Smother Your Summer In S'mores Dip

S'mores Dip seems like one of those dishes that should have been invented in a corporate test kitchen sometime in the '50s or '60s and introduced to an unsuspecting world on the packages of Nabisco Honey Maid Grahams, Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, and Hershey Bars, the official Holy Trinity of s'mores (at least as far as supermarket displays are concerned). This was, after all, the heyday of onion dip, Crock-Pots, and fondue. S'mores Dip would have been a perfect addition. But corporate cooking was distracted by cake mixes and Jell-O molds and instead the world would have to wait half a century. (Although Betty Crocker did make an effort with "S'mores Nachos" that required that the graham crackers be placed on the bottom. This seems needlessly messy and also a great way to get burned by molten chocolate.)

As best I can tell, S'mores Dip first appeared in 2012 on the blog What Megan's Making. Megan confessed to enjoying the components of s'mores more—s'more?—than the actual sandwich. So for her own satisfaction, she made a deconstructed version with Marshmallow Fluff, condensed milk, chocolate chips, and graham crackers for dipping. "I have no idea why I like this dip more than traditional s'mores, since I'm pretty sure they taste about the same," she wrote, "but I do."

Maybe it's because she didn't have to worry about getting the toasted marshmallow off the stick and into the sandwich without sending any graham crackers or pieces of chocolate flying onto the ground? Or maybe because the marshmallows were appropriately gooey and the chocolate was melted? These are just guesses. Maybe I just didn't get to make enough s'mores growing up to be able to perfect my technique, another of the sad consequences of dropping out of Brownies in second grade and attending an overnight camp where "camping" meant "sleeping on the soccer field." But I digress.

In the ensuing years, S'mores Dip took off around the internet and has been perfected first on cooking blogs, then on YouTube and TikTok. Most current recipes have dispensed with the condensed milk, but there has some debate about whether extra liquid should be added to the chocolate to keep it from seizing up and sticking to the bottom of the pan. There are variations with caramel and pretzels and peanut butter so everyone can customize it in their own special way so that it tastes like s'mores, only better. And while you probably end up with marshmallow stuck on your hands and face, the likelihood that you'll lose an entire meticulously toasted marshmallow in the dirt has been diminished. How can you resist?

Aimee Levitt

This variation on S'mores Dip is based on my own personal prejudices. I dislike scrubbing my cast iron pan, so I added the extra liquid. I also used a combination of dark and milk chocolate in the form of bars instead of chips. I do not prefer mini-marshmallows to regular-sized, but that was all that was available at my neighborhood grocery store.

• 8 oz. chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. heavy cream or half and half
• Butter or coconut oil to grease your pan
• 8 oz. marshmallows (cut in half if regular-sized)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch cast iron skillet or a 9-inch cake pan. In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and cream together. Spread it over the bottom of your skillet or pan. Arrange the marshmallows in an even layer on top.

Pop the whole thing in the oven for 5 minutes, but watch it carefully so the marshmallows don't burn or explode. If you like your marshmallows darker, put the dip under the broiler, but again, watch it carefully. Let the dip cool for about 10 minutes before you dig in so the chocolate has a chance to solidify a little bit. Serve with graham crackers or pretzels or crackers or (my personal favorite) Biscoff cookies. Some people even suggest fruit, but if you're going to eat s'mores in any form, it's probably best to abandon the idea of nutrition altogether.