, whisk it up until it looks like melted chocolate. Once that’s done, you’ll have to leave it be till it cools.

Since I’m still traumatized from all the times I’ve worked with chocolate, I’m kind of hesitant about throwing it in the fridge what with all that moisture floating around in there. But what I did was once it was cool enough, I covered the bowl with some paper towels, then wrapped some plastic wrap over that. I felt a little more comfortable putting it in the fridge that way. It’ll keep moisture out and whatever condensation built up inside the plastic wrap would be caught by the paper towel. If you’d rather be safer about it, you can always put together an ice bath. Just get a bowl bigger than the one the chocolate is in and fill it up with ice and water and place the chocolate bowl on top of it. Your call.

• While the chocolate is cooling, it’s graham time. Pound out the graham crackers in a zip locked freezer bag until they’re nice and fine. Then put them in a bowl and add the sugar, melted butter, and salt. Stir it up until it’s all together.

• Next, take your mold and give it a little spray with non-stick stuff. Yeah, it’s silicone but I never trust anything that says it’s non-stick. It’s just a thing I have. Kinda like tossing spilled salt over your right shoulder.

Which I also do…

• Now put on a glove if you’d like, and start to put some graham mix into the molds one by one. Push it in there and get it nice and packed in. It’s silicone, so make it work for you, don’t be afraid to move it around if you have freakishly big hands like mine. Keep on packing it in and once it’s completely filled, check the cavity underneath to make sure it’s not bulging in there. If it is just push it out and make sure it doesn’t pop out of the top.

If you have a house elf, they’re good for filling up the mold.

• Once the molds are filled up, put it on a sheet tray and pop it in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. When they come out let them rest in the molds for 10-15 minutes. It’s a tad tricky to get them out and it’ll be even harder to do it if they’re still hot. If you’re not comfortable with it, you can put the whole thing in the fridge once it cools down enough and leave it there for about 20 minutes. Remember you’re waiting for your chocolate to set so it’s not like you’re doing anything.

When they’ve cooled, here’s the easiest way I found to take them out without breaking them: Take one hand and push the bottom of the mold (the rim of the shot glass) upwards while the other hand is pushing the top of the mold surrounding the exposed graham crust downward. Once it’s a little more than halfway out, you push the rim inward without having to worry as much, or you could even push from the inside of the cavity. But still be careful because if you push the cavity too much you might push the bottom of shot glass out if it’s not loose enough. Once the rim is clear out of the mold, you’ll be safe to carefully and slowly extract the shot glass while pulling from the rim. If you were careful, and I’m sure you were, you should have an intact graham cracker shot glass in your hand. Now pat yourself on the back. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I was too excited to get them out. Ok, shot glasses are out, and hopefully the chocolate is ready. If you put it in the fridge then it’s probably harder than where you need it. If so, just beat it using a hand mixer or whatever you use. To pipe it in the shot glasses, we’re going to use a little trick I learned from Wilton’s Instagram feed.

See, we have chocolate ganache along with marshmallow fluff that needs to be evenly piped into a rather small area. So the best way to do it is combine the two bags into one. So simple and so effective it’s almost silly.

• Just take 3 bags. One with ganache, one with fluff, and the other empty with a tip (I used an open star tip – didn’t matter for me because I garnished with graham dust). Cut off the ends of the two filled bags and put them both into the empty one. Voila! A nice little swirl effect that will give you two awesome flavors in one spot.

• From here it’s all downhill. Just pipe the heavenly combo into the shot glass and then top it off with the crushed graham crackers.

And you are DONE! My goodness, the taste. I took one bite and didn’t want to put it down.

I know. Why not just make regular s’mores? Because these look pretty freaking cool, that’s why!

If you’re having a party, maybe an outdoor gathering with friends, this will be the perfect way to impress them.

All the great, amazing flavor from a s’more, in a neat little package. Sign me up!