S’mores are one of the great joys of summer, the food of our collective nostalgia for campfires. Would they have been as good if we hadn’t inhaled them with lungfuls of wood smoke and the terrifying belief that something was lurking just outside the fire’s glow? In consideration of the grilled s’more, our answer is a resounding yes — and maybe, dare we say it, ambiance notwithstanding, even better.

Grill your s’mores and you will never again know the bitter disappointment of biting into hard, cold chocolate, of marshmallows falling into the flames, or worse — of losing a whole s’more to the fire.

With a campfire s’more, the graham crackers have always been kind of an afterthought. Here, we toast them on the grill, so the cracker is extra crispy and crunchy — and doesn’t cool down the ooey gooey bits. The chocolate goes on the grill with the crackers, so it’s perfectly melted. And we grill the marshmallows on a stick, so you still get all the fun of campfire marshmallows. Fun? Who are we kidding: It’s all about control. You can toast your marshmallow to a subtle golden brown or char it black. It’s your marshmallow, have it your way.

The side benefits of grilled s’mores is that they’re relatively safe, and everyone can eat at pretty much the same time, which makes them great for family dinners. We like to wait ‘til the sun goes down to make them, so we can snuggle the kids in close and whisper our most terrifying ghost stories.

Yield: 8 s’mores

Ingredients

8 graham crackers, broken in half

1 4-oz bar semi-sweet chocolate

8 marshmallows

Special tools: 4 to 8 10” skewers

Directions

1. Heat a grill to medium-high heat, about 400°.

2. Place the graham cracker halves on the grill grates, and then top 8 of the halves with ½ ounce of chocolate. Toast the graham crackers for about 15 to 30 seconds, or until they look lightly toasted and the chocolate is shiny.

3. Using a metal spatula, remove the graham crackers from the heat and place them on a baking sheet.

4. Skewer the marshmallows and toast them over the grill until they are golden brown, or a bit darker, depending on your preference.

5. Place 1 marshmallow on top of a chocolate half, cover it with a plain graham cracker half, and gently remove the skewer. Repeat with the remaining s’mores.

6. Allow the s’mores to cool for a minute or two and serve warm.

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