S’mores feel timeless, but their documented story begins less than a century ago. The familiar combination of toasted marshmallow, chocolate and crisp crackers first appeared in print as “Some More” in a 1927 Girl Scouts handbook.
The short answer
The earliest known published s’mores recipe is in Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts, issued in 1927. It described toasted marshmallows and chocolate placed between graham crackers and credited the recipe to troop leader Loretta Scott Crew. The snack may have been made before then, so it is more accurate to call this the first known printed recipe than to claim one person definitely invented it.
Why were s’mores called “Some More”?
The original name was wonderfully literal: after eating one, you wanted some more. In time, everyday speech compressed the phrase into “s’more”. Today, “s’more” means one treat and “s’mores” means more than one; online, “smore” and “smores” are common spellings without the apostrophe.
The ingredients had longer histories
The 1927 recipe brought together three foods that already had lives of their own:
- Marshmallows had developed from much older sweets into the light, gelatine-based confection familiar by the early twentieth century.
- Graham crackers originated in nineteenth-century America and became a practical, portable biscuit.
- Chocolate bars were widely available by the time organised camping was growing in popularity.
Put together, the ingredients were compact enough for camp supplies, simple enough for a group activity and much more memorable than the effort involved.
Why s’mores became a campfire classic
S’mores do not require complicated preparation or specialist baking skills. The ritual is part of the appeal: toast a marshmallow, choose how golden you want it, build the sandwich and eat it while it is warm. That makes s’mores as much a shared activity as a dessert.
Scouting and camping helped the recipe travel through generations. Later, films, television, cookbooks and packaged kits carried the idea far beyond American campsites.
How s’mores reached UK kitchens
British shoppers do not always find graham crackers easily, so digestive biscuits became a natural substitute. The result is not identical—the digestive is more buttery—but the essential contrast remains: crisp biscuit, melting chocolate and gooey marshmallow.
Purpose-made s’mores kits also make the American-style experience easier to enjoy at home or give as a present. That is the idea behind Annie’s Sweets & Treats s’mores kits: the fun of the activity without having to source each part separately.
S’mores today
The classic three-part recipe is still the reference point, but the format now inspires cookies, brownies, cheesecakes, ice cream and countless flavour variations. The original remains hard to improve: warm, crunchy, chocolatey and designed to be shared.
Source and further reading
For the documented 1927 recipe and the distinction between the first printed record and later invention stories, see Girl Scouts San Diego’s history of s’mores.
Learn how to make s’mores at home, read our complete UK s’mores guide or go straight to the s’mores-kit collection.
