It’s a warm summer night and you’ve just slid your freshly toasted mallow off the stick and smooshed it onto the graham, sandwiching a thick piece of chocolate in between the mallow and a second graham. As you crunch into the graham, the mallow oozes into your fingers as the sweetness of the chocolate hits your tongue. In that moment, no other dessert can come close to satisfying your sweet tooth. Biting into a s’more is your first thought as Memorial Day approaches and the last as Labor Day closes out the season. Nothing compares to the experience of a crackling fire and that warm, crunchy, gooey treat that embodies summer.
We take the task of recreating that moment very seriously at Love’s. Each component takes hours, if not days of prep work, culminating in what has become our most highly sought after flavor; Campfire S’mores. You know it. You love it. And you mark your calendars for those sacred dates twice a year that signal its release at our shop. Get ready as I take you on a magical, sugar-induced journey in hopes that you will fall even more in love with Campfire S’mores (yes, it’s possible). So, you wanna s’more?
Ok, pay attention. First, you take the graham…
The graham is the bread of the sandwich; the beginning and end. It holds every piece of this edible puzzle together. So we decided to make homemade graham crackers the very base of our Campfire S’mores ice cream. Far and beyond the most time-consuming component of this flavor, we mix a tried and true blend of spices, flour, milk, butter, and Michigan honey to a dough-like consistency. After a brief period of refrigeration, we place it on a dough sheeter to achieve the perfect thickness, next cutting it into squares to prep it for baking. Once all the grahams are baked and cooled (just imagine the sweet biscuity smells emanating from our prep kitchen), we infuse them into the base so you taste all that homemade graham goodness while maintaining a pleasingly smooth texture that you crave in an ice cream.
…You stick the chocolate on the graham…
Our Hot Fudge sauce is a key component in our ice cream success story. The rich, creamy goodness that is our fudge was a natural addition to our s’mores flavor. TCHO dark chocolate combined with butter, cream, sugar, and vanilla all form a harmonious bond that pairs beautifully with the graham and mallow. Once the ice cream is churned, we aggressively swirl the hot fudge into each and every layer, so that no spoonful is without a healthy dose of chocolatey yumminess.
…Then you roast the mallow…
Homemade everything is what we do. And mallow for our S’mores ice cream is no exception. Much like our cone batter, our mallows begin with a hefty amount of egg whites whipped to stiff peaks. While they are whipping, we heat up organic cane sugar to 240F and pour it down the side of the egg white bowl to create a sort of Italian meringue. Once the mallow is sufficiently whipped, we pour it onto greased sheet pans and freeze it briefly. When the mallow has set, we bring the fire pit to the mallow and torch it until golden dark brown, giving it an authentic roasted look and taste. And as the quote goes, “When the mallow’s flaming…you stick it on the chocolate”. Each tray of gooey toasted mallow is picked apart and liberally layered between ribbons of hot fudge in every tub.
There you have it. Undoubtedly the most popular flavor we create, Campfire S’mores is a true labor of love. And we only bring this magical flavor around twice a year (as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder!). If you haven’t yet experienced it, take it from The Sandlot, “Kind of messy, but good! Try some!”
Stay sweet,
Love’s Production Crew