Ginger cookie s’mores with amaretto marshmallows all started with a broken jar of ground ginger.
Will has been on surgery rotations for the past few weeks/months/seems like forever, and surgery schedules are really no fun. Most mornings we leave for the hospital around 4:30am, and I’m back home before 5am. Sometimes I go back to bed for a little bit, sometimes I stay awake and try to be productive until I leave for work.
One morning recently I decided to stay awake and make granola to have on hand for the rest of the week. With the combination of tired eyes and rushed hands, I opened the pantry door to grab the ginger and cinnamon spice jars. As I reached for them, the glass ginger jar fell from the shelf onto the tile floor and shattered into a hundred pieces. It was still so early and I didn’t want to disturb our sleeping neighbors by turning on the vacuum, so I put on some shoes, picked up pieces that I could see and swept as best I could while thinking to myself, “this is what you get for trying to work in the kitchen this early.”
When the jar broke, a lot of ginger spilled onto the floor and it’s unique scent lingered in the kitchen for a few days. Every time I walked into the kitchen the smell of ginger made me crave ginger cookies. Ever since I made this cookie crust I have been in love with the combination of ginger and chocolate. With summer drawing to a close it seemed like the perfect time to make s’mores out of the combo. But not just any s’mores, boozy ginger cookie s’mores (could be mistaken for bougie ginger cookie s’mores?). I threw a (large) splash of amaretto into the marshmallows to make the s’mores even better, and it absolutely did. The marshmallows are dense and fluffy at the same time, perfect for roasting.
You can dip, spread, or drizzle the s’mores with chocolate, or use regular chocolate rectangles. Unlike graham crackers, the soft, chewy ginger cookies give easily when you bite into them, making less of a mess and a fabulous s’more.
If you prepare these for a crowd, dip the top and bottom of the marshmallow in melted chocolate to hold the pieces together and provide a fun, no-toast elevated s’more snack.
Ginger Cookie S’mores with Amaretto Marshmallows
Chewy Ginger Cookies
2 ¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg, at room temperature
sugar, for rolling the cookies
Amaretto Marshmallows
3 packets unflavored gelatin
½ cup Amaretto
2 cups sugar
½ cup Amaretto
¼ cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
powdered sugar, for dusting
For assembly
Semisweet or milk chocolate, melted
To make the Ginger Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, oil and molasses together on medium speed for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the egg and beat for another minute. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat for one more minute. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients. After the dry ingredients have been added, mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Roll each cookie into a 1½ inch ball and roll each ball in granulated sugar. Place each cookie on your prepared baking pans and bake for 10-15 minutes (mine were on the lower end of baking time). Let the cookies sit on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
To make the Amaretto Marshmallows
Lightly spray a 9 x 13 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix 3 packets of gelatin with ½ cup amaretto and let sit.
In a small saucepan, eat the sugar, ½ cup amaretto and corn syrup over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves then stop stirring. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to 240 degrees F, using a candy thermometer. If you don’t have a candy thermometer you can try to use a clean meat thermometer. Once the mixture has reached 240 degrees F (after about 10 minutes of boiling), remove it from the heat.
Turn the mixer on low and stream the hot sugar mixture into the bowl. Let the mixer whisk the ingredients for about 8 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt and whisk for another 2 minutes. The mixture should be white, fluffy, shiny and sticky.
Transfer the marshmallow mixture to your prepared pan and spread it out evenly across the pan. This is sometimes easier if your spatula is a little wet (the marshmallow mixture doesn’t stick to it as much). Sift powdered sugar over the top of the marshmallows, cover the dish with plastic wrap and let sit for 8 hours, or overnight.
After they have set, coat a sharp knife with nonstick cooking spray (for easy cutting) and cut the marshmallows into cubes. Roll each marshmallow in a bit of powdered sugar to keep them from sticking to each other. Marshmallows keep well in an airtight container for about 1-2 weeks.
To assemble
Dip the marshmallows in the melted chocolate and sandwich between two ginger cookies. Alternately, sandwich a marshmallow between two cookies and dip the whole s’more halfway in chocolate. This part is up to you – have fun with it!
Cookies slightly adapted from Barefoot Contessa, marshmallows based on my eggnog marshmallows from last year.
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