They taste so good, it makes you want s'more. But if you've ever tried roasting marshmallows

on an open fire, they may have ended up a bit more crispy than you ever intended. In

this project let's avoid the charred carbon coating, by turning your empty drink cans,

into a simple and effective, s'mores roaster.

We’re all familiar with the term “lifehacks”, but this summer,

the guys at mike’s hard lemonade asked me to help put a refreshing

twist on it with what they’re calling “mikehacks" /ˈmīkˌhak/

noun: mikehack; plural noun: mikehacks; noun: mike hack; plural noun: mike hacks

1. basically a lifehack that makes any social occasion, more awesome.

This little contraption will help melt your marshmallows and chocolate, to s'mores perfection,

making for a delicious ending to your summer socials. To start this project, we're gonna

need a 16 oz aluminum drink can, as well as a pair of scissors, and a marker. Now,

if we turn the can upside down on a flat surface, holding the marker a quarter of the way up

from the bottom, we can easily mark a line around the can just by giving it one complete

turn. Let's go ahead and cut the top off the can, making sure we stay about an inch above

the line, because this initial cut is gonna come out pretty jagged. Now we can go ahead

and cut along the line, making sure we're cutting counter clock-wise, so we end up with

a nice clean edge all around the top. Alright, next we need to find something the same shape

and size as a box of toothpicks or matches. And the size is important. You can see it's

gonna take a bit of manipulation, but the end of the box should just barely fit inside

the can. Now if we set the can upright, and push the box all the way to the bottom, we'll

be able to use it as a form to crease the edges, and mold the can to the shape of the

box. At this point, let's gently pull the box back out of the can, and you can see our

little roaster oven is halfway done. Now this container shape is perfect for accommodating

a couple of graham crackers, but the problem is that everything keeps falling over forward.

Let's solve that challenge By adding some feet. We'll need to snip each of the 4 corners,

about half an inch deep, then crease the sides over flat against the can. If we bend them

back and forth a few times you can see they make a clean break, and I like to trim the

corners off the can just to clean them up a bit. If you did the same, the tabs on your

can should look something like this. Now, if you look closely, you can see where I poked

two holes in the upper tab as well, and when this is folded inside the can, and the bottom

feet are bent down like this, our s'mores roaster is completely finished. All we need

to do now is load our crackers with some chocolate and marshmallows, then tuck them inside the

can so we can get them roasting. Now if we set this near the edge of a campfire with

the open end facing the flames, it should only take a few minutes to get our marshmallows

toasting, to golden brown perfection. A quick peek inside, and you can see everything is

soft and gooey, and looking delicious. Now there are all kinds of other ways this can

be used as well. For a more adventurous approach, I tried bending a coat hanger to form a make-shift

roasting stick, and slipped the forked end inside the tab holes we made earlier. The

cool thing about this method is you can get closer to the heat, and the flames don't actually

touch the marshmallows. So they shouldn't catch on fire. Instead, everything gets melted

into a soft and gooey goodness that's completely irresistible. Another idea you can try is

fitting the roaster between the gaps on your cooking grill. The leftover heat from bbq'ing

should be just enough to make one of these sweet and tasty treats. Well now you know

how to turn your empty aluminum drink cans, into a flame resistant s'mores roaster, so

you'll never have to worry about carbon encrusted marshmallows again. By the way, if you're

at home and don't feel like getting a fire going, try setting a hairdryer to medium or

high heat, then aiming it inside the can. In 2 minutes or less, you'll have the great

same results, without even having to strike a match. Well that's it for now. If you liked

this project, perhaps you'll like some of my others. Check them out at www.thekingofrandom.com