Throw A S'mores Party

An artisanal take on a childhood treat: s'mores made with Polly Style grahams and Buzz Bakery marshmallows.

This Valentine's Day, I lit a roaring fire in the backyard, ladled out cups of punch and armed friends with metal sticks to toast heart-shaped marshmallows. We stacked up dozens of delicious s'mores using fresh mallows in peppermint, vanilla and cherry lambic flavors made by the talented Tiffany MacIsaac at Buzz Bakery and locally made grahams crackers from artisan baker Polly Brown of Polly Style.

It was a fun, nostalgic way to spend an evening, swapping preferred toasting methods and memories about childhood camp fires. And sacrificing a few over-toasted marshmallows to the greedy flames. I'm thinking it needs to be annual tradition.

No access to actual fire? No problem. Here's how to bring the s'mores operation indoors:

Heat your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Lay out rows of graham crackers and top each with one marshmallow. Bake for about 5 minutes, until the marshmallows puff and brown slightly. Remove from the oven and top the marshmallows with a square of chocolate and a graham cracker top. Smush and enjoy.   

If you do have a fire pit or fireplace for roasting, these two-pronged metal sticks come in quite handy and keep the marshmallows nice and steady.

Buzz Bakery's housemade marshmallows toast up beautifully. Flavors include peppermint, cherry lambic and classic vanilla.

Polly Style's artisanal graham crackers take s'mores to the next level.

Hearts on fire. A marshmallow goes up in flames.