My brother, sisters and I make bonfires sometimes when he is home from college.

My brother built the little fireplace especially for summer campfires. My sisters have to collect the branches for the fire. We always roast marshmallows and make s’mores while listening to music.

When I make these cupcakes, I think of those times being outside and everyone sitting around the fire.

S’mores Cupcakes

Chocolate Cake:

1¾ cup of all-purpose flour

¾ cup of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1½ teaspoons of baking soda

½ teaspoon of kosher salt

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs (room temperature)

1½ teaspoons vanilla

½ cup of canola, sunflower or safflower oil

1 cup buttermilk (room temperature)

1 cup of hot water

3-4 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips

Graham cracker crust:

½ cups of honey graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons of sugar

5 tablespoons of melted butter (unsalted)

Meringue:

4 egg whites (room temperature)

1 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar

pinch of table salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line standard muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In a bowl, mix the graham cracker ingredients together. Fill the cupcake papers with about 1 tablespoon of the graham cracker mixture into each liner. Press down the crumbs with the back of a glass. Bake the cupcake crusts 5-10 minutes. The crusts should be slightly firm to the touch and have a golden brown top when done baking at this point.

Allow time for the bases to set up and cool on a cooling rack. This is the time to make your cupcake batter.

Sift together all the dry ingredients into your mixing bowl. Add sugar and whisk it all together. In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs, vanilla, oil and buttermilk together. Have your hot water ready nearby.

With your mixer on the lowest speed, slowly add your wet ingredients. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, scrape the bowl to make sure every ingredient is moistened. On medium speed, mix for about a minute or until the batter looks smooth. On the same speed, slowly pour in the hot water.

Once all the hot water is incorporated, scrape the bowl. Mix again, on medium speed. Use a rubber spatula, and scrape from the bottom to make sure all is mixed well.

Pour and distribute the batter evenly into each cupcake liner. (I use an ice cream scooper to make the batter more even.)

Sprinkle the remaining graham cracker crumbs and the mini-chocolate chips on top of the batter, before baking. Bake for about 15-20, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Put your cupcakes on a cooling rack.

Cool completely about 1-2 hours at least. (You can cover with plastic wrap overnight if you’re not ready to you put the meringue on top yet.)

For the meringue, fill a medium-sized saucepan with water. Bring the water to a simmer. In a mixing bowl, add all your meringue ingredients except for the vanilla. Whisk together and place this bowl on top of the saucepan, creating a double boiler. Whisk and heat this to about 130 degrees F.

If you do not have a thermometer, take a little egg white with a spoon and touch the whites between your fingers. If you can still feel the sugar, it’s not done. If you can’t feel any grains of sugar, it’s ready.

With the whisk attachment on your mixer, if you have one, whisk on medium high for about 5-7 minutes until cool, light and marshmallow-looking. It will be shiny and billowy. Add vanilla. Combine with whisk attachment.

Use your scraper and scrape the bowl. Use either a knife or a piping bag (for a homemade bag, use a Ziplock gallon bag and cut one corner for a tip) and top your cupcakes with the meringue. With a small chef’s torch, carefully brûlée or “broil” the meringue.

Cover lightly and store leftover cupcakes in the refrigerator (if there are any cupcakes left).

Enjoy!