Homemade Gift: Family S'More Kit

I saw this idea last year on HGTV, and I made it for my boss for Christmas last year.  She has 4 kids.  I adapted this idea rom HGTV. 

 Step One, I found a tin box to house my goodies, and I sprayed it down with chalkboard paint. 

I'd suggest adding a coating of primer so the chalkboard paint sticks.  I was planning on writing the instructions for baking these in the microwave, but the paint didn't dry enough by the time I needed to deliver it.  The show wrapped their box with a bandana and added marshmallow toasting sticks, but I was imagining these baking in my bosses oven.  It's more her style. 

The show also showed whipping together some homemade marshmallows, and this is a great recipe I've tried in the past, but I decided just to use some Wilton markers to color designs onto a bag of marshmallows.  I did this the year before with some different marshamallow art work. 

Insteade of using traditional chocolate squares from a premade bar, I took HGTV's advice, and I melted some nice chocolate morsels (30 seconds at a time.  I heated, stirred, heated stirred....it took about 1.5 minutes or it to melt and be pourable.)  I created a little tented tray out of foil, and poured it into my boat, and then let it chill in the fridge. 

I broke it into ragged chunks...

...and bagged up my pieces. 

Last stop were graham crackers.  I decided to go with a homemade version, and I found a yummy sounding (and in the end, a yummy tasting recipe at Smitten Kitchen). 

Graham Cracker Recipe
*Makes 48 2x2 inch crackers
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. lour, 1 c. dark brown sugar, 1 t. baking soda, 1 t. kosher salt, 7 T unsalted butter (cut into 1 inch cubes and frozen), 1/3 c. mild flavored honey, 5 T. whole milk, 2 T. vanilla, cinnamon/sugar to top
Instructions:
1.  Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a food processor.  Add butter and pulss on and of until consistency of corn meal.  (I used a pastry cutter b/c I didn't feel like cleaning my food processor).

2.  In a small bowl, whisk honey, milk, and vanilla. 
3.  Add wet ingredients to the dry and puls on low until dough barely comes together (this will be sticky). 

4.  Lay out on plastic wrap and dust with flour, then turn and pat into a rectangle about 1 inch thick.  Wrap it and chill until firm (about 2 hours or overnight). 
5.  Roll out crackers (keep half of the dough in the refridgerator so it stays chilled while it's waiting to be rolled).  Roll dough to about 1/8 inch thick, and cut to the size you want.  I used one of these 'fancy' rollers for a fun finish. 

6.  Set on baking tray lined with a silpat or parchment paper, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix. 

7.  Chill on the tray or another 30 minutes (or 15 minutes in the freezer).
8.  Use a skewer or fork to poke holes (don't go all the way through) into the top of the cracker. 
9.  Bake at 350 or about 20 minutes (until brown and slightly firm at the touch).  Rotate 1/2 way through. 

I wrapped these all up, and they joined their friends in the box o' yummy fun.