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.

pb + chocolate cakelettes

PB & Chocolate cakelette

june is roaring in like a ferocious
Dragon.
as though it knows its time is
limited,
Summer is raising the
temperature,
washing over the streets
and sidewalks,
over us, and tossing up
heat like insult.

and so on the hottest
day of the season
thus far, i cranked on
the Oven
and baked for
Movita Beaucoup’s graduation
from baking school.

this is a celebration
for finishing school,
for the burn scars,
for the calories consumed.

and in true fashion, movita is hosting
another Cake-Off.
last year i made little
chocolate cakes
and lost.

this year i made little
cakes again.
i better effing
WIN.

please vote for me here.

PB + Chocolate Cakelettes

pb + chocolate cakelettes
cakes adapted from tartelette
filling adapted from angry asian creations

*note: if you go to tartelette’s recipe it does have one piece missing in the method that caused me some minor anxiety. google is your best friend.

tulip paste:
4 oz coconut oil, right on the cusp of solid & liquid, tho leaning more twds solid, obvi.
4 oz powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup egg whites, at room temperature, approx 4 egg or 122 oz
4 oz all purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 TBL cocoa powder

*note: this will make a buttload of tulip paste, i only made two sheets and the rest were turned into cookies.

cream the coconut oil + powdered sugar. i kept the coconut oil in the fridge and let it sit at room temp for a few minutes. work quickly because it has such low temp melt rate/threshold. add in the egg whites (*this was the piece that was missing). sift the cocoa + flour and then add to the mixture, don’t over mix. incorporate it just enough. pour into piping bag that’s been fitted with small plain tip. at this point, use right away or keep in fridge. remember, the properties of coconut oil is different from butter, it will get hard in the fridge quickly, but handle it for too long at room temp with your body temp hands and it will liquefy. (i learned this the hard way).

on parchment paper, in the actual baking sheet you’re going to bake the cake in, pipe design to your liking (delectable deliciousness has a great tutorial). i kept it simple, with just dots and lines. freeze, and keep frozen until ready to pour cake batter on top.

cake batter:
4 oz almond meal/flour
3 ozpowdered sugar
1 oz organic AP flour
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
3 egg whites
1 oz organic sugar
1 oz melted coconut oil

preheat oven to 450F
in stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat both flours, powdered sugar and 4 eggs until combined, scraping down the sides and bottom. add yolk and mix until combined. set aside.

in another bowl, whip up egg whites until foamy and add the sugar in a steady stream, whip until glossy and peaks appear. fold meringue mixture into other bowl. stir in melted coconut oil and fold until well incorporated but careful to not deflate the meringue base.

remove baking sheet of tulip paste and pour batter on top. aim for as thin a cake as possible.
bake for 6 minutes. remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes and invert sheet onto platter or counter and peel away the parchment paper. (can be kept wrapped in fridge for up to a week or in freezer for a month)

using either pastry rings or cut up acetate strips (like when i used them to make dw’s mint chocolate cake) into 12″ strips and taped to make 5″ rings. cut strips of cake and fit into the makeshift molds/rings. fill with filling of your choice, allow to set in fridge for a few hours or overnight before removing from rings.

peanut butter cashew cream filling:
1 cup/5 oz organic raw cashews, soaked in warm water for 3-4 hours
5 generous TB organic peanut butter
1 TBL raw honey
splashes of non-dairy milk, i used so delicious coconut creamer to thin out

in cuisinart or food processor mix all ingredients until smooth and reaches desired consistency.

PB + Chocolate Cakelettes

homemade thin mint cookies

thin mints

i was never a girl scout. that’s not to say i didn’t want to be. but my grandparents didn’t know what it was, i barely knew what it was and it seemed like an expense that could not be spared.

when i was younger, and living with my grandparents they had a small patch in front of our apartment building, right under the living room window and where the sunshine hit late in the afternoon, that they grew fresh herbs. sometimes i would follow gpa out to water this tiny garden, squatting down on my haunches and watching the droplets meet the earth and soak into the ground.

one day it occurred to me to ask what these leafy greens were called, the leaves of which always graced our dinner table, garnishing various dishes. imagine my surprise when i was told it was actually mint.

in my experience with mint, it came in a chewing gum stick, in the form of double mint gum. i snagged a piece of this herb and tasted it. it tasted nothing like gum. i was sorely disappointed.

i have since grown to like the actual mint, though i do not have a small garden of it to tend to now.

chocolate + mint is a flavor combo that dw loves. he doesn’t like chocolate with fruit (i still shake my head over it) but give him the option of chocolate + mint and anything else, he will always choose the former. for his birthday last year i made him cake, this year, i baked him cookies. twice. i think the first batch was a bust.

second time i muscled my way through it, because i hate roll-out cookies, they suck. but for dw i would endure far more discomfort. the cookies tasted nothing like the leaves, or the gum, but were everything that girl scout thin mint cookies are and more: perfect out of the freezer, but without that chemical aftertaste. plus, he loved them.

Thin Mint Cookies

once again, because he is not lactose intolerant, i kept close to the original recipe.

what’s your favorite kind of cookie?