How to Make Perfect S’mores with a Campfire, Grill, Oven, or Stove

Instructions

Over the Campfire:

1. Don’t already have a fire going? Start one. Regular old fresh flames are how you wind up with burnt marshmallows; once those crackling embers have aged enough to glow bright red, conditions should be set for prime s’mores.
2. The bedrock of any great s’more is one full sheet of crunchy graham cracker. Snap those crackers in half lengthwise, then set them aside on a sheet of aluminum foil or a plate near the fire. Break your chocolate bar in half too; if you’re using Hershey’s chocolate, a full half of the bar will serve you well. Place one half-bar onto one graham cracker chunk per s’more.
3. Time to roast marshmallows! Using a handy s’mores-ready skewer rod, dangle your sugary puff just above or within the flames. Here’s your goal: toasting rather than catching fire. Rotate the marshmallow to brown it evenly on all sides.
4. Choose one topped graham cracker to be your bottom piece, and grace it with your roasted marshmallow. Dollop in caramel sauce, if desired. Clamshell it with the second topped cracker, extract your skewer, dust with powdered sugar, and enjoy! (The shelf life is decent, but these really are best served hot.)

On the Camping Grill:

1. Preheat your camping grill to medium heat, or about 375–400°F. Set aside enough single aluminum sheets to surround each intended s’more. That’s right — you’ll be baking each one nuzzled in its own cozy metal cocoon, forming toasty hearths that will ooze that sweet satisfaction.
2. As you wait on the grill, start your s’mores by snapping in half lengthwise those graham crackers. Continue onto your chocolate bars by halving them, too; if using Hershey’s chocolate, we still recommend half the bar per s’more, each set atop one cracker half per treat.
3. This time, we’re bucking tradition by assembling the s’more before it hits the heat. Load up marshmallows on the bare cracker half of your treats — if using caramel, drizzle that over the marshmallows now — then stack those raw s’mores together. Surrounded each one with aluminum foil until you have a small fleet of lightly-wrapped metal treats.
4. Is the grill ready? Then so are you! Place the foil-wrapped desserts on the cooking grates and grill for 2–3 minutes, or until the marshmallows are melted.
5. Remove and serve quickly, with or without powdered sugar over the top. Be sure to ditch the hot foil and offer them plated, buffet-style, or on individual napkins — great for the plates, better for the aftermath!

In the Camping Oven:

1. Begin by preheating your camping oven to 350°F, the sweet spot for an even sweeter treat. Prepare a cookie sheet with aluminum foil — as seen in such occasions as “the previous set of directions” — to forge your impending desserts within the heart of Mount Morsel. (Your oven, in other words. It’s hard to not get carried away here.)
2. Snap those graham crackers in half lengthwise to set up the “bun” of your s’mores. Guess what comes next! (Go on, we’ll wait.) That’s right: break those chocolate bars in half. Set one mega-brick of chocolate atop one cracker per treat, and then your marshmallows on top, and a drizzle of caramel on top if desired. Leave room on the cookie sheet for the bare half of the crackers as well. They’re not getting away that easily.
3. Once the oven’s preheated, pop them right in! Set about 5 inches from the heating element, broil your sheet of s’mores-in-training for 3–5 minutes in total. They brown quickly — and burn just a little later than that — so be sure to keep an eye on them!
4. Retrieve your s’mores from the oven. Don’t let them cool down for long on this one; once they’re safe to touch, carefully slap them the bare cracker sides on top, help them merge together into decadent dessert sandwiches, lightly dust with powdered sugar (if you’re feeling truly decadent), then enjoy immediately! If you’re still reading these instructions, you’re not biting into them fast enough. What did we just tell you?

Over the Camping Stove:

1. Start by snapping those graham crackers in half lengthwise — oh, expecting a preheat stage this time? Nope, now we’re going rogue and abandoning the civility of preheating etiquette. Why not go ahead and snap apart that chocolate while you’re at it? Like usual, we suggest breaking each bar in half and tossing in one per s’more.
2. Okay, now you can preheat the burners. Set ‘em to medium-high and let them have 20–30 seconds to warm up. Meanwhile, start skewering those marshmallows! That’s right, the marshmallow skewers are back. What is even going on anymore? Have we lost our minds? The answer may shock you. (Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.)
3. Diligently toast your skewered marshmallows over the open flames of the camping stove burners. Rotate evenly until brown on all sides, but not burnt! You don’t want them catching fire. Catching fire is usually bad, and today’s no different. Thousands of would-be marshmallow roasters before you made have that mistake so you don’t have to.
4. Once the marshmallows are nicely browned, you know what to do: carefully stack a chocolate-topped graham cracker below, give it a quick dripping of caramel sauce if you’re feeling feisty, then stack a plain graham cracker above. Pull those skewers free and decide whether or not you’re adding a puff of powdered sugar.
5. Finally, triumphantly behold your delicious, ooey-gooey victory over the natural order of the wild, then consume immediately! (Take that, Mother Nature! Keep your berries and try growing us a s’mores bush — then we’ll talk.)