Makes 8 S'mores (with some chocolate and marshmallow left-overs :)
Ingredients:
70% Chocolate:
1250 g Whole Cacao
535 g Sugar
Vegetarian Marshmallows:
80 g Powdered sugar
80 g Cornstarch
110 g Aquafaba (drained chickpea water)
2 g Cream of tartar
10 g Vanilla extract
5 g Salt
Syrup:
200 g Sugar
80 g Water
Aquafaba Mix:
10 g Agar agar powder
50 g Sugar
180 g Water
Graham Crackers:
290 g Whole wheat flour
170 g Brown sugar
10 g Cinnamon
10 g Baking soda
5 g Salt
115 g Butter
45 g Water
85 g Honey
Instructions:
For the chocolate, spread the cacao on a sheet pan and bake @ 130ºC (270ºF) for 40 minutes. Cool then crack in a large bowl using a champion juicer with the bottom plate removed (under the spinning blades. Or use a hand crank roller cracker as is used in home brewing to process the malt.
In a place where you can make a mess (outside, garage or basement) using a hair dryer or a powerful fan, gently blow the husks off of the nibs, moving it around with your hand as the husks blow out of the bowl and scatter around whatever space you've chosen to mess up. Try to get as many as you can out, the less of the these the smoother the chocolate will end up.
Next weigh the cacao. If you have about 1000 g then use 428 g sugar like I did. If it's a different amount to get an exactly 70% bar use this calculation to get your sugar weight:
(cacao weight divided by .7) minus cacao weight (in my example: 1000 / .7 - 1000 = 428).
In a small chocolate refiner (melanger) slowly add your cacao nibs in maybe 5 - 10 additions over the course of 20 minutes or so, using a heat gun to help the fats separate faster. Just be patient and don't overload the machine (if you can). Let the cacao process for an hour or so until somewhat fluid, then add your sugar, scrape down the sides and anything else above the chocolate level. Let it run for at least 12 hours (overnight) or up to 48 hours for an extra smooth chocolate.
To temper your chocolate remove your refined chocolate to a bowl that can touch the bottom of the largest bowl you have.
Make a double boiler by heating water in a large saucepan over a high heat, place your chocolate bowl over the simmering water, and while stirring heat the chocolate to 40ºC - 46ºC (105ºF - 115ºF). Remove from the heat.
Next fill your largest bowl with cold tap water (mine was 15ºC [60ºF]), place your chocolate bowl in it, so that it is touching the water, maybe coming halfway up the chocolate bowl, being very careful to get no water in the chocolate (they don't get along at all).
While stirring lower the temperature of the chocolate to 28ºC (82ºF), remove and replace the cold water with warm tap water in your large bowl, and raise the temperature of the chocolate to a working temperature of 31ºC (88ºF). Remove and pour into chocolate bar molds (later on you can match the size of your graham crackers to these) and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until the chocolate is no longer touching the bottom of the molds (has pulled away).
If your chocolate doesn't temper properly, you can either redo it until it does (this can take a few tries), or just use it in its untempered form, because you know its just an ingredient in the recipe and doesn't need to be perfect!
For the vegetarian marshmallows, sift the powdered sugar and cornstarch into a small bowl or container. Set aside.
Lightly grease a 20 cm x 20 cm (8" x 8") cake pan. Fold a piece of parchment and lay it across the bottom of the pan, so that there are two "handles" on either side to lift the marshmallow out of later on. Sift a generous dusting of the powdered sugar mix over the bottom. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment add the aquafaba and cream of tartar. Whisk on high until soft peaks form. Set aside (turn off).
In a small saucepan heat your syrup mixture of water and sugar over a high heat until a temperature of 115ºC (240ºF) has been reached. Remove from the heat and slowly add to the aquafaba mix, while whipping on high speed and drizzling the syrup down the inside of the bowl.
While still whipping, in a small saucepan on a medium-high heat the aquafaba mix of water, sugar and agar. Let cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, then slowly pour into the whipping aquafaba mix in the same manner. Once incorporated quickly pour into the prepared 20 cm x 20 cm (8" x 8") baking pan, and level with an offset spatula. Leave to set for 4 - 6 hours, or overnight.
For the graham crackers, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment add the brown sugar, honey, and butter. Cream until light a fluffy. In a small bowl whisk together the whole wheat flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add to the mixer, and mix until forming a bread crumb consistency. Add your water until it starts to come together.
Remove the graham cracker mixture onto plastic wrap or beeswrap and pat into a flat disc, wrap up and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven 180ºC (350ºF). Unwrap onto a clean work surface. If the mix is a little crumbly work it briefly to make it more cohesive or warmed up. Roll out to 1.5 mm (1/16") thickness, and cut out into the rectangles the are a bit bigger than your chocolate bar molds, pricking with a roller docker or a fork, and placing on a lined sheet pan. Re-rolling until you've cut them all into rectangles.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
To assemble to s'mores, using a blowtorch and a skewer (or the coals of a fire) toast your marshmallows on all sides. Set aside.
On top of graham cracker place a bar of chocolate, then three (or more) toasted marshmallows, and another graham cracker to create a sandwich of nostalgia.
Tuck in and Enjoy!