What is a S’moreWitch? It’s Halloween magic. Homemade cocoa marshmallows on top of homemade graham crackers with a schmear of nutella.

This Halloween idea may not be as healthy as last week’s, but it is gorgeous and delicious and fun. The marshmallows are corn-syrup free, which along with the cocoa content, is a plus in my book. And the homemade graham crackers (adapted from Bakerella, who adapted it from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery), are heavenly and nutty in a way packaged ones just can’t be.  It’s Part Two of my Trick or Treat articles for GMA/abcnews.com. The article describes a fun “tradition” of having a “driveway party” on Halloween, complete with a fire pit for roasting these marshmallows, that let’s you connect with neighbors, keep an eye on the kids without following them around from house to house and have some Halloween fun. I’m following up with the article here because they didn’t have the space to provide the recipes and all the photos for making this treat from scratch. And in case your eyes are glazing over because it just seems like too much work, let me just say that you can make these S’moreWitches with store-bought marshmallows and graham crackers and they will be delicious and fun, too. But, if you make everything from scratch you will have the added advantage of feeling as though you deserve to eat many of them, without guilt, as a reward for all your labor.

The marshmallows were surprisingly easy and it made me think of all the wonderful things you could do with this fluffy cloud of confection. If you are a “fluffernutter” fan, this might be a good thing to make and have on hand instead of the corn-syrup laden version from the store. I used Lyles Golden Syrup, but brown rice syrup would work here too, if you can’t find that.

The graham crackers had a bit of a learning curve for me, since I am a spaz at baking and doing things in a meticulous, specific way. (I love to be all creative and intuitive with cooking and baking is more about following directions…so you understand how I might not be the best candidate for this kind of work.) The big thing I would change about the recipe is how you go about rolling out the dough. The original calls for rolling it out on a floured surface, but the dough is so soft and sticky that no matter how much flour I used it just “melded” with my granite countertop and I couldn’t get it up.

So, using a trick I learned in culinary school for rolling out delicate sable dough (high butter and sugar content makes a sable (pronouced SAH-BLAY) dough crumbly (thing shortbread) and hard to work with…so you roll it out between layers of plastic wrap or parchment. You still have to flour the plastic wrap or parchment to keep the dough from being sticky, but it’s a lot easier to then move the dough to your sheet pan, once you cut it. I used these square pastry cutters to cut out my crackers, but you can also use a knife to make rectangles, or a pastry wheel to make scallopped edges. I’m not good at making straight lines, so I used these.

And made these.

I baked them on SilPats (or you can lightly grease a sheet pan, or use a non-stick one), and got these:

That plate is part of a beautiful set of china my mother-in-law gave us. It was given to her when she got married close to 50 years ago and she told me to use them, that it was a shame to have such beautiful dishes stay stored away in quilted cases, only to see the light of day and feel the warmth of food on “special occassions”. Maybe it took my own brush with mortality in recent months to finally get these beauties out for nothing more than a graham cracker. What was I waiting for? The design is not Halloween-like in any way, but they are gorgeous and they make me happy. Happy Halloween!

Chocolate Marshmallows
Adapted from Stephanie Stiavetti, The Culinary Life

Yield: about 36 marshmallows

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
3 tablespoons unflavored gelatin (just under four envelopes)
1/2 cup very cold water
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoon boiling water
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown rice syrup or corn syrup
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

PROCEDURE

1. Grease the inside of a 9″ x 9″ baking pan. In a bowl, mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder until well blended. Coat the inside of the greased baking pan with 1/2 cup of the sugar and cocoa, reserving the remaining amount for coating the finished chocolate marshmallows.

2. Pour the cold water into the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle gelatin onto the surface of the water. Hold.

3. In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder and boiling water. Mix until completely dissolved. Set aside.

4. In a heavy, high-sided pot, combine granulated sugar, Lyle’s Syrup, brown rice or corn syrup, warm water, and kosher salt. Heat over a low flame and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Turn heat up to medium and continue to cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. The sugar will bubble up, but if you’ve got it in a pot with high sides, it shouldn’t boil over. If it threatens to escape, remove the pot from the heat for a few seconds and stir the contents before returning to burner.

5. Once the sugar reaches 238 degrees, remove from heat. Immediately pour into gelatin and beat with a stand mixer using the whisk attachment until it becomes white, light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. You can use an electric hand beater, but it will take longer to fluff up, about 15-20 minutes. If you use a hand beater, be aware that the fluff will try to crawl up the beaters in its attempt to make a mess. Once done, the marshmallow fluff will have nearly tripled in bulk. Add vanilla and beat until well integrated into the fluff.

6. Gently fold the dissolved chocolate into the marshmallows using a spatula. Do not over mix — fold only five or six times. The marshmallows should have a swirled appearance.

7. Beat egg whites in a small bowl until they reach stiff peaks. Scoop the whites into the marshmallow fluff and beat just until combined so that you don’t flatten the whites. Again, do not over mix. Mix just until you can no longer see any egg whites.

8. Pour marshmallow fluff into the prepared pan and use a greased spatula to smooth out the top. Sift cocoa powder and powdered sugar mixture onto the top to completely cover the marshmallows, and leave to sit over night, uncovered, to stiffen up.

9. Once the marshmallows have firmed up, cut them into 1″ x 1″ squares (or any size you want!). Toss the individual marshmallows in a bowl of the remaining cocoa powder and powdered sugar so that they are completely coated, otherwise they will stick to everything they come in contact with.

10. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Graham Crackers
adapted from Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery

Yields 48 2-inch squares

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen
1/3 cup mild-flavored honey, such as clover
5 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Topping (optional)
3 tablespoons (43 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) ground cinnamon

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, add the flour, brown sugar, baking soda. (You can also use an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment). Pulse or mix on low to combine. Add the butter and pulse on and off on and off, or mix on low, until the mixture has the look of a coarse meal.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse on and off a few times or mix on low until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and dust it lightly with flour, then turn the dough out onto it and pat it into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Wrap it, then chill it until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.

3. To roll out the dough: Divide the dough in half and return half to the refrigerator. Lay out a long-ish piece of plastic wrap or a large piece of parchment paper. Dust an even layer of flour onto the wrap/paper and place the dough on the flour. Place another piece of parchment/wrap over the dough, making sure there is enough wrap/paper for the dough to spread out on as you roll it out.  The dough will be sticky, so flour as necessary. Roll the dough out into a rectangle or square shape that will yield the most crackers, about 1/8 of inch thick. Leaving the dough on the bottom sheet of plastic, transfer it to a baking sheet and place in the refrigerator to cool for 15 minutes. In the meantime, repeat these instructions with the other half of the dough.

4. When the dough is cooled, work quickly cut crackers, either by making long cuts, creating 4 inch, by 4.5 inch rectangles (the size of “box” graham crackers, or as I did, you can cut the dough with a pastry cutter of any shape. I used a rectangle. Using a skewer, or chopstick poke holes into the surface of the crackers and if you like you can draw lines down the middle to mimic the traditional graham cracker look. (Being careful not to cut all the way through the dough when doing this. You really just want to “score” the dough.)

5. Move the cut crackers on to one or two parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping (optional). Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes in the fridge or 15 to 20 minutes in the freezer. Repeat with the second batch of dough. Finally, gather any scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and re-roll.

6. Adjust the oven racks to the mid-upper and mid-lower positions and preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake crackers for 15 to 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Start checking them at 15 minutes. Baking time will vary from oven to oven.

TO ASSEMBLE S’MOREWITCHES:

1 Jar Nutella, or generic “chocolate hazelnut spread”

Graham Crackers (homemade or boxed)

Marshmallows (homemade or store-bought)

Spread one graham cracker with Nutella. Toast marshmallow to golden brown and immediately transfer to Nutella covered graham cracker. Top with another graham cracker and enjoy!

If you don’t have a fire going, these S’more witches are great just at room temperature since the Nutella does not have to be warmed to be melty and gooey, or indoors, you can microwave these ‘witches for 10 – 12 seconds and they will be warm AND gooey!

Just try and write about Healthy Halloween! Go ahead, I dare you. Just speaking about Halloween and “healthy” in the same sentence gets you on the toilet paper and egg list where I’m from. But still, I was asked to write about just that for ABCNEWS.com, Food Section and I think I came up with some solutions that can actually make Halloween just a bit healthier, without sucking all the fun out of it at the same time.

Please help support my burgeoning guest writer career by clicking through to the article from here and checking it out! It’s fun, short and sweet (well, not so sweet, remember, it’s HEALTHY Halloween). And if you could leave a comment below the article and let ABCnews.com know what a genius I am (or something like that), it couldn’t hurt!

Part 2 of Healthy Halloween will be appearing within the week. I’ll keep you posted!! And thanks for the read and your support!

Rachel Willen’s Healthy Halloween Tips

I’ve been thinking about this dish ever since my son’s girlfriend, Theresa, ordered it at ABC Kitchen last Friday, when we met for lunch. It’s like everything else I’ve tasted on that menu: impeccable quality ingredients, expertly and simply prepared, memorable flavors. It’s the kind of food I want to make and teach. Simple, honest food, exploding with flavor. I’m sure I haven’t duplicated it exactly as it is done by the ABC’s talented Chef de Cuisine, Dan Kluger, (under the direction of owner and Exectutive Chef Jean-George Vongerichten), but I have to say that this batch I made for breakfast this morning, was pretty darn, (I don’t really use this word in real life. In real life, in my own kitchen, I might say, “freakin”), close. Close enough that it had me muttering to myself while I scarfed it down. It’s kale and some mixed field greens braised in sherry vinegar. And then there is the bacon, in this case, turkey bacon, that I first got all crispy in a skillet of warmed olive oil. If you use regular pork bacon, or pancetta, you won’t need the olive oil, but the turkey stuff does not have the benefit of it’s own yummy fat content, so you’ve got to add some to get it going on the road to crisp-ville.

This meal satisfies so many of my needs, I want to marry it. Hearty, filling, gluten-and-grain-free, heart-healthy, a way to eat eggs without missing bread, and just plain delicious. So few ingredients, most of which I can find already on hand. There’s some kale and spring mix in my fridge that is about to become inedible if I don’t use it TODAY; the eggs; there’s sherry vinegar, which I always have on hand; some form of bacon in the freezer, and olive oil.

After the bacon is crisped, I deglazed the pan, scraping up the heavenly brown bits, with some sherry vinegar and added the washed and roughly chopped greens to the pan, with a pinch of salt.

Here’s how the rest of it went: Let the steam from the vinegar and the little bit of water hanging on to the greens, wilt them, turning them often for about 5 minutes or until the desired tenderness is achieved. In a separate pan, fry two eggs so that the yolk is cooked but still runny. Go ahead and use a non-stick pan here if you have one (my only concession to non-stick is for fried eggs), but as you can see by the looks of my eggs, I don’t own one. I have to get my little Le Creuset skillet nice and hot, warm some olive oil and butter in it, and then gently lay my eggs down in the hot oil and pray they don’t stick. I use a spoon to baste the eggs with the extra hot fat in the pan, to finish cooking the top of the yolk, so I don’t have to risk flipping it over easy.

I put the greens on a nice plate, which I deserve, even if I am eating alone with the dogs watching me.

And the moment of truth comes when you pierce the yolk and let it mingle with the bite of the vinegar, the smokey goodness of the bacon, and the earthy wiltedness of the greens.

I hope to go back to ABC Kitchen again soon. Just down the block from my husband’s office. I want to try everything on the menu. But until then, I know I can have this for breakfast, lunch or supper and be very pleased with myself.

Vinegar Braised Greens with Bacon and Fried Egg

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3-4 cups rough chopped Kale, cleaned and wet
2 cup mixed field greens or spring mix
2-3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
4 slices turkey bacon, pork bacon or 2/3 cup diced pancetta – cut to 1/4 inch dice
4 eggs
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

PROCEDURE

1. Warm a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Heat one tablespoon olive oil and then add diced bacon to the pan, cooking it until it’s crispy. About 4-5 minutes. Deglaze pan with sherry vinegar, scraping up the brown bits and glaze on the pan.

2. Add the greens to the pan, season with salt and pepper. Turn the greens often to get them coated with the liquid in the pan. Cook until wilted and desired tenderness is achieved. About 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Heat skillet for the eggs. If using a non-stick skillet, add a 1/2 teaspoon of butter, oil or spray with cooking spray to wet the pan a bit. Crack eggs into the pan and fry then on one side only, cooking it to the point that it is done, but the yolk will still be runny. If using a regular pan without non-stick coating, heat pan first, then add 1 tablespoon oil, one tablespoon butter and heat the fat thoroughly before adding cracked raw eggs. Cook as directed above. You can use the fat in the pan to baste over the egg yolk and help heat it through without cooking too much. Remember, you want that yoke to be warm, but still runny.

4. Split the greens between two plates, and top off with fried eggs, two to a serving. Season eggs with salt and freshly ground pepper.

I’m happy to have made new friends at Relish.com, the website for Relish Magazine (Celebrating America’s Love of Food) and they have published three of my fall recipes. It’s a great way for me to remind you of these previously posted recipes, Wild Mushroom Cobbler, Roasted Root Vegetable Tzimmes, and my all time favorite not-too-sweet dessert, Upside Down Rosemary Pear Cake.  I just made this cake again for a demo at a Crate and Barrell Bridal Event this past weekend, and it confirmed for me how much I love that combination of caramelized pears, moist cornmeal cake and rosemary. (And I had to eat three pieces to really confirm it!) Any of these dishes could proudly grace your holiday tables or any meal from now until April when it’s time to get excited about spring salads and grilling.

So check these out…and happy cooking!

Here are the Pear Cake, The Cobbler and The Honey Roasted Roots!

Quick! I need soup! I had this rather urgent thought this morning when I checked the thermostat and it read 61 degrees for the internal temperature of my dining room. I’m resisting turning the heat on in my house just yet, since it warms up with the mid-day temperatures anyway, and I sleep better with a little chill in the air under multiple blankets, socks, a long-sleeve sleep shirt and a purring cat laying across my head. This cat, named Tot.

But still, even with Tot to warm me, a quick little soup wouldn’t hurt.

And that’s what this is: an easy-to-prep, 30-minutes-on-the-stove and it’s done, delicious, hearty soup. Try a cup of this instead of a cup of coffee at 3 pm and you’ll have tons of energy and warmth without the nerve jangle. Try this for dinner with a salad and hunk of bread (or not the bread if you are carb-phobic and wheat-intolerant like me) and you’ll pat yourself on the back for bringing such a healthy, delicious meal to the table in no time at all. Put it in a thermos and bring it to work to save money and time, (take a walk in the park instead of standing on line for take out), and get huge brownie points for having lunch at your desk, while making the office smell wonderful.

The other good thing about this soup is that, aside from the red lentils, you may already have everything you need to make this in your pantry and fridge. And if you have green lentils on hand, you can use them, but just know that the cooking time to get the green ones soft and exploding is just a bit longer. Green is good, but you won’t get that reddish/orange color that makes this so autumn-y, but it will still be yummy. For more autumn color I added some butternut squash I had in the fridge, that I didn’t use up last week for the Roasted Root Vegetable Tzimmes. My local big chain grocery store did not have red lentils in the normal dried bean section, but I was able to find them in the “healthy/organic” isle where they have bulk items you can buy by weight. They are sometimes referred to as “split red lentils” too.

Now, I normally make this soup totally vegetarian, but my friend, Tanya, whom I mentioned last post from Wired For Wine, gave me this gargantuan organic, naturally cured, no nitrates, imported Pancetta from Fra’Mani for my birthday, (September 30…not too late to send wishes as I’m celebrating being alive all month!), and what am I supposed to do, just ignore it? I’m forced to have Italian cured ham deliciousness in everything I make for the next few weeks, whether I like it or not! (I do! I do!) So I will write the pancetta in to the recipe because it does give a nice smoky, Umami layer of flavor, but I do love the soup without it too…or for those who want this flavor, and don’t eat pork, I’ve also made a very delicious version with turkey bacon.

And when it’s done, after only 25 minutes simmering on the stove, you take about half of the soup and blend it to a velvety consistency, and then pour it back into the chunky part of the soup left in the pot. The result of this is a creamy soup, without any cream, that still has some texture and color and bite. A dollup of sour cream, seasoned with a little salt and black pepper is totally optional, but highly recommended for that added “mmmmmm” factor with every slurp.

Red Lentil Soup
Serves 4

1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup finely chopped pancetta, or bacon, or turkey bacon (optional)
1 diced onion, ¼ inch pieces
2 garlic cloves minced or pressed.
2 large celery ribs, ¼ inch dice
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into ¼ inch dice ( or use half a bag of baby carrots, sliced into rounds)
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1½ cups butternut or acorn squash, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 rounded cup of red lentils (8 ounces)
2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock (recommended: organic, low-sodium)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
¼ – ½  teaspoon cayenne (to taste)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over moderate flame. If you are using meat, add smoked meat (pancetta, bacon or turkey bacon) to the heated oil and allow some of the fat to render (become liquid), and for the meat to brown to a crispy texture, about 8 minutes.

2. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and “sweat” onions until softer and translucent, about 4 minutes, without browning them. Add the garlic, cook until fragrant but do not allow to brown. Add the celery and carrots and cook over moderate heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring often.

3. When the carrots look bright in color and have softened just a bit, add the potato and lentils and stir to coat them in the sweated vegetables and fat.  Add the stock; bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium/low. Cover and simmer until the vegetables are very tender and the lentils have burst.

4. Using a blender, puree half of the soup. (Or use an immersion blender in the pot itself, .). Return soup to saucepan. Add the cumin, cayenne and lemon juice and taste. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and serve with a drizzle of fine olive oil, a few drops of chili oil for added kick, or a dollop of sour cream.