S'mores Recipe Contest Winners

Our family spends a week camping out every October. And, as anybody who’s listened to my weekly podcast for long knows, we also enjoy making up quirky competitions to challenge one another. This year, our daughter Bethany decided it was high time we combine those two loves, so she sponsored our first ever (possibly first annual). S’mores recipe contest!

Family members submitted their best ideas for unique s’mores, we all voted on our top three favorites, and Beth bought the ingredients for those three finalists and brought them to camp for a competitive taste test.

Bethany created the cutest little graphics and cleverest names, so even our youngest family members could envision what the finished s’more would look like and vote alongside the adults. No recipe reading required! She gave me permission to share her hard work on our family blog, for which I’m most grateful.

Below are all the entries (in no particular order). Scroll down to the bottom of this post to view the three finalists and to learn whose recipe won top honors (along with a lovely new set of telescoping s’mores roasters with stainless steel prongs and wooden handles)

The Dees-Nutellas-are-Bananas S’more

My daughter-in-law Haley submitted the recipe for these banana and Nutella s’mores. Gotta admit it, these would’ve been hard for me to resist had they made the finals!

The-Deez-Nutellas-are-Bananas-Smore-Haley

The Rocky-Road-eo S’more Sundae

Gabriel imagined a s’more sundae made with rocky road ice cream. He didn’t make the finals, either (although his brother’s very similar ice cream sandwich s’more did).

The Trend-Savvy-Traveller S’more

My husband lived in Turkey as a child (which is where, I’m told, much of the imported “Dubai” chocolate actually comes from). The real stuff is fairly expensive, as are pistachio date cookies, which would make these mediterranean s’mores a pricey treat for kids to drop in the campfire!

The Life-Handed-Me-Lemons-So-I-Decided-to-Improvise S’more

Bethany submitted a yummy-sounding recipe calling for toasted marshmallows and graham crackers topped with blueberry cream cheese and lemon curd. Definitely not your mother’s s’more!

The Bear-ly-There Mini-S’more Bites

Daniel has been cutting back on sugar, so he suggested we make “bear-ly there” bite-sized s’mores. Not sure how we’d melt the pot of chocolate over an open fire, but his recipe didn’t make it to the finals, so we didn’t have to figure it out.

The Pocket-Full-of-Sunshine Baklava S’more

My daughter Rachel makes the most delicious baklava I’ve ever tasted, so it made perfect sense for her to include phyllo dough, pistachios, and honey in her s’more contest entry. Don’t these sound scrumptious?

Escape (The Piña Colada S’more)

Technically, I think you’d need to include some coconut for this to be able to legitimately call this a piña colada s’more. Maybe you could roll the toasted marshmallow in shredded coconut before slapping on top of the pineapple and graham cracker layers. But otherwise, this entry of Bekah Lyn’s sounds pretty delicious (and unique), as well!

The Bavarian Bonn-fire Bunny-Bun S’more

Before the army transferred our son to South Korea, he and his family spent three blissful years living in Germany. Our daughter-in-law Bonnie tips her head to the time they spent in Bavaria with this fun pretzel-based s’more recipe.

The Turtle-y-Enough-for-the-Turtle-Club Stuffed Mega-S’more

Isaac’s chemical engineering classes kept him too busy to come out and camp with us this year, but he did send the ingredients for these tasty turtle s’mores so the rest of us could try them. Yum!

The Cozy-Campfire-Teatime S’more

Samuel’s wife, Bekah Joy, loves herself a good cup of English tea, so we weren’t surprised when her s’more recipe called for tea and biscuits.

Mom’s Really-Very-Crunchy S’more

I eliminated all refined sugar and refined flour from my diet the minute I found out I had breast cancer. That was nearly a year ago, and I’m not turning back now, regardless how tasty all those other s’more entries look.

My recipe consisted of whole, pitted Medjool dates (naturally high in fiber, potassium, antioxidants), a small square of Hu salty dark chocolate, Mary’s Gone Crackers super seed classic crisps, and raw walnuts. Warm the date over the fire, then stack atop one small square of dark chocolate and a super seed cracker. Top with walnut half and enjoy guilt-free!

The Boujee-Charcuterie-Savory S’more

Rebekah Lyn had the same idea for creating a s’more option low in refined sugar. She suggested toasting cheese instead of marshmallows and using it to create savory s’mores.

The charcuterie selection was beautifully executed by Bethany (see photos below) and was a hit with young and old alike, which explains how Bekah’s recipe tied for second place.

The S’mOREO Ice Cream Sandwich

Also finishing in second place was Ben’s s’moreo ice cream sandwich, although it was a bit of a trick to keep the ice cream from melting before the marshmallows were sufficiently toasted to put on top.

Bethany made the sandwich part at home — square slabs of cookies-n-cream stacked between two chocolate graham crackers — then kept them all on ice until we were ready for the taste test.

The Flanders-Females-Be-Flexin’ French Macaron S’more

First place went to my daughter-in-law Emi, macron baker extraordinaire. This version is technically not a s’more, either, but it certainly tastes just like one. Emi has a cottage industry called Sprinkle and Flourish baking macrons, cup cakes, and birthday cakes for local customers.

Her macron-making-methods are top-secret (not that I’d ever be able to duplicate her results, even if I had detailed instructions), but if she ever decides to share her recipe for this s’more flavored treat in the future, I’ll be sure to link it here.