Hot food: S'mores

What is it?

The original s'more was simply toasted marshmallow and a square of chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers, allegedly invented by the Girl Guides of America while on a camping trip and named for its "some-moreish" qualities. The magic is in the contrast between the biscuity crunch, the cloud-like softness of marshmallow and the bittersweet melting chocolate. Now s'mores have inspired some of our more creative chefs to create wacky new interpretations from gelato to tea cake.

Where is it?

At Gelato Messina, where sometimes only the word gelato is the recognisable entity in any given creation, it was a case of the name coming first. "There's an American hip-hop artist called Biggie Smalls, who gave us the idea for our Biggie S'mores," says chef and co-owner Donato Toce. "Basically, it's a new take on a classic - peanut gelato coated in dark chocolate, vanilla marshmallows, peanut nougatine and graham cracker crunch." It took off like wildfire, he says, "because the people love peanut butter!"

Everybody's favourite master patissier and former boy scout Adriano Zumbo loves riffing on s'mores' key ingredients. His current "gateau de voyage" (travelling cake) is a s'mores'ish tea cake of caramel and chocolate marshmallow, topped with marshmallow and chocolate-coated house-made graham crackers. "I recommend using a dark chocolate of around 70 per cent cacao content, or even 80 per cent," says Zumbo. "There is so much sugar in marshmallow that you don't need to add any more by using sweet chocolate." Zumbo's recipe for marshmallow is in his new book The Zumbo Files, Murdoch Books, $49.99, out April 1.

Why do I care?

Because after one bite, anybody remotely human immediately wants s'more.

Can I do it at home?

In the US, graham crackers are the biscuit of choice; but here, anything from chocolate ripple to anzacs, butternut snaps, digestives or granitas will do the trick.

Sourcing

VIC
Adriano Zumbo, 14 Claremont Street, South Yarra and Emporium Melbourne 1800 858 611;
Gelato Messina, 237 Smith Street, Fitzroy 1800 435 286

NSW
Adriano Zumbo, Balmain, QVB, Rozelle, The Star (Pyrmont), Waverley 1800 858 611;Gelato Messina Dessert Bar, 243 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst gelatomessina.com 1800 435 286

S'mores

Balance the sweet marshmallow with a good dark chocolate. (Lindt 70 per cent blocks conveniently break into s'more-sized squares).

8 granita biscuits or similar

24 marshmallows

4 squares dark chocolate

icing sugar for dusting

1. Unless you have the campfire going, heat the oven to 180C. Arrange the biscuits on an oven tray, and top each one with three marshmallows. Bake for two to three minutes or until the marshmallow is soft to the touch, but not browned.

2. Remove four of the biscuits, and top each remaining biscuit with a square of chocolate. Leave in the oven for 30 seconds to one minute until the chocolate has just softened.

3. Gently sandwich the biscuits together (I find it easier to place the slightly cooled marshmallows on top of the melted chocolate by hand then top with the remaining biscuit) and give it a gentle press. Dust with icing sugar, and serve.

Makes 4