Nothing says cooking over a campfire like smores. With their melted marshmallows sandwiched between graham crackers — and a chocolate bar in there somewhere — smores are gooey treats that appeal to kids and adults alike.

On a recent February night in Colorado, my friends and I decided to make smores in our fire pit for an after-dinner dessert served alfresco. Here’s a quick recap of the night!

By using Mia Mallows’ caramel and eggnog gourmet marshmallows with traditional graham crackers and sea salt-infused chocolate, we added sophisticated flavors to the dessert, but still felt like kids again!

Mia Mallows are square-cut flavored marshmallows. Before roasting them over an open flame, Mia Mallows suggests letting the squares sit out for about an hour before putting them on a skewer. This lets the squares develop a hard coating just like ordinary marshmallows.

Of course, there’s always a competition among people around the fire for the perfect smore, and our night was no exception. The key is a precisely melted marshmallow cooked just to the point of bursting into flame. There’s also those who think that a flaming marshmallow is just right if you blow it out quickly enough!

The new secret may be the quality of the marshmallow before it ever hits the flame — we discovered that starting with gourmet marshmallows from Mia Mallows certainly helped us bring our personal best to the fire.

Try the smore for your next get-together and watch your guests delight in cooking this special dessert hands-on. Just don’t forget your secret ingredient!

In 2008, Mimi Candanoza-Gamez did a favor for a friend, and it turned into a successful business with an international clientele.

The San Antonio College IT programmer had been baking for friends and family for more than 10 years, so when Pearl English, Mimi’s friend and supervisor needed homemade gourmet marshmallows as a party favor, Mimi jumped to help.  She had never made marshmallows before, but that didn’t stop her.

Mimi went home and found recipes for marshmallows, and then tweaked them until she had the perfect gourmet marshmallow recipe.  After she had mastered the basics, Mimi began adding colors and flavors to make her marshmallows one-of-a-kind.  Her friends and co-workers loved the marshmallows, and in May of 2009 Mimi began Mia Mallows with Pearl beside her as partner.

Mia Mallows has also been heavily influenced by Mimi’s Spanish heritage.  The name, Mia Mallows, comes from the Spanish word for mine, “Mia,” and Mimi’s husband’s nickname for her, my little Mallow.   Additionally, the first flavored marshmallows she made were Mexican Chocolate and Dulce de Leche.  “Those were flavors that I grew up with, so I wanted to incorporate them and see how it worked out.  I still love both flavors,” says Mimi.

Mia Mallows just celebrated its one year anniversary and now offers more than 35 flavors of marshmallow candy, including banana, caramel, lemon, peanut butter and saltwater taffy.  You name it, Mimi will try it.  In fact, a number of her 35 flavors have come from requests, including one recent request for green tea.

So, how does this former software programmer feel about her new career?  “We have been in awe of this, and we still get requests for flavors,” says Mimi.  “When I would make software, I was always making it for other people.  Now, I am just doing it with marshmallows.  And, I like the end result. “

Buy marshmallows from Mia Mallows today and take this summer’s s’mores to the next level!