Like most Americans who camp, you probably enjoy sitting around an evening fire, making S’mores: those gooey sandwich treats of toasted marshmallow and melting chocolate between two graham crackers. And at the end of the summer, you might find yourself with leftover marshmallows and graham crackers. (There rarely is any leftover chocolate.) Typically, these ingredients sit in the pantry until they grow stale. This year I decided to use them-sooner rather than later-in dessert recipes. So if you’ve returned from your summer camping trips with bags of leftover S’more fixings, you might want to try these easy recipes:

Rice Krispies Treats are a great way to use up the marshmallows. Because I love chocolate, I add Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips to the mix. These treats make great additions to the lunchbox:

Chocolate Chip Krispies Treats

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 40 regular marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
• 1 cup Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Method

1. Grease a 13×9x2-inch pan; set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large sauce pan over low heat.
3. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.
4. Remove from heat and add cereal and chocolate chips. Stir until well coated. (The chocolate chips won’t melt completely.)
5. Using waxed paper, press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
6. Cool. Cut into squares and serve.

Makes 15 to 18 servings.

Ice Box Cake

An old-fashioned ice box cake offers an opportunity to use stale graham crackers. I make this with homemade chocolate pudding, but you can use your favorite pudding mix, if you prefer:

Ingredients

• 16 graham crackers
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup baking cocoa
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

1. Grease an eight-inch square baking pan; set aside.
2. For the pudding: In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt.
3. Gradually add milk.
4. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil and stir for two minutes.
5. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla.
6. Place a layer of graham crackers in bottom of baking pan.
7. Pour over half of the chocolate pudding.
8. Place another layer of graham crackers on top of the pudding.
9. Then pour the remaining pudding over the crackers.
10. Refrigerate until firm. Slice into squares and serve.

Makes six to nine servings.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

If you return from camp with graham cracker shards rather than whole crackers, you can use the crumbs to make a graham cracker pie crust. Fill it with the pudding of your choice. I particularly like pumpkin cheesecake:

Ingredients for Crust

• 1/3 cup butter
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1-1/4 cups crushed graham crackers

Ingredients for Filling

• 1 12-ounce package of cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup pure pumpkin
• 2 eggs

Method for Crust

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan.
2. Stir in sugar.
3. Add crushed crackers; mix well to coat.
4. Press evenly into a nine-inch pie plate.
5. Chill for at least one hour.

Method for Filling

1. With mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and spices on medium speed.
2. Stir in pumpkin.
3. Add eggs and mix until blended.
4. Pour into crust.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
6. Cool. Refrigerate for at least three hours.