When it comes to oudoorsy treats, who can resist s’mores? At Taste of Home HQ, we’ll take this marshmallowy sandwich anyway we can get it—look at these amazing desserts from our Test Kitchen. As s’mores fanatics, though, we were wondering how to make s’mores even better. We had to ask ourselves if the brands we always think of when it comes to campfire snacks were actually the best. To find out, we decided to put all the s’mores ingredients to the test in our first-ever triple-decker taste test.
Do you know who published the first s’mores recipe?
Our S’mores Test
In order to create the ultimate s’mores, we had to test all the components individually. We wanted the absolute best graham cracker, marshmallow and chocolate bar coming together to create the summer’s best treat. This meant trying seven brands of chocolate, seven kinds of graham crackers and five different marshmallows. Did it send us into a sugar coma? Yes, but we can assure you it was worth it. So here are the absolute best ingredients for your campfire s’mores.
The Best Graham Cracker
Honey Maid
You might think that a graham cracker is a graham cracker is a graham cracker, right? Any brand seems to do just fine in these desserts that start with a package of graham crackers. In this test, however, we found that there was only one graham we wanted in our s’mores: Honey Maid.
These crackers impressed all of us with their nice honey flavor and mild sweetness. These were the only graham crackers we’d consider eating solo for a snack. When it came to s’mores construction though, we also preferred this brand over all others. The crackers were perfectly crunchy (not crumbly) and were sturdy enough to hold up to all the smooshing of marshmallow coming their way.
The Best Marshmallow
Kraft Jet-Puffed
Jet-Puffed marshmallows, like Honey Maid graham crackers, are most people’s go-to for s’mores—and for good reason. These marshmallows were soft, sweet with that just-right mallow flavor (just like these recipes). Most importantly, though, these marshmallows melted exactly the way we wanted. Sure, they were sticky and gooey, but in the best way for s’mores.
The Best Chocolate Bar: The Deciding S’mores Factor
Dove Milk Chocolate
When it came to graham crackers and marshmallows, the testing squad came to a pretty quick consensus. Chocolate bars were a different matter entirely. We had some solid contenders but two standouts: Dove and Hershey—the classic. This race was so close that we couldn’t decide until we put the candy together with the marshmallows and grahams and got them all melty.
A bite of the Hershey-based s’more tasted like childhood. This is how s’mores were designed to taste. But then we tried it with the Dove bar.
The Dove chocolate version of this snack was just a touch more sophisticated (yep, still talking s’mores here!) than its Hershey-based sister. The Dove bar had a creamier flavor that paired well with the sticky sweet marshmallow. The bar itself was also a bit thicker than the Hershey bar which meant we still got a bit of texture as we bit into our marshmallow sandwiches; there were bits of solid chocolate and super silky melted chocolate.
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking for how to make s’mores even better than the classic, our recommendation is to swap out your standard Hershey bar for Dove chocolate. Keep buying the classic Jet-Puffed marshmallows and Honey Maid graham crackers. Dove, however, really made these delicious treats just a smidge better.
Of course, you don’t need to limit yourself with just plain chocolate. You can try these other s’mores toppers, too.
This blind taste test was performed by our staff and was not part of a sponsorship. All opinions shared are our own and have not been influenced by advertisers.
Every product is independently selected by our editors. If you buy something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
The post These Ingredients Make the Best S’mores Ever appeared first on Taste of Home.
Lisa Kaminski