Smores Indoors

One of my favorite cooking blogs is Annie’s Eats, and a lot of that has to do with her pictures. I had a go at her recipe for Smores cupcakes. I wanted to bring something in to the office where I’ve been rotating, and these seemed like a worthy choice. The physician I’m working with is allergic to basically everything but eggs and chocolate. You might recognize her from  the Little Giants. Minus the foam padding.  Anyways, these looked really good, and I don’t think they will invite anaphylaxis.

I’ve heard many times that baking is a much more exact science than cooking, and I believe that. It’s really just tasty chemistry. I took organic chemistry. And I definitely want to consider myself a scientifically-oriented person. You know, the kind that can.. pay attention to detail?

Well.

I really hope I don’t fail at life like I do at baking. Do you think these cupcakes look cute? Well guess what..these are the best few of my SECOND batch of 24. I had to do a dry run earlier in the week (I’m SO aware of my baking shortcomings). I learned some secrets.

Like:

Make sure you make the graham cracker layer thick enough so that it doesn’t burn. I used a little more than a tablespoon for each cupcake the second time, and it was much better. I used the bottom of a shot glass to smoosh it down. Voila:

After baking them for about 4 minutes, I sprinkled on the chocolate and put it back in for another minute. This way you avoid the burnty taste.

Mmm. This looks melty. Not burnty.

When you add the boiling water to the cake batter.. do it SLOWLY. Otherwise you get tons of bubbles. And you have to stand there for 20 minutes popping the bubbles with a toothpick. And you kind of like it.

I only poured in 3/4 of a cup of boiling water the second time. I think it was better. Don’t be afraid to fill the cupcake papers up pretty far. They keep their pleasant plump.

If you are in the habit of baking cupcakes, you should definitely try icing them using a DISPOSABLE icing bag. It makes life so much easier. I used a big star-shaped tip, and singed the tops using a kitchen butane torch. Actually it was the most fun part!  If you have kids, you could let them help with this part. Unless you don’t like house fires. Seriously, be careful, because I lit the cupcake papers on fire more than once.

These are yummy! Try them. Here’s a link to Annie’s page.