Today, I’m going to start things off with a photo.

Say hello to my s'mores-y friend!

I call that a S’mores Surprise Cupcake. Perhaps you’re thinking, “But Kelly! Where is the surprise?! I see something vaguely graham-y and something white like a marshmallow and something obviously chocolaty.” To which I must reply, “Shut it.” See that bit o’ white peeking out over the top, just under that drizzle of ganache? That’s the surprise. Or, well, it’s supposed to be the surprise.

Allow me to explain: a month or so ago, I won a bag of Dandies marshmallows from Kris over at Nom! Nom! Nom! Blog. When I tried a Dandie, I was shocked – they’re so puffy and sweet and eerily similar to the nasty gelatin-filled marshmallows of my childhood! I knew immediately that they needed to be made into something s’mores inspired – stat. So I worked up a recipe for some simple cupcakes, flavored mostly with molasses and a few spices, and decided to hide a little marshmallow in each one. As you can see, however, they refused to stay hidden:

Well, hello, there!

I think the problem was that I added the marshmallows before putting the cupcakes into the oven, so they had way too much time to puff up and go all soft and melty. Originally I meant to add Dandies to half the batch at the get-go, and then add them to the rest of the batch halfway through baking. But I got overexcited at go-time, resulting in little marshmallow-y volcanoes of sticky goodness. No worries, though. I think they look pretty fun, all covered with the Quick Melty Ganache from VCTOTW.

A whole legion of cuppers!

I wanted to post a recipe for y’all, but somehow said recipe disappeared. I wrote it out on an envelope or a scrap of paper as I put it together, then somehow lost said paper. Somehow, I think you’ll survive – the recipe needed a little work, and there are quite a few fun recipes for Dandie-filled delights out there. You could try Kris’ Sweetie P Cupcakes, for example, if you wanted a cupper that calls upon that most sacred of Thanksgiving traditions, sweet potato casserole. Or you could go with Amy’s Grahamy Mallow Brownies for a chocolaty, sweet square of delightfulness. Or, y’know, you could just eat these straight-up from the bag, popping them into your mouth like particularly addictive candy. Not that I’d know anything about that. I only make elegant, sophisticated baked goods with my Dandies!

Have you tried Dandies? What about Sweet & Sara marshmallows? I won a sampler of Sweet & Sara marshmallows last year… o m g. So delicious! Not the sort of thing you’d want to put in a cupcake, however. Them’s fer savorin’.