I’ve been gone for so long! And I’m sincerely sorry for that. How about I make it up to you with one of the best desserts I’ve made to-date? OK, great! I’m a bragger… I know this… but, come on, these are worth bragging about.

Apologies for the quality of my photos. I need to get myself a new camera. Anyway, here’s how it all happened:

Friend A: Why don’t people ever put marshmallow inside doughnuts?

Me: I have no idea, that sounds amazing.

Friend B: I think it would be way too sweet.

Me: You’re probably right… but, wait, what if they could be like s’mores?

Friend B: Yes! Now that I could get behind!

Idea born.

I did a lot of research after this initial conversation to see if anybody had successfully put together a s’mores doughnut. I came across a few delicious blog postings but most of them had chocolate in the center, or the s’mores ingredients just piled on top of a plain doughnut. What’s a s’more without gooey marshmallow inside?! These doughnut ideas were more like doughNOTs in my book. So I decided to play with it.

I invited a friend over for dinner and doughnut baking and she gladly agreed. We hit up the grocery store and grabbed a whole bunch of ingredients we thought would make the perfect s’mores doughnut. We weren’t sure whether a whipped marshmallow spread would work better than solid marshmallows so we got both. We also grabbed a whole bunch of ingredients for a few different kinds of doughnut, from super sweet to mild, light and airy to dense and cakey. Ultimately, I only knew that I didn’t want it to be too sweet and too rich. We also agreed that they should be bite-sized (and it’s SO cute!).

After some serious testing we came up with the perfect recipe. It combines a mostly mild and not-too-sweet doughnut that’s light and airy, a creamy marshmallow spread filling, milk chocolate, and crushed graham crackers. And the most difficult part was kneading the dough because I don’t have a stand mixer with a dough hook. Getting the marshmallow inside is pretty easy, as long as you have some sort of food injector. I have one that came with a molecular gastronomy kit.

For the Dough:

Initial Source: “My Mom’s Raised Doughnuts” from Allrecipes.com

But I’ve modified one small piece of the recipe to make it a bit more dense than the original.

• 1 package highly active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tsp. white sugar
• 3/4 cup milk at room temperature
• 1/3 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Working in small batches, roll the dough flat to about 1/2 inch in thickness and cut in circles with a cookie cutter. I used a 2″ round cookie cutter. Set each round aside and let them sit for another hour.

In a medium saucepan, heat 2 quarts of oil to approx 365°F

Fry each doughnut round for approx 1 minute on each side and lay on paper towel to cool.

For the S’Mores Component:

These doughnuts are great on their own… but adding a few delicious toppings and fillings can really make them pop. Then, of course, there’s my s’mores doughnut.

I filled the doughnuts with marshmallow topping. To do this, you can simply purchase a jar of marshmallow spread, like the kind used to make peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, and inject the spread into the doughnuts. This worked way better than trying to melt marshmallow and inject that.

I scooped some of the spread into a food syringe, which can be purchased at most grocery stores. I microwaved it on high for about 5 seconds, just long enough to soften the spread, and then simply inserted the tip into the side of the doughnut and squeezed the spread in. I stopped when the outer shell of the doughnut began to crack.

I topped the doughnut with melted milk chocolate. This was easy enough. Simply pour some milk chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in intervals of 5 seconds, taking it out to stir the chocolate between each. Once the chocolate is melted, just spoon it on top of the doughnut and spread it around.

For the graham cracker crumbles on top, crush some graham crackers into a bowl and dip the doughnuts (with freshly spread melted chocolate on top) chocolate-side down into the graham cracker.

You don’t have to serve immediately, these were even great the next day!