MNN - Mother Nature Network

S'mores, the campfire treat first published in the Girl Scouts of America Handbook in 1927, has been elevated to gourmet status, thanks to creative cooks that have flooded the Internet.

 

In anticipation of National S'mores Day on Aug. 10, we scoured the social networks to track down the most innovative takes on this all-American treat. You can use our S'mores blueprint as a guide to find new twists on old favorites for yourself.

 

The great thing about Pinterest  is its focus on photos, or pins, as they're called. Most food pins are links to bloggers who have posted recipes, often with step-by-step photos. Almost every conceivable S'mores variation is here — on a stick, in a jar, as cupcakes and as six-layer cakes for a crowd.

 

Pinterest has improved its sourcing for pins, so you'll see not only the most recent pinner, but the original as well. The latter is more likely to provide a link to the original Web site where you'll find the recipe.

 

Tumblr, the popular blogging site, has a drool-worthy line-up for S'mores, including a S'mores Trifle from Let's Dish Recipes. You do have to set up a Tumblr account to search the site, but it takes less than a minute. Tumblr refers to search terms, in this case "S'mores" as tags and lets you save tags as a list for future searches.

 

Instagram is the darling of cellphone photographers, and there's no shortage of inspirational food photos. You may learn how to take better shots of your dishes, but you won't find recipes. Tip: Take out the apostrophe in S'mores to get results — Instagram  doesn't allow special characters in tags.

 

Tastespotting is hands-down our favorite site for both inspiration and recipes. Anyone can upload a food image to this site. But whether it gets displayed is up to an editorial board that puts equal weight on a photo's appeal and its link to useful information. In most cases, that's a recipe. Here we found the most creative S'mores adaptations, including pancakes, baked doughnuts and a S'mores sea salt martini.

 

You can find all of the foregoing sites on your smartphone or tablet, but a mobile app can provide faster and more beautiful results. Try Foodily, an on-the-go food network, featuring more than 1 million recipes culled from high-profile chefs such as Iron Chef Cat Cora and notable food bloggers. A search for S'mores turned up 534 options, and each can be shared instantly to your Facebook timeline. The Foodily app is available free for iPhone.

 

No story on S'mores would be complete without Hersheys, the only authentic choice for the chocolate. The company is running a monthly photography contest on Facebook through the summer. Share your favorite S'mores memory to win cameras, outdoor fire pits and of course, the ingredients to make S'mores.

 

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