S’mores pancakes bring the campfire to breakfast

The trouble with s’mores is that you really do end up wanting more and more of them.

So during a recent vacation that generally ended every evening with s’mores by a campfire, I decided to sort out a way to start every day with them, too. Except that I didn’t want to build a campfire quite that early. And if I could do it without all the sugar-induced guilt, that would be nice.

It turned out to be easier than I expected, though it took me a few attempts to get it right. The answer — s’mores pancakes.

I started with my basic whole-wheat pancake batter (feel free to substitute all-purpose flour if whole-wheat doesn’t do it for you). But then I doctored it up with chocolate chips and graham crumbs (grocers sell them by the box in the baking aisle). That was easy. But no s’more is complete without marshmallow. That was less easy.

My first attempt, while tasty, was visually pretty nasty. Adding the marshmallow too soon caused it to melt too much and actually disappear into the pancake batter as it cooked. But it was an easy fix.

When serving the s’mores pancakes, we ditched any syrup or other topping. The melty, gooey marshmallow seemed plenty. But if you simply must drizzle something, I’d vote for either hot fudge or marshmallow topping (both sold alongside the other ice cream sundae toppings).

Ÿ Food Editor J.M. Hirsch is author of the cookbook “High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking.” Follow him to great eats on Twitter @JM—Hirsch or email him at jhirsch@ap.org.