S’mores Style Dipping Jars

Imagine their faces when the kids are cold from watching fireworks and they crave a hot chocolate and you instead hand out warm jars of mallow and thick hot chocolate sauce with chunky biscuits for dipping, oh to be popular! Once you have assembled your jars, tie a spoon to the side of the jar with baker’s string and stand on a warm oven to keep the heat in but not too hot for little hands.

S’mores Style Dipping Jars

Preparation time 20 mins plus chilling Baking time 25 mins Makes 12 biscuits

For the biscuits:

• 250g wholemeal flour
• 50g plain flour
• 85g dark brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 85g butter, cold and diced
• 65g molasses sugar
• 45ml milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate sauce:

• 150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 50ml double cream
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• Knob of butter
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1x 170g packet mini marshmallows
• Milk chocolate chips

Method:

1. For the biscuits sift both flours, dark brown sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl and stir to combine. Rub in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the molasses sugar, milk and vanilla and bring together using your hands to form a dough. Press the dough into a round just over 1cm in thickness then wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 mins.
2. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/160˚C fan /gas mark 4. Unwrap the chilled dough, place on a large piece of baking paper then place a second sheet of baking paper on top of the dough. Roll the dough out into a 5mm thick rectangle then slide the rolled dough and baking paper onto a flat baking sheet.
3. Remove the top sheet of baking paper and cut the dough into 12 rectangles to create soldiers to dip into the sauce but do not separate the soldiers out, you will use the cut lines to break them up once baked. Trim any excess dough around the edges to neaten the soldiers and bake the excess as well so you can use it to fill the jars. Prick holes all over the surface of the dough using a fork.
4. Bake for 25 mins or until the edges just start to darken. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cold break along the cut lines into individual biscuits and store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Crush the trimmed excess pieces into crumbs.
5. For the chocolate sauce, put the chocolate and cream in a small, heavy based pan. Place over a low heat stirring occasionally until the chocolate has melted into the cream. Stir in the syrup, followed by the butter then sea salt. Keep warm until ready to pour into the dipping jars.
6. To assemble the jars, place a layer of biscuit crumbs in the bottom of the jars then add a layer of mini marshmallows then a layer of chocolate sauce. Repeat the layering until the jars are full. Top with a few marshmallows, chocolate chips and a biscuit dunked in the jar then serve.

TIP: * For more traditional s’more crackers simply roll out the dough to half the thickness, cut into squares and prick the surface with a fork. This will yield double the number of biscuits. S’more mallow pop fondue

• 1 packet of large marshmallows
• Cake pop sticks
• 3 biscuits as above or 6 digestives, crushed into powder
• 1 quantity of chocolate sauce as above

This is a fun hands-on activity for the children. Sit them at a table with a bowl of marshmallows, a bowl of crushed biscuits, the warm chocolate sauce and pop sticks. Proper pop sticks are not sharp so children can have sticky independent fun skewering their mallows and the toppings will give all the flavour of a s’more just without the campfire! S’more doorstop challenge The biscuit recipe above creates thick fingers for the dipping jars but they can also be used to make a traditional and very substantial s’more sandwich. Spread chocolate sauce on some of the biscuits and sandwich one plain and one chocolate biscuit around a toasted mallow (turn over a gas flame on a skewer – an adult job because of the naked flame and because the mallows can catch light) – just make sure the mallow isn’t too hot before serving.