SRC: S'mores Bites (Dairy-Free/Vegan)

It's a somewhat sad day for me because this is my last Secret Recipe Club.  After being a part of this group for a few years now I've decided that I needed to step away from it all.  I simply don't have the time to dedicate to creating things on a set schedule and commenting on others' posts like I used to.

For my final assignment I am honored to have my fellow Cincinnati blogging friend Desi of SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl.  We "met" through this club.  Though we live in the same city, we have never actually met in person.  She did, however, contribute a beautiful guest post of Grilled Filet with Bourbon Butter to my blog when I was on vacation.  If I learned anything about Desi it's that the girl LOVES bacon.  So when I went to choosing a recipe, I thought I'd make something with bacon in it.  Then I took a completely different direction when I saw her post for one of her other loves...s'mores.  I considered throwing some bacon crumbles in with the chocolate center and/or on top as a garnish as a tribute but tried to stay true to the recipe ;).

Many of you know that I've gone dairy-free for my son who is nursing and I suspect to be sensitive to it.  Since I could customized the cookies, I made mine dairy-free while using regular Hershey milk-chocolate for my husband's cookies.  I tried to make some substitutions of coconut oil instead of butter and dark chocolate instead of milk to keep it dairy-free (and vegan for that matter!).  Finding graham cracker crumbs that were dairy-free was also surprisingly challenging.  I usually buy store brand to save a few bucks but the store brand and most national brands for that matter had dairy in them.  Boo!  The only dairy-free graham crackers I could find were Nabisco Honey Maid.

The taste was awesome.  I actually loved the not-so-subtle coconut flavor.  It kind of reminded me of my favorite Girl Scout Cookie, samoas...which, I also can't eat right now.  Sad face.  The only problem was that my cookie crust was too crumbly and totally didn't hold together right on removal.  I'm not sure if substituting my coconut oil 1:1 for butter was the issue or if I just didn't bake it long enough.  Still experimenting with this whole dairy-free baking thing.  The fact that my cookie crumbled didn't stop me from enjoying these little s'mores bites straight out of the pan with a spoon ;).  Don't judge.

As I say goodbye to my SRC friends I want to thank you all for being awesome and for helping me to discover your wondering blogs.  And of course a special shout out to our hostess, Debbi.  I hope that you all will continue to follow me even as I leave the club...and probably post less frequently.

On an unrelated note...have you entered my Wildtree giveaway??

S'mores Bites (Dairy-Free/Vegan)

Ingredients

• 7 whole graham crackers or 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (Nabisco Honey Maid are dairy-free)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar 
• 6 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (use butter if you don't care about it being vegan/dairy-free) 
• 4 dark chocolate candy bars, divided (I used Lindt Excellence 85% Cacao Bars for my dairy-free ones and regular Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars for the hubby)
• 12 large marshmallows, cut in half crosswise with kitchen scissors (Dandies brand are vegan)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  
2. If using whole graham crackers, place inside a ziplock bag and then crush with a rolling pin.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted coconut oil into a bowl. 
3. Divide crumb mixture into each cup of a 24 cup mini muffin pan. Press crumbs to form shallow cups.
4. Bake for 4-5 minutes or until edges are bubbling. 
5. Meanwhile, break two of the candy bars into rectangles. Break the rectangles in half. 
6. Remove pan from oven; place 2 rectangle halves into each cup. Place one marshmallow half, cut-side down, into each cup. Return to oven for 3 minutes or until marshmallows are just slightly softened.  If desired, flip on the broiler to lightly toast the tops.  Watch them carefully because they burn quickly!  
7. Using remaining candy bars, break into rectangles and top each marshmallow with a piece of chocolate.
8. Cool on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before carefully removing cups from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Source: Modified from SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl