{S'mores Bar}

Today’s guest for our Raising the Bar series is the sweet Nicole Greene; Chef & Owner of Chicago based truffle truffle. 

To create our s'mores bar, we are focusing in on their gourmet shortbread s’mores from the "sweet suite" signature collection (you may also want to pick up some truffles, caramels and pretzels from this collection to pair them with).  These gooey little marshmallow treats have been with truffle truffle since their launch in the summer of 2009.  And you don't even have to be near a campfire to enjoy them!

With 11 s'more flavors offered in their "sweet suite" signature collection, who could resist.  There are also a couple of seasonal s'more flavors, like their gingerbread & pumpkin s'mores, which return during the winter holiday season and would make the perfect addition to a dessert bar or a sweet gift.   

Sweet displays designed by the creative team at truffle truffle.

I asked Nicole to share a little bit more about these delicious little treats with us.

I love the s'mores because they offer a fun & modern twist on one of my favorite childhood treats (not that I don't still devour authentic campfire s'mores as an adult though!). I have always loved camping, and let's face it, the best part of the trip is the gooey, charred goodness of a melted marshmallow sandwiched between graham crackers and chocolate bar squares! Yum! As I got older and increasingly more obsessed with food and flavor combos, I started experimenting with flavor-infused chocolate bars to enhance my campfire s'more experience, pairing the standard marshmallow and graham cracker combo with chocolate mint or chocolate peanut butter bars. That's where the idea for our gourmet shortbread s'mores was born! One day, in the midst of a daydream, a vision of the inside of what became the truffle truffle s'more flashed before my eyes, and I couldn't wait to go home and start experimenting! First I played with infusing the marshmallows with a punch of flavor, either by steeping the water with fresh herbs, or adding oils & natural extracts to the recipe. Once the marshmallows were ready to go, I decided to enhance the flavor even further by pairing each marshmallow with the perfect shortbread cookie complement. For example, the shortbread cookies for the chipotle peanut butter marshmallows also have a dash of chipotle and peanut butter folded into the dough. This pairing helps the flavor stand up to all of that delicious chocolate! We even have a graham cracker-flavored shortbread cookie to pair with our coconut key lime and banana cream s'mores, replicating a graham cracker pie crust. I suppose we could have gone with a standard graham cracker, but the buttery, flakiness of the shortbread cookies was just too hard to resist! The final touch is the chocolate shell. We hand enrobe the s'mores, carefully dipping the marshmallows first so that the chocolate will act as a glue holding the delicious sandwich together, and then we enrobe the whole thing in either a milk chocolate or dark chocolate shell. Ooh la la! As a chef, it's hard to choose, but I think my personal favorite s'more flavors are the orange tarragon and coconut key lime. I will inevitably "sabotage" at least one of those while enrobing every batch to be sure I have an unsellable "ugly" for personal consumption! (shhh!)

One of the defining aspects of truffle truffle is that we pay as much attention to our packaging as we do to our treats so that they appeal as much to the eye as to the palate. Our s'mores are available individually wrapped, as well as in our reusable 4pc and 12 pc magnetic boxes, so they make a perfect personal indulgence, or gourmet gifts! Summer is here....it's the season for s'mores! And these s'mores, IMHO (in my humble opinion), can't be beat!

Thanks truffle truffle for stopping by today!  We just love your tasty s'mores and treats and the beautiful packaging!  Be sure to stop by their site to check out their I <3 Chicago collection, truffle cakes and all of their other dreamy desserts too!