The Vegan Manifesto: Getting Cheesy

The Vegan Manifesto: Getting Cheesy

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S’MORES & S’MORE SUMMER

          I believe the main reason I have always been a “Foodie” has to do with my lifelong habit of emotionally associating certain “comfort” foods with happy memories from my childhood. Case in point: “S’MORES”, a rich, sugary, gooey treat that was a nightly ritual at Girl Scout Camp. The S’mores were as much a part of the camp experience as was the singing of songs and telling of ghost stories around the campfire, or the fun trying to identify the constellations as we gazed at the stars.       

          My mom was one of the leaders, and she soon discovered a way to recreate some of the magic by making this special summertime dessert at home. Using the burner on her gas stove to toast the marshmallows, she would then quickly place two molten marshmallows upon a milk chocolate bar atop a graham cracker on each plate. We would quickly top the sweet “sandwich” with another graham cracker, and then go outside to gobble up our treasure on the back steps, equipped with wet paper towels for easy clean-up.

          These homemade S’mores were a special occasion treat, usually reserved for our summertime Backyard Campouts that had become a neighborhood tradition.   It was the 1950’s, and fortunately, parents still believed children were perfectly capable of creating their own fun, not having it pre-packaged for them.

           Therefore, my cousins, friends and I would prepare for our Great Camping Adventure with the same attention to details that grownups might reserve for a trip to another continent!          It became our delightful responsibility to scout our house for the necessary supplies, which we then gathered up with great enthusiasm: old blankets and pillows and a worn-out plastic tablecloth that served as a ground sheet (we had no sleeping bags), flashlights and extra batteries for reading aloud to each other from our favorite comic books plus my mom’s dog-eared copy of LEGENDS OF SOUTH JERSEY (which included the scary chapter about the “Jersey Devil” who, as legend has it, dwells deep within the bogs of the Pine Barrens in S. Jersey). We usually brought several decks of “almost-52” cards, which we could piece together to make one “good” deck, and, last but definitely not least, the chart we had torn out of an old Astronomy book showing the major constellations to look for in the sky as the night wore on.

          Our trusty old dog, aptly named Major, came along to protect us from lions, tigers and bears, and to help us eat up the food. Since we were planning to stay up all night, we needed plenty of refreshment. We made lots of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches out of two loaves of “Wonder” bread (the wonder is that we even survived this white bread generation!) and we mixed up our own Kool-aid in jars which we had labeled with our names, to carry with us when we got thirsty. (Imagine parents entrusting children back then with glass mayonnaise jars instead of plastic bottles of water!)

          Times have changed, and I have updated that old S’mores recipe with healthy, tasty Vegan Alternatives to replace the marshmallows (which had tons of sugar and animal gelatin) and the milk chocolate bar (which had dairy, hydrogenated fat and sugar).

          Here is the new recipe, excerpted from my vegan cookbook, EARTH ANGEL KITCHEN, hopefully just in time for “s’more” summer. Since school will soon be starting up again, signaling the official end of summer, you can whip up some EASY S’MORES on your stovetop as a surprise for your family by serving them at that last outdoor after-dinner get-together or perhaps your children’s final Backyard Camp-out!       

EASY S’MORES

(Gelatin & dairy-free, low in sugar)

            It is easy to make vegan S’MORES at home that evoke memories of campouts with a scout troop or family. In this recipe, we reverse the melted ingredient. Rather than use roasted marshmallows to melt a chocolate bar, we melt the chocolate and ladle it on top of the Ricemellow crème for the same wonderfully gooey effect. You only need three ingredients to make this happen. Try it for a summertime surprise.

INGREDIENTS:

2 honey*-free graham crackers for each person

2-3 T. Suzanne’s Ricemellow Crème** for each person

2-3 T. Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips for each person

*Honey is an animal product and is not considered to be vegan.

**Available in natural foods stores in 10-oz. tubs (See “Misc. Alternatives”)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt a 12-oz. bag of chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over water brought to a boil and then lowered to simmer. Stir once in awhile until melted.
2. Lay out a graham cracker on a plate for each person.
3. Spread each graham cracker with Suzanne’s Ricemellow Crème.
4. Cover the Ricemellow Crème atop each graham cracker with 2-3 T. of the melted chocolate chips.
5. Place a second graham cracker on the top of each graham cracker, Ricemellow Cream and melted chocolate chips. This will make a gooey dessert “sandwich”. Serve with a bunch of wet paper towels for easy cleanup. Better still, take these S’MORES outside on a lovely evening and watch the stars and fireflies while eating them.