baked yeast s’mores donuts

S'more Donuts

it’s early morn,
8am.
well, early for Sunday.
roll over and
he’s sprawled out,
with child-like abandon,
vulnerable
adorable
kissable
accede to impulse –
kiss his cheek
the kind of kiss that
doesn’t take much thought
a take for granted kind of kiss
the kind that
you know will happen
again
and
again
and
again
like a habit,
like we’d kiss everyday
for the rest of our lives.

make way to the
tiny urban kitchen:
dishes from the evening before’s meal
piled high.
it’s a struggle
sometimes
to not succumb to the desire to
dine on throwaway
paper plates.

with kitchen cleared,
coffee cooling
set out ingredients for
breakfast —
a dessert really.
it’s a messy job,
one that requires
cleaning of more dishes,
of scrubbing counter tops
but with an end result like this,
it’s acceptable.

S'more Donuts

and when he finally
emerges,
slumber still clinging to his body
greet him with yet
another kiss
(we can’t ever get enough!)
(stop gagging)
and offer up a small delight
to fully waken him up.
because the rest of the day
beckons…

how do you like to spend your Sundays?

S'more Donuts

S’mores Donuts (baked & with yeast)
*listen. i didn’t taste a s’more until i was well into my late 20s. i was in West Virginia and i loved this so much that during the 5 day camping trip i had marshmallow and chocolate smeared all over my face and graham cracker crumbs in my hair the entire time. when i have a hankering for this i buy all the ingredients and in our urban living room dw puts it all together for me and torches it with a creme brulee torche. i won’t lie, this is more like a cake shaped in a donut form, but it is nonetheless delicious. because it’s a cake, it keeps well, covered, at room temp for a few days or in fridge. if you don’t have a torch, i feel sorry for you, it’s still good and gooey. (click on pic to enlarge & see the recipe, or the recipe follows with a few notes…)

S'more Donuts

donut ingredients
3/4 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 3 crackers whizzed in food processor, leftover can be used a garnish)
1 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup semi soft coconut oil
6 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coconut yogurt (So Delicious has a great Greek yogurt)
1/4 cup coconut milk

toppings:
melted vegan marshmallows, amount at your discretion
melted tempered dark chocolate, amount at your discretion

method:
preheat oven 350F
sift together dry ingredients in a bowl
in a mixing bowl, cream together coconut oil + sugar, add in egg + vanilla. add in the coconut yogurt. alternating between the dry ingredients and milk, add to mixing bowl. pour into prepared donut pans. bake for 10-12 minutes (aim for 11 minutes). allow to cool slightly in pan and then flip them out carefully onto wire rack and cool completely. repeat with remaining batter.

assemble by drizzling melted dark chocolate on top. allow to cool before drizzling the melted vegan marshmallows. again, cool slightly and then sprinkle on some graham cracker crumbs. torch it up if you want.

will keep at room temp, covered for a few days, or move to fridge.

strawberry sweet biscuit

strawberry picking

if you’re anything like me,
you didn’t grow up wondering where the
foods you ate came from,
and the exotic fruits you had for dessert
came from a can.
now that i think on it,
i didn’t have my first strawberry until
i was older,
like, a teenager older.
fresh strawberries are expensive
and were usually bypassed
on grocery trips.

now i know where these gems come from,
now i know the labor
it takes to harvest them
and now i understand their price tag
and why it was always
more important to buy the rice
and fish sauce
and tofu
and vegetables.

strawberry sweet biscuits

much like asparagus season,
strawberry season is fleeting.
dw took me strawberry picking the first
year we met
we missed it last year
so we made a point to go
this year.

he is too good to me,
he squats and stoops to pick me
the best berries,
while i hold an umbrella over him,
taking pictures and
judging others
pretending to harvest
resisting eating the fruit as we
worked our row.

strawberry sweet biscuit

it’s not possible to eat all
the berries we picked,
most have been washed
& packed into the freezer
destined for smoothies
or coulis
or ice cream
but i set aside a few handfuls
for fresh snacking
and for this,
a kindof strawberry shortcake.

what’s your favorite spring fruit?

strawberry sweet biscuit recipe

strawberry sweet biscuits
adapted from whole grain vegan baking by celine steen & tamasin noyes
copyright Fair Winds Press

3/8 cup (or 6 TBL) coconut milk
1 cup (120g) organic pastry flour
1/2 cup (45g) oat flour
1/2 cup (70g) spelt flour
1 TBL baking powder
generous pinch of salt
1/2 cup organic sugar, + more for sprinkling
1/3 cup ( 74g) cold coconut oil
fresh strawberries

preheat oven 400F
in food processor mix together dry ingredients
add in the coconut oil, pulse until mixture looks like little peas
add 1 TBL at a time of the coconut milk into processor until mixture pulls from sides of bowl
move dough onto lightly floured surface
knead until comes together, roll or pat down into rectangle, 1/2″ thick
cut dough with desired sized cutters
pat scraps together & cut until all dough is used
transfer biscuits to baking sheet, 2″ apart
brush with coconut milk & sprinkle with sugar
bake for 16 – 18 minutes
allow to cool
serve with strawberries
*note: i served my biscuits with sweetened tofutti cream cheese

additional info:
pink paper basket handmade via the elli blog

dutch oven bread

Dutch Oven Bread

may is disappearing quickly,
much quicker and cooler than anticipated.
we’ve been traveling this season,
almost at a manic pace.

i must confess that i am
better suited for the quiet mundane of
A Set Schedule.

last week, for something to divert my attention from
work,
i began a series of confessions on
facebook,
ranging from the silly to the downright
mean.
i won’t divulge them here,
but i will share with you this one confession:
for all my desires for a happy gut,
soaking & fermenting,
sometimes i just want a quick & easy recipe
where none of that is required,
and so enters this recipe for bread.

while it does require an overnight rising,
therefore requiring some forethought,
it’s a very easy recipe
there is no kneading involved
but you will need a dutch oven.

june is shaping to be a usual summer month of berry picking and csas
it will shape in the everyday kind of way that happens only when you’re staying close to home
and i confess to reveling in the very thought of sameness.

what confessions would you like to share?
no worries, i won’t judge! 🙂

Dutch Oven Bread

dutch oven bread smothered with garlic-herb olive oil
adapted from simply so good

3 cups organic AP flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast, i use red star
1 1/2 cups warm water, i just turn the tap on to warm

dump all ingredients into a bowl and mix with a fork or, you know, a handy dandy dough whisk. it’ll be a lumpy mess, not too wet or dry. cover with plastic wrap, leave on counter, forget about it for 18-24 hours.

when ready, heat oven to 450F. when it’s reached that temp, put dutch oven or cast iron pot in oven for 30 minutes. meanwhile, generously dust counter with flour. dump out the dough onto the counter and just shape into a mound or ball. cover with kitchen towel for the 30 minutes the pot is in the oven. when ready, put the dough into the pot (be careful to not burn yourself!) (edit to add: an option is to plop the dough on parchment paper and then plop into the pot. less chance of getting in contact with the hot pot!), cover and bake for 30 minutes. then remove lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes. remove bread and allow to cool on rack.

optional:
during the first 30 minutes of baking, in a sauce pan add 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 generous tsp of dried herbs (oregano, dried thyme, or italian spices is fine) and 3 cloves of minced garlic. on med-low heat just allow the oil to warm through, infusing with the herbs and garlic. for the final 15 minutes of bake time, when you take the lid off the pot, with a pastry brush, brush the olive oil on top of the bread.

great for dipping, or if you have any leftover, make into croutons.