Valentine's Day S'mores Pops

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My kids are currently in the throes of a FOUR DAY WEEKEND. That’s right. No reason, really. Friday was a teacher in-service and Monday is Presidents Day. On a personal level, YES I’m losing my mind. They’re already feeling the cabin fever because it’s way too cold to be outside (we’re actually under a windchill warning). The other day we made some S’mores Pops with a Valentine’s Day twist and I thought it’d be a fun share today for the holiday and maybe help some of you give your kids something to do - and/or curb a sweet tooth craving!

You’ve likely seen and heard of S’mores .. if not YOU’RE KILLIN ME SMALLS (snaps to those who got the reference to The Sandlot, if not please see this YouTube video). This recipe features the same ingredients sans the fire and add sprinkles. And also sticks.

What you need:

Melting chocolate. I’m legitimately lazy and bought a microwaveable bag of them. It was a million dollars. Not really but it’s a lot cheaper to suck it up and buy the other kind. I’m no top chef and I’ve ruined many a pan (not kidding, ask anyone) trying to melt chocolate on the stove.

Marshmallows. I just bought the regular ones but there are also monster size campfire ones if you’re feeling really hungry or heart shaped ones but idk how well those would roll in the graham. I’d steer clear of the tiny ones.

Graham Crackers. Any kind, probably not the ones with cinnamon on them but that’s your preference. Mine were plain.

Sprinkles. I got the small, sugary red type for the theme but if you do these for St. Patrick’s Day it’s obviously easy to switch this out for green ones or other colors for Easter and so on.

Sticks. You can buy them or even use Popsicle sticks if you happen to save them. The fancy ones in the pics are like $2.25 but you only get 10 or 15… the plain white you get a ton of and it’s definitely more cost effective.

Wax Paper. To lay your masterpieces on to dry.

(1) First, put the sticks in the center of each marshmallow.

(2) Then, smash the graham crackers. I put them in gallon sized freezer bags and let the kids go off. It’s destructive so it’s fun and the freezer bags keep it mess free. It’s easier if you crush them into a fine-ish powder type but the BEST tasting ones we ended up with had graham chunks. It’s def not as pretty but omg so good.

(3) While my kids were smashing the grahams I put the bag of chocolate in a bowl (I thought this would be easier for dipping than the bag, so another reason the expensive micro bag was a waste for this) and began the process of melting. Directions for this are always on the bag so I’ll spare you.

(4) After all was melted, crushed and speared I put everything in bowls. Pick up the mallow on a stick and dip it into the chocolate. After you pull it out let the excess drip off a bit and then dip the end into the sprinkles. Take it to the grahams and roll it around. Lay to dry. (tip: I learned about half way through that it looks better and a lot cooler if you do the sprinkles after the grahams. Initially I didn’t think that would work out.. thinking it would hide the sprinkles, but it ended up making them pop more).

That’s it. If I can do it, you can do it. Super easy to make and clean up wasn’t too bad even though two little people who shall remain nameless completely ditched me for that part.

In the end they turned out really well, even for my 5 year old who decided to give them faces. She made a heck of a mess but the smiles and laughter always makes up for that!

I hope you’re all spending Valentine’s Day with someone you love and if you are alone I hope you’re pampering yourself to the highest degree! YOU DESERVE IT!

*Apologies for the super yellow toned photos. I took my camera out of it’s usual office environment and the lighting in the kitchen was muchhh different. If I ever do another recipe type post I know now to mess with my settings 😉