Page 151 S'mores Cupcakes

"The old campfire classic takes on a new identity as a charming cupcake. Graham flour, available at health-food stores and specialty markets, flavors the cupcake base, which is topped with chocolate glaze and piled high with piped sticky marshmallow frosting, browned to mimic the effects of toasting over a fire." - Martha

For everyone who knows me, they know that over the past weekend I won a recipe contest for making s'mores! Guess what I used for the inspiration of today's cupcakes? That's right, my winning recipe. My winning recipe was titled German Chocolate S'mores; I changed up this cupcake recipe by adding some ingredients not found in the original. Just like the coconut-pecan frosting most bakers would make for topping their German Chocolate cakes, I smeared this frosting on my grahams and coupled it with the standard Hershey bar and toasted marshmallow. (Of course, getting the toasting perfect is an art. Caramel colored mallow, not too dark, certainly no charring at all and rotating the skewer as if it's a rotisserie for marshmallows is the best technique.)

In this cupcake recipe, I added about 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips, a 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut and a 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Otherwise the recipe could have stayed the same. However, it falls back to not having all of the ingredients in the house to complete Martha's recipe, specifically, no graham flour. One might say that with no graham flour you'd be defeating the purpose of the s'mores flavor. But, I subbed a cup for cup of graham cracker crumbs (very finely pulsed in the food processor) and reduced the baking powder by a tad. The cupcakes baked a little quicker than the 25 minutes stated but they look and taste just fine.

I made the recommended marshmallow frosting to go with the cupcakes (Would they be s'mores without the marshamllows?) but right after I completed the mixing, my husband called, long distance, and so I took the phone call. The recipe directions say that you must use the frosting immediately because it hardens. I bet you can guess what happened when I returned to frost my cupcakes. So, when viewing my photo, keep in mind the frosting turned out perfect, at first, then it became exactly like the texture of a store-bought marshmallow...unrelenting in its mobility.