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Thanks for all the help with the s'mores questions, everyone! I've
already had some great responses, so I thought I'd go ahead and
summarize. For the *graham crackers*...

A couple people liked what I already found...

"You already have the best substitute I have found!"
"I have used the rice bran cookies and found they worked well."


Some offered other store-bought alternatives that they like better...

"The best thing I have found for s'mores is a product you can order
through glutino and they are called gallations (sp?) anyway , they are
pricey but SOOOOOOOO good."
"For some good tasting crackers like graham crackers, contact Outside
the Breadbox in Colorado Springs, CO. Some of the best gf similar to
graham crackers that I have had. Their website is
www.outsidethebreadbox.com"
"Outside The Breadbox. They make a very good G/F Graham Cracker. I like
them to use when I make Cheese cake crust."
"The Health Valley Rice Bran cracker work okay but are a bit grainy.
We've used the Bi-Aglut Biscotti at g.f. camp in Minnesota. The
Arrowroot Animal Crackers by Midel would probably work  Small squares w/
a mild vanilla taste but smooth texture."


And some offered recipes or book suggestions for baking my own...

"We like to make our own, the recipe comes from The Incredible Edible
Gluten Free Food for Kids by Sheri Sanderson."
"*Un-gram Crackers*

*/Try these great after school treat or make old fashioned Sa-mores with
these crackers
/*1 cup Ruby Range Baking Mix with Mesquite Flour

1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 T butter
1/4 cup milk
Roll out to ¼ inch thick

Preheat oven to 400

Bake for 20 min or until slightly brown"

"Betty Hagman has a recipes for mock graham crackers in her first, &
possible other, cookbook."

"I make gluten free mini chocolate chip cookies and bake a few so they
are really thin-and then cool them. After the marshmellow is toasted we
squeeze it betweent eh cookies-everyone wanted them and not the graham
cracker ones!" Yum! Sounds good.
"In Bette Hagmans bread book there is a Graham Cracker recipe that I
bake and everyone loves them"



With regard to the *marshmellow substitute,* I had various responses.
Some were helpful...

"You can also make your own marshmallows." I might try that if all else
fails. Recipes, anyone?
"Whole foods has big, beautiful, natural ingredients marshmallows." Wish
I had a Whole Foods here!
"If your local store has any KoP foods left you can buy Mothers
marshmellows that have only a couple of ingreds."


Some were (nicely) questioning or critical...

"Question, how can you make s'mores without the marshmallows? I know
tastes change as we age, but roasting the marshmallows over a campfire
for S'mores is part of the event."
"S'Mores are the traditional junk food for camping...Nutrition doesn't
count. If you are
doing g.f., they should be a close to the real thing as possible.
Toasted marshmallows (the big ones), with sections of chocolate hershey
bars. The deal with using marshmallow is that they are hot enough to
melt the chocolate after once roasted. You can't roast marshmallow cream
so you will have cookies sandwiches with hard chocolate that will push
the sticky cream out, plus the wasted opportunity to toast marshmallow
over a campfire.. If you don't don't like s'more, bring along M & Ms
instead and just skip the entire process."
"If you find the ingredients repulsive-just remember that the kids don't
eat them real often and to them it is a treat!" True. Good thought.
"Most store bought brands of marshmallows (Jet Puffed) are gluten-free."


And one person came across as down-right rude...

"....don't you think your son is being deprived enough? There is nothing
wrong with Kraft Marshmallows which happen to be totally GF!

What ingredients do you find so repulsive?

Come on, let him enjoy himself at least a little with a toasted
marshmallow over an open fire!

Maybe there is a marshmallow that you're looking for the will be
adequate for him..I sure hope so!

Good luck to you.. "

While I realize it is only an occasional treat and I know it would not
kill him to have a few for memory's sake, my philosophy is, if he enjoys
something that is a little bit less detrimental to his health, then why
wouldn't I try to first do that instead? If it ends up being a flop,
then I will splurge and let him have a few "real" marshmellows next
time. We are just a very health-conscious family (even before we found
out about our son's intolerance) and so I try to do the best job I can
in that area. As I told this lady, I do not need a guilt trip put upon
me. I am a mom, so I do that already! ;-)

Thanks to those who offered the alternatives and even to those who made
me think. *No thank-you to the one who flamed me.*


Finally, one person offered a *different camp dessert entirely*. Great idea!

"Denying our children the smore experience had been a on going
discussion until this year when my husband went to cub scout leader
training.  In the campfire cooking lesson the instructor said that after
years of camping out with cub scouts he hates dealing with smore due to
the complexity of having a whole troop of boys make them in the dark so
he invented a new campfire dessert that his troop loves.  We have tested
it on our family and friends and it is such a hit no one wants to eat
smores again. After roasting the marshmallow insert an unwrapped small
Reese's peanut butter cup into the center of the marshmallow.  The
chocolate melts perfectly and the peanut butter center is delicious
surrounded by gooey marshmallow."


*Thank-you to everyone for the great responses! *After opening the
Ricemellow Cream container last night, I discovered that the stuff is
pretty thick and cohesive and I think it will likely work on a stick in
an open flame. (It also says on the package that you can use it for
s'mores). It held to the upside down spoon great. I will probably buy a
package of normal marshmellows, as a back-up in case the other does not
work. And next time, I will splurge on natural marshmellows that I found
at this site: http://www.tinytrapeze.com/

For the graham crackers, I think I may try one of the recipes suggested.
If they don't work, I will have one of the store-bought back-ups on hand.

Danielle Papageorgiou

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the Celiac List*