S’mores Cupcakes

cupcake

The candy store at UConn sells s’mores bars: chocolate covered graham crackers and marshmallows, and they’re amazing. So this prompted me to try to make some sort of s’mores at home, a kind that I DON’T need a fire to make. I was looking at recipes online and I found one for a s’mores log, I found a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow meringue on top, but none of them were perfect. Since I had 3 tests this week, I was a little pressed for time (hence the cake mix but I can’t be perfect all the time) but I threw this together pretty quickly. Graham cracker bottom. Chocolate cupcake. Fluff center. Chocolate frosting with a browned marshmallow. AKA heaven.

ingredients

I started by crushing up the graham crackers and mixed it with coconut oil and baked it for 8 minutes in the cupcake pan to set the crust. Next, I made the cupcake mix, except I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, I used a cup of coffee instead of a cup of water, and I used room temperature eggs. I’ve heard that coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate so I gave it a shot. The batter was very mocha-y but still great, then after it was baked, the coffee essence was all but gone, just a slight hint. It could all just be in my head but I think the coffee really added something extra. I’ve also heard that room temperature eggs are best to bake with because it helps the egg disperse more evenly in the batter, so I soaked the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes.

Mix

After the cupcakes cooled, I carved out the center with a knife and spooned fluff into them. I put the tops back onto the cupcake, frosted them, and broiled marshmallows in the oven to get a great caramel color (and yummy taste) on the top. I put the marshmallows on the top and voila!

My taste testers have told me that this might be the best thing I’ve ever baked.

S’mores Cupcakes

1 box cake mix

½ cup coconut oil

3 eggs

1 cup coffee (I brewed mine early and let it cool for about an hour)

1 jar Fluff (I used about half the container)

1 bag marshmallows

1 container chocolate frosting

1 sleeve graham crackers

4-6 tablespoons coconut oil or butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Crush about 1 sleeve of graham crackers (a food processor would have been lovely but I used my hands and the bottom of a glass) and mix in 4-6 tablespoons of melted coconut oil or butter, just until the graham crackers are kinda wet. Recipes usually say to add sugar to the crust but I think its sweet enough by itself. Spoon a tablespoon or so into the cupcake liners and push it down with the back of a spoon. Bake for 8 minutes to set the crust.

Turn the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the mix into the bowl and add the oil, coffee, and eggs. Mix well. Pour into cupcake liners, a little more than ¾ of the way full. Bake (using your package directions, mine said 350 for 19-24 mins) for 19 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Take a knife and cut a circle in the top of the cupcake, using the knife to go deep in order to cut a center out of the cupcake. Save the top of the cupcake you just cut out and slice the chunk of the cupcake that was in the cake, leaving the top of the cupcake to put back on top. Repeat with all of the cupcakes. Spoon fluff into the hole in the center of the cupcakes and put the top of the cupcake back on. Frost the cupcakes.

Place the marshmallows on a baking sheet and broil on high for 4 minutes or until golden brown on top. When the marshmallows are cooled, place a marshmallow on top of the cupcake.

S’more Cupcake!