Retro Recipe Golden Graham S’mores
Golden Graham ‘Smores were a rare but welcome treat in my childhood home. Rare not because they were difficult to make, but because the cereal itself was such a prized food item. How we rationed them always made for a hot debate.
With the return of Retro Recipe Golden Grahams to supermarket shelves, I thought it would be a good time to bust out my original Golden Grahams recipe booklet from 1979 and make these beloved treats.
Let me just set the stage with this wonderful introduction straight from the recipe booklet.
Golden Grahams Recipe Booklet Intro
EXPERIENCE the unique taste of GoldenGrahams® cereal in more delicious ways than one. You already know it as a part of your family’s nutritious breakfast. Now enjoy that good graham cracker taste with the snacks and desserts in this booklet. They’re great for lunchtime, party time, dessert time, anytime.
Golden Grahams are crisp, crunchy little squares made with the graham flour of golden wheat and just a touch of honey. And because they’re fortified with 7 essential vitamins and iron, a one-ounce serving in your breakfast bowl with milk, buttered toast, and juice gives you 25% of many nutrients you’ll need for the day.
So crunch up. Make a snappy snack, Indoor S’mores, a batch of Peanut Butter Crunch Cups and so much more with Golden Grahams.
The History of the Golden Grahams S’mores Recipe
Golden Graham S’mores have existed for almost as long as Golden Grahams themselves. The cereal was being sold in stores in late 1974, and by 1975/1976 they were already appearing on cereal boxes and in newspapers. At this point, they also started to include the recipe next to coupons in newspapers.
In 1979, General Mills decided to take Golden Grahams to new heights and created a Recipe booklet. This booklet has thirteen recipes that all involve using Golden Grahams. They range in complexity from the Banana Split Dessert to the Goldy O’s party mix.
Over the years, nothing about the original recipe would change. The recipes you see printed in the Seventies are identical to the ones you will find in the Eighties. IF you are looking at the official recipe. Unfortunately, this might not match the one you find from a quick search on the internet.
Over the years people have adapted the recipe for their own purposes and have tinkered with the ingredients. What you will find on a lot of these online recipes is that the Corn Syrup has been removed. Yes, it is possible to make the S’mores without Corn Syrup, but your end product will not be as good as the retro original.
The Original Indoor S’more Recipe
While the recipe has been in print since the mid-Seventies, I am going off of my 1979 version. It is the same recipe, but I like using the recipe booklet. It has nice photos.
Later versions of the recipe would include microwave directions. I will include those here, but if you want to be very retro, you are going to want to use that stove.
Golden Grahams Indoor S’mores Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes – Cook Time: 10 minutes
Rest Time: 60 minutes – Total: 90 Minutes
Ingredients
.33 cups light corn syrup
1 tablespoon margarine or butter
5.75 ounces of milk chocolate morsels
.5 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups Golden Grahams cereal
1.5 cups miniature marshmallows
Instructions
Butter a square 9x9x2-inches pan.
Heat corn syrup and margarine to boiling in a 3-quart saucepan.
Remove from heat
Add chocolate chips and vanilla. Stir until chocolate is fully melted. If you lost too much heat, turn the burner on real low, but once melted make sure it is off.
Fold cereal into the chocolate one cup at a time with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Make sure your cereal is well-coated.
Fold in marshmallows a half cup at a time.
Press mixture evenly into your pan with the buttered back of a spoon. Really try and get it even. You will need to use some force on this.
Let stand for at least an hour to firm up.
Cut into 2.25×1.5 inch bars.
The end result should be firm, shiny chocolate deliciousness. They say to cut them into 2.25×1.5 inch bars, but I always go much bigger.
Microwave Instructions
Prepare as directed except microwave syrup, margarine, and morsels in a 4-cup microwavable measuring cup or medium, clear microwavable bowl uncovered on medium-high (70%) for 1.5 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir until almost smooth.
Return to microwave and microwave uncovered until large bubbles form on the surface, about 2.5 minutes longer, stir in vanilla.
Repeat step 5 onward from conventional directions
Variations and More Grahams
With a trusty calculator, you can dial up the number of bars you make by adding more ingredients. Just remember that you will need the proper-sized buttered pan to place it in at the end.
You can also change things up by adding more ingredients during the marshmallow phase. Some things I would suggest are white chocolate chips, dried fruit, or pretzel pieces. Whatever you decide to add, don’t go overboard or you will compromise the integrity of the S’more.
You can also use non-Golden Grahams cereal, but it needs to have the same flakes strength. If not, expect lots of small pieces.
Prefer your Golden Grahams with Nuts?
More recipes have been printed over the years that include Golden Grahams. The simplest would be the Chex Mix-like Gold’n Nut Crunch.
They also made a bar variation with Mixed Nuts, the Gold’n Honey Nut Crunch Bars.
Why make these at home?
I know we have a lot of treats available to us at the supermarket, but despite the best efforts of General Mills to make a S’mores bar, they just are not as good as homemade. Plus it’s lots of fun to make and after the chocolate has been melted, little kids can have fun mixing in the marshmallows and pressing them into the pan. Although be warned, they will eat much of it in the process.
More Golden Graham Recipes
I have a dozen more Golden Graham’s recipes in this book that I am ready to make and more importantly eat. If this is something you are interested in seeing more of, let me know and I will make things like Peanut Butter & Jelly Graham Bars, Peach Crumble, Graham Bread Pudding, or Hawaiian Finger Snack.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy making these S’mores and that you have a Golden Day.