S'mores! MMmmmMM!

This past weekend was Lag B'Omer in Israel and despite reading the wikipedia page and asking several friends about it - I have no clue what the holiday celebrates.  All I really know is that they have bon fires and the place to be is right in front of my house.  Last year we were surprised by the wonderful our balcony provided of the festivities; so this year, we invited our friends over to "Observe" the holiday with us.

The odd thing about this Israeli holiday is that they make tepees out of their cardboard and trash and pallets, then light it all on fire, and watch for about 15 minutes as the thing flames.  They usually have a blanket or small table set up with food, and a few select (orthodox) groups will bring music.  Being American I had to put my own touch on things...so I decided we'd have S'mores!

This wouldn't seem like anything too extraordinary but there were actually two friends who had never had them before - so for them it was their best S'more ever. Well..their best 2 S'mores ever because you really honestly couldn't have eaten just one of these.

The other extraordinary thing was there are no graham crackers here!  Shocking!  They have a cookie that is close - but not good enough.  So I....look up a recipe to make graham crackers from scratch.  Didn't look too difficult but it called for brown sugar (which thank god I'd just gotten in a care package from my dad!) and honey which I didn't have - ironically.  What I did have (from the same care package) was maple syrup.  Oh my husband would kill me if he knew I used his maple syrup to make these cookies!  Final ingredient - AMERICAN marshmallows.  They are flavored here...like strawberry and some other crappy taste.  A friend tried the whole "Israeli S'mores with their pseudo graham crackers and flavored marshmallows" - you can find her picture on failblog.

Anyway, the making of the graham cracker was a bit tricky because the recipe said to cook until they were slightly brown - but they were brown to begin with because of the brown sugar and the maple syrup.  The first round (or two) came out a little crunchy.  The later ones were better.  In the end, the dark and light ones looked good together and magically, in the 4 hours between when I tried the first one and when we served them - they got better!

I'd like to tell you that I don't want to brag...but I do.  They were freakin' amazing!  One friend (a foodie!) said they were the best S'Mores he'd ever had in his life!  (No - this wasn't his first.  He is American.)  I put all of the ingredients in a cute little stand (and practiced my food photography skills).

I would have taken more photos of the roasting of the marshmallows or the finished products or friends enjoying them...but my hands were sticky!  This was the only photo I managed to take before devouring this cookie...and making another.

Original recipe from Smitten Kitchen, modified below.

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (375 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (176 grams) dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon (6 grams) baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt (4 grams)
7 tablespoons (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 cup (114 grams) maple syrup and/or honey
5 tablespoons (77 grams) heavy cream
2 tablespoons (27 grams) pure vanilla extract

Make the dough: Mix flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse on and off until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.
 
In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky. Turn the dough onto a a large piece of plastic wrap, lightly dusted with flour. Pat it into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Wrap and chill until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.

Cut the dough into 4 equal rectangles; roll dough to about 1/4 inch thick.  Using a pastry cutter (if your fancy) or a knife cut the dough into equal-sized squares.  (Again, if you want to be fancy, you can use a toothpick and poke the little holes that you see in the store-bought kind.)  Sprinkle the squares with sugar and cinnamon, then transfer them to a pizza stone or baking sheet, leaving a little space between each one.  (If you transfer them and then sprinkle - you will waste a lot of sugar and cinnamon just decorating the tray.)

Bake at 325' for about 10-12 minutes, depending on your over.  I recommend testing a small batch first because the cookies are already dark (so you can't tell when their done by color) and they firm up once you take them out (so you can't really tell by touch).