Green Bean S’mores Mini Muffin Pops

Makes approximately 60 mini muffin pops.

Ingredients:

3 packages 20-count 6” cookie sticks
1 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1¾ cup organic unbleached white flour
¾ cup organic cane sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon finely ground sea salt
2 (1.55-ounce) Hershey’s Bars
1 bag of organic frozen cut green beans, 12-ounce
½ cup canola oil
2 large organic cage-free eggs
1 container of organic low-fat vanilla yogurt, 6-ounce
1 cup of organic chocolate milk
6 graham crackers
1 bag of regular-sized marshmallows, 10-ounce

Instructions:

Generously grease mini muffin pans, including the top of each pan so that the muffin tops don’t stick.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a large mixing bowl, sift dry ingredients together: cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Break the chocolate bars into pieces, and put them into a food processor until they’re a crumbly powder. Add it to the dry ingredients.
Steam the green beans and purée them in the food processor with the oil. Set the purée aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs.
Press the green beans through a sieve with a wooden spoon into the whisked eggs, whisking them together. Push as much of the green bean purée through the sieve as possible.
Add the yogurt and chocolate milk to the green bean-egg mixture one at a time until they’re well blended.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the center of the well.
Blend the wet and dry ingredients together gently until the batter is moist. Don’t over mix it. It will be lumpy.
Fill each hole in the mini muffin pans ¾ of the way using a teaspoon.
Bake for 14-16 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool the mini muffins on a wire rack.
Grind the graham crackers in a food processor, and put them into a small bowl. Set aside.
Fill each mini muffin with Marshmallow Filling. Don’t go too deep with the filling because you will be skewering the muffins with cookie sticks. Note: using a pastry bag with a pastry tip is an easy way to fill mini muffins.
Dip each mini muffin into slightly thickened Hershey Bar Ganache and then immediately dip it again into ground graham crackers so they stick to the ganache.
Prepare the sticks by skewering a marshmallow onto each stick, pushing the marshmallow down about 1” to make room for the mini muffin.
Skewer the mini muffin on the same stick as the marshmallow, simulating a toasted marshmallow on a roasting stick. Be careful not to push the stick all the way through the mini muffin.
Stuff a glass with fire-colored tissue paper (red, orange, etc.) and arrange the muffin pops inside.

Shortcut: use jarred baby food instead of homemade green bean purée.

Marshmallow Filling

Ingredients:

½ stick salted butter
10 regular-sized marshmallows
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the marshmallows to the melted butter, and melt the marshmallows, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Add the powdered sugar.
Add the vanilla. It will cause the liquid to bubble up momentarily.
Stir it until it’s smooth and creamy.
Let the liquid cool down until it’s just warm and thick before using to fill the muffins.

Hershey Bar Ganache

Ingredients:

1 Hershey Bar, 1.55-ounce
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

Put the broken chocolate bar and the chocolate chips into a medium mixing bowl.
Bring the cream just to a boil in a saucepan/pot.
Pour the cream on top of the chocolate a little at a time, stirring it constantly until it’s a smooth creamy sauce.
Let it thicken in the freezer for a few minutes before using.