“That was the worst thing I ever put in my mouth” my divine hairdresser Elly said to me one day. She was cutting my hair and talking about the time I took her out for yum cha and she tried chicken’s feet. But to her credit, she tried it and that’s the most you can really ask for anyone. I know that the jellied, bony morsels that look like witch’s claws aren’t to anyone’s taste-lord knows that if I order a steamer, I’m usually the only one eating these as Mr NQN won’t touch them under any sort of duress.
When Mr NQN’s brother Manu tried these S’mores ice cream sandwiches, he thankfully had the opposite reaction. “Wow, you could sell these!” he said excited looking at the ice cream sandwich from all angles. Non American readers may only have a television viewer’s angle on the S’more but it is essentially a Graham Cracker with a layer of chocolate and a layer of toasted marshmallows. Legend has it that it was invented by a Girl Scout leader and the toasting of the marshmallows was done campside. Nowadays, they’re a sweet dessert enjoyed in situ or al fresco. And I had never tried one because alas Graham Crackers are hard to find in Australia.
Until the day I happened to wander into a Filipino store in Fairfield while researching a story. I had time to kill and wandered the aisles. I saw a packet of chocolate Graham Crackers and they immediately went into my shopping basket. Graham crackers are actually just like sweet, plain biscuits (cookies) and are not like water crackers or savoury crackers as I had once assumed from the name. I stashed them in my pantry occasionally glimpsing them from time to time. I figured that I’d make a cheesecake crust using them but then I found myself wandering another aisle and putting gigantic jet puffed marshmallows in my basket and then I decided to not just do S’mores but an ice cream sandwich version for our warmer weather.
As they are a campside snack, S’mores are really easy to make and I tried to keep this as simple as possible, even with making your own ice cream. Of course feel free to buy the ice cream and chocolate sauce along with Scalliwag biscuits as they’re pretty close to chocolate Graham Crackers. Once the chocolate sauce is made and the marshmallows toasted, it’s really a matter of putting these all together and eating them with your mouth wide open and eyes closed in bliss. The liquid chocolate sauce give it a dark richness, toasting the marshmallows makes them gooey with the lightest sugar crust on the outside and the vanilla ice cream and chocolate Graham Crackers give it creaminess and crunch. In front of the campfire or the television…
So tell me Dear Reader, what is the worst thing that you’ve ever put in your mouth? And the best thing?
S’mores Ice Cream Sandwiches
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella (well as much as a S’more can be…)
Makes 6 S’mores ice cream sandwiches
- 12 chocolate Graham crackers*see buyer’s tip below
- vanilla marshmallows (size doesn’t matter really, although I cut the mega ones into thirds)
- 100g/3.5 ozs dark or milk chocolate
- 4 tablespoons light cream
- 1 tray of ice cream (see below)
Ice cream
- 300ml cream
- 75g pure icing or confectioner’s sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Add the sifted icing sugar and vanilla and whip and then spread it out into a small rectangular metal tray and place in freezer until completely frozen.
2. Make these when you want to serve them-you can make these ahead of time but I like it when the biscuit part is crisp and then will soften a little if frozen. Make the chocolate sauce by melting the chocolate in a microwave or in a double boiler. Add the cream and mix until you get a liquid chocolate sauce.
Cutting up the ice cream in Graham Cracker sized slices
3. If you are using the very large marshmallows, slice them into three pieces and place them on a flameproof plate. You can microwave them on the Graham Cracker too. Or, in the Year-Of-Living-Dangerously or Flashdance version you can use a blowtorch to lightly torch the marshmallows-some of them might catch flame, just blow them out but keep the kids away at a safe distance (although I’m sure that you know that). Slice the ice cream into Graham Cracker sized rectangles and place one on a Graham Cracker. Top with the already toasted marshmallows and chocolate sauce and add another Graham Cracker on top.
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64 Comments | Add your own
Kiler combo of two recipes. now how can we put your sandwich over a fire without it melting lol? I cannot remeber the worst and bestbut I do hate liver, expet foie gras.
a great idea, although s’mpres are not really my thing… ;-P
Cheers,
Rosa
these look too yummy
Maybe if i use peter’s lite & creamy ice cream all the calories will get neutralized right 
Like the blowtorched marshmallows 
I have NEVER in my entire life seen a smore like this, Lorraine.
OMGgggg, it is sinful, delightful, & fabulous looking.
What a superb way to impress your guests!
I Looooooooooooooove <3
How are you, dear?
If you like the taste of the crackers I have seen on another blog (don’t worry you are still my no 1 blog, I’m no cheater) mini ginger/graham cracker houses) for christmas that you can use as favours, gifts or place settings.
Worst thing I ever ate was either tripe (shudder) or umeboshi.
But I still go back to umeboshi so it can’t be THAT bad!
Lorraine, you are a little gem with your recipes you come up with. Aren’t those Filipino/Asian stores amazing. They are like an Aladdins cave to me and I could wander around them for ages just gawking at all the unusual ingredients. We actually have a filipino store in our suburb so will see if they sell these Graham crackers as I have seen so many recipes that call for Grahams and I always thought they sounded like Sao biscuits. Another mystery solved. Thanks for sharing this recipe, can’t wait for your book next year, have already promised my sister in law in UK I will get her one.
I was introduced to these camp fire favourites when I lived in the US. Traditionally I believe a plain graham cracker is used, a piece of Hershey’s choc and a toasted marshmallow. The hot marshmallow melts the choc as your devouring it. Hard to stop at one, but easy to over do it & end u feeling sick. Love the summer twist on them. When I’ve made them here I’ve use Milk arrowroots or Nice, any plain biscuit really.
Bad, bad, bad Lorraine just looking at the pics made me put on the 6kg I just lost. Love it – and this at 7:26 in the morning
Yum these look deliciously decadent. I hope I am lucky enough to happen across some chocolate graham crackers in my shopping outings, I’ll be keeping my eyes open.
LOL, I like chicken feet. These smores sandwiches look devine. Worst thing – hmm, not sure. Best thing – cheesecake!
I’m absolutely drooling over your first photo – how divine!
Got excited about the Filipino store in Fairfield, until I realised you must be talking about Fairfield in Sydney, not Melbourne. I totally love Royals (dark chocolate variety) so I’ve no doubt these babies taste fantastic.
I thought Grahams crackers were similar to digestive biscuits – never tried Grahams though.
Probably the worst thing – feeling something round in my mouth, when chewed it burst and gooey gelatinous liquid came out – fish eye. Many best things thankfully incl foie gras ice cream:)
I like chickens feet, they are tasty and chewy. The thing I can’t bare is 100 year old eggs, why would you, they’re just slimy! My favourite? There are just too many to name, but mainly savoury and mostly with truffle. The S’mores look great, something I’ll have to give a try. GG
S’mores have always been a mystery to us, like many US menu items. What is bananas foster (without googling the answer!),and snickerdoodles (delicious biscuit and so easy to make) and when did Napolitana sauce aka tomato sauce for pasta become marinara sauce? Do they not know that it is a seafood sauce?
Graham crackers are much loved in our house, and we always bring some back from the US or, rather surprisingly, Singapore, partly as my husband is Graham and our daughter thinks it is a crack up eating biscuits named after her father!
Not sure I will have s’mores when on the menu now – they look good but so much sugar. Oh, I forgot, this is an American dessert. Enough said.
Hahah – s’mores. These will forever live on in my memory from the Sand Lot kids. And when I tasted them in real life, it was amazing.
Wow, that first picture made me want to lick the screen!
I always thought Graham Cracker were savoury as well.
I always assumed they were more like saladas than scaliwags. Interesting! I’d say gazpacho is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. It just doesn’t agree with me at all. Best… hmm now that’s a challenge but I’m sure it had chocolate in it.
Yeah, you know what I’m going to say here. Needs peanut butter
I don’t think I’ve ever had s’mores but this sandwich is getting my taste buds going!
Whoa, this looks incredible!!! I love s’mores, and totally love the use of the chocolate grahams!
ooooooohhhhh…S’mores…What a fun take on a classic! Goat’s eyes were pretty icky, but really fresh raw oysters are great!
Oh gosh these look good
totally took my Monday blues away from me ~ I was feeling so bad this morning when waking up.
But now these have made today seem more bearable hehe
Looks SUPER delicious! I just wished it was easier to find Graham crackers here in Australia…I’ve never had them but have heard so much about S’mores
Will still want to try hehe ~
The worse thing I have put in my mouth would have to be DURIAN PANCAKES….ewww best thing …. too many but I love good quality chocolate
Do you know I can’t recall the worst thing I ever ate. Possibly I am blocking out ‘bad food’ memories to preserve my sense of adventure. I am getting more adventurous with food every day and I was always pretty adventurous with food in any case. But I can say in terms of food the seventies were a pretty awful time for me in terms of food – so a whole decade of bad food.
Worst: any sweet, icky cake especially if it has whipped cream nearby
! [Well, that puts s'mores beyond the pale too!]. Best: was going to say abalone or scallops correctly cooked – then saw Victoria of Flavours’ comment about really fresh oysters: yes, these must be the ultimate perfection! And I’ll take the Sydney Hawkesbury ones even against Belons etc . .
Yum, they look divine and yes I too always thought Graham Cracker biscuits were like a sao or some sort of hard thin cracker. There you go, always something new to learn. I have heard of s’mores and snickerdoodles and a whole recipe book of different dishes and sweets popular in the US too but have never made them I have to say, maybe it is time too. The worst thing I have eaten? Nothing particular comes to mind but yes I agree tripe would have to be up there although my husband loves it, and my sister’s and my appetite would take a very fast nose dive when hopping off the school bus and the scent of baccala simmering in it’s tomato sugo would drift from the kitchen; not my favourite thing but now that I am older I would give it another try and see if I felt differently. The best thing I have tasted: so many but a few would be, my Mother’s Pasta al Forno, good, creamy gelato, a ripe mango with the juices dribbling of our chins, a slice of watermelon that had been cooled in the creek while we also cooled off with a swim, simple things really but so good.
I have found M. Y. San Graham Crackers in my local Asian shop. Before that I had family back home in the USA sending them to me.(I now have dual citizenship and have acquired a taste for Sao biscuits.) Do homegrown Aussies understand the silliness of “Animal Crackers in my soup”?
I have a bag of these marshmallows!! The good ones. Wow, just wow. I’m so needing to make proper s’mores. Surely these shall be some of the best things I’ll put in my mouth
Heidi xo
Love Graham Crackers on most of the desserts that I make. There are alot of no bake, refrigerated “cakes” and “pies” that graham crackers are wonderful as bases! As for these S’mores, I can’t say that I’ve tried them but these look delish!
I love you so much for this!
Been searching for graham crackers for the longest time!! Probably won’t trek to Fairfield but will try and source it at other Filopino stores ^^
I remember a few years ago when I discovered that if you microwave marshmallows they go all gooey, add a biscuit too and bottom…and a drizzle of choc…I thought I’d made up a great dessert/snack…it was quite a while later I realized that it had already been invented and that the yanks had been doing it for years! Haha
I would devour this over chickens feet anyday
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
This is a kick ass recipe Lorraine! Usually the worst thing I’ve eaten comprises of my mother’s cooking and because of her horrific food, I’m not that fussy of an eater because nothing could ever be as bad as what she makes.
LOVE S’MORES, true!
Think is more about the memories made when eating too!
Always brings me back to the people and places we ate them that we did enjoy!
When I saw your photo, I SQUEALED “OH BOY!”
So thank you for bringing back some great summer memories!
Some times I wish the enjoyment we could “brain freeze”
I love chicken feet! But I suppose we are Asian and I grew up eating them
These smore icecream sandwiches look so incredibly devilishly good! All that gooey marshmallow and chocolate sauce… What a treat
Now that is food porn.
These look amazing, if not a little difficult to get the mouth around! I’m sure i’d work out a way, though. Well done. 10/10 for innovation!
This looks decadent as!! Must try, but you know that I think I never had Graham crackers? I am not quite sure what they are…
Just a quick comment on the chicken feet that I forgot to mention earlier; Lorraine, you’re not alone, we too grew up eating chicken fee, they were always put in the ‘brodo’, along with other unmentionables that we won’t go into here and taken out later when we would be served a bowl of brodo with a little pastina in it first and then eat the feet afterwards along with the vegetables that had added their flavour to the soup and the various bits and bobs as well. My now grown children still rave about chicken feet and will quite readily vouch of the delicousness to their incredulous friends. All part of the ‘cucina povera’ I suppose where everything was used and it sounds the same in your culture too as it is in most others. Neccessity created a cuisine that is now lauded in the finest restaurants.
Do you know that I’ve never yet had a smore’s. Now you have made me wonder what kind of childhood did I have and I can redo that tomorrow with these. Thanks, Lorraine.
What a great idea! And those Graham Crackers are the best.
My sister uses that same brand to make her cheesecake, and it’s just perfect for the crust.
Forgot to mention worst thing I have ever eaten was a fruit puff pastry cake which had a rusty nail in it. One of my first experiences with take away food when I first arrived in Sydney!
Best thing, stood at markets in Seattle and an elderly couple introduced my daughter and I to Chickens gizzards! They sounded vile, but just tasted so wonderful.
I’ve never seen chocolate graham crackers but I be they’d be delicious on a s’more.
I’m pretty sure you’re right about girl scout camps being the first to eat these. I was little and at a girl scout summer camp where I had my first one. You get the marshmallows hot enough to melt the chocolate bar and that sticks to the cracker and then you bite into it and it’s all over your face.
I’m dying to try the ice cream variety.
Such ooey-gooey goodness Lorraine! Much better for our summer weather, especially with total fire bans ruling out campfires for the next few months
Worst thing I’ve eaten? One of those bright green sweet gerkhins with a pill squished up on it- my dad thought it would be more appealing to me as a child. He was wrong.
Best thing…. No way I could pick!
I totally detest blue cheese! ;P
Chicken feet…ice cream sandwiches. You know what most of us will choose.
Hehe for some reason, I was also under the impression that Graham crackers were salty too…
You can’t really get graham crackers in the UK either so I made my own recently. Now I need to make them again so I can try these delicious looking sandwiches!
no doubt the worst thing I’ve ever eaten is durian. can’t taken it, its way too strong! as for the best thing – way way too many to list! hehehe
As a child I loved chicken feet. My mother used them to make broth and them after the broth with a little pasta in it we would eat the meat from the soup. They were delicious. Haven’t had them in years, though!
Now, s’mores? Mmmmmmm! With icecream? Double mmmmmmmm!
Wow! Do you know that S’mores was the only thing I liked about Girl Scouts and that didn’t make me cry? These look amazing! And I think the chocolate cookies work so much better than graham crackers. Fabulous!
Worst thing I ever ate has to be that andouille sausage of offal I recently had in Lyon. Even thinking about it makes me gag a little bit.
I think my niece and nephew would love this take on smores. Very nice indeed.
Wow – decadence! So many favorite flavors in one glorious dessert!
molded cheese (that wasn’t supposed to be moldy) is up there among the nastiest things i’ve eaten. any take on s’mores is delightful–very clever!
Woaaahhah. These look mindblowingly amazing Lorraine!
Um yum! Where did you get Graham Crackers from?!
Gah! You’ve made my day – I’ve been on a US- baked goods inspired journey and trying to find these ingredients is torture! Will check out every Filipino store in Sydney for these items!
I first tried S’mores last year in Canada, around a campfire…oh wow, they were one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth! These look great with the icecream added in, definitely a summer treat!
“Wow you could sell these” – brilliant! These indeed look amazingly delicious. And you can make/use digestive biscuits rather than graham crackers. Next summer is definitely time for me to have a s’mores party.
The worst food I had put in my mouth was tahini profiterol.
I love profiterol but for some reason, simplly cannot eat tahini – I have no problem with the regular sesame though-. And I thought it was a mocha profiterol and put one in my mouth. I still regret not asking what it was first.
That’s quite a question! Our local farm sells chicken feet but I’ve never tried them. I recently saw sugar free graham crackers at our local grocery store so I will add them to my shopping list Lorraine
We don’t have graham cookies here, at least you can find it in one store, and I really want to try an s’more
Just spotted these on HuffPost Taste – you are brilliant, my dear!
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