Forget the cake. . . let them eat s'mores!

Sunday was Mike's b-day and instead of making him a cake, we made home-made s'mores! Ever since trying table-top s'mores at a restaurant in Dallas last fall I've been wanting to recreate them and I think we succeeded, they were AMAZING! Seriously, I'll do it again and again. I owe the success to Martha Stewart for the fantastic recipes.

• The marshmallows were a little involved, calling for things like a candy thermometer and unflavored gelatin, but I just followed the directions and it worked. . . here's the recipe. (I did one batch vanilla as called for in the recipe and one batch coconut where I substituted coconut flavor instead of vanilla extract and then also sprinkled the top and bottom with shredded coconut)
• For the chocolate we melted down a big bar of chocolate (thanks, G, that 11 lb bar has come in handy!), added a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream and spread it on wax paper till it set again. We wanted it to melt faster than a hershey's bar, and it did. It melted the minute it touched those toasty marshmallows! MMMMmmmmm. (Discaimer, the marshmallow doesn't look toasty in my pic above because that one was done in the microwave which also works well and is almost as delicious as over the campfire.)
  
• The graham crackers were especially easy to make and so good. They even have wheat germ and whole wheat flour, so doesn't that mean they're healthy too? Martha doesn't have the recipe online, but you can find it in her fantastic new cookbook:

And speaking of that cookbook, can I geek out about the design for a minute?

Dear M.S. Graphic Designers,

This is just a quick thank you for your work on the new Martha Stewart Cookie Book. You're brilliant and talented and it is obvious that you not only design cookbooks but you actually use them. After seeing your novel, ground-breaking solution to a cookbook Table of Contents, I had to wonder, why didn't I demand this before? How did I not realize that this is what I wanted every time I peruse through a cookbook? Why doesn't every cookbook have pictures of all the recipes right at the beginning with names and page numbers right next to them? I opened it up and almost cried.

I love you, M.S. Designers. You not only made a beautiful book, but you enhanced the user experience.

Juliann Law
a fan