A parked car baking in the summer sun is usually something to escape, but one Reddit user wanted to see whether that trapped heat could melt a batch of s’mores.
Reddit user EllisDee3 placed graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate inside a clear food container and left it on the dashboard. Instead of standard chocolate pieces, he chose caramel-filled Ghirardelli squares because he expected them to melt at a lower temperature.
Graham Crackers Became the Base
The s’mores were assembled inside a shallow plastic container, with graham crackers on the bottom, chocolate squares across the center, and marshmallows sandwiched between another layer of crackers.
Several were packed into the container at once, turning the dashboard test into a small batch rather than a single s’more. No flame, oven, or microwave was involved. The heat entering through the windshield was the only source used for the experiment.
The Container Went on the Dashboard With the Lid Closed
A red lid sealed the container before it was left on the dashboard. Through the clear sides, the chocolate and graham crackers remained visible as the container sat behind the windshield.
The setup does come with an important distinction: this was an experiment shared online, not a recommended way to prepare food. Heating food inside plastic can raise concerns depending on the container and temperature, so the result is more useful as a demonstration of how much heat builds inside a sun-exposed car than as a replacement for a kitchen appliance.
Heat Began Softening Everything Inside
As the container heated up, the marshmallows softened between the graham crackers and the caramel-filled chocolate began to melt. The crackers did not escape the heat unchanged either. EllisDee3 reported that they became a little soft.
That is also where dashboard s’mores differ from the campfire version. A flame can toast the outside of a marshmallow while melting its center. Heat trapped inside the car softened the marshmallow without producing the browned or charred exterior associated with a fire-roasted s’more.
The Chocolate and Marshmallow Passed the Pull Test
The last photo shows the result after one s’more was pulled apart. Melted marshmallow stretches from the graham cracker back toward the container, while the chocolate underneath has softened from its original square shape.
EllisDee3 said using caramel-filled Ghirardelli squares for their lower melting point was probably unnecessary, suggesting the dashboard produced enough heat to soften the chocolate without that choice. The tradeoff was the graham crackers, which lost some of their crisp texture during the process.
It may not replace s’mores toasted over a fire, but the experiment makes one part of summer heat hard to ignore: a car sitting in the sun can become hot enough to turn a stack of crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows into a melted dessert.
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