September 17, 2013 by Lindsey | Dolly and Oatmeal

it was a big weekend over here with my husband turning 30 and all. lots of fun celebrating with food, family, and a beautiful sailboat ride through new york harbor. not to mention this s'more pie. frank loves s'mores, so naturally i thought i would make him some combination of graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallow. i experimented weeks before making this pie with variations of marshmallows. i even bought grass-fed gelatin to make a traditional kind of gooey marshmallow, and it came out pretty good. however, i had a little difficulty wrapping my head around what the powdery substance truly contained, and opted to make another version of marshmallow that didn't contain ground pig hooves (or whatever gelatin is made from).

a few things to note here...for the graham cracker crust, i used store bought gluten free and vegan graham crackers. they are not the easiest to find in your local grocery, but can be found online. i swapped the butter for coconut oil which makes the crust a bit more crumbly, but still delicious. i also added 1/2 cup more crumbs than the original recipe because the crust was quite thin. for the chocolate filling, i used dairy, soy and nut free chocolate (mostly because it's dairy free) semi sweet chocolate. any other semi sweet chocolate will work, or your could go with milk chocolate for a sweeter, more traditional s'more taste. i used full fat coconut milk for the heavy cream. the marshmallow is egg-based, but if you're vegan, my blogger friend sophia has been experimenting with flax meringue over at her beautiful blog. i haven't had the time to make it yet, but it sounds too intriguing not try at some point!

s'more pie w/ toasted marshmallow meringue

| gluten + dairy free |

crust and chocolate filling adapted from Smitten Kitchen. marshmallow meringue adapted from Honestly Yum

| makes a 9" pie |

for the crust

6 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil, melted
2 cups S'moreables graham cracker crumbs (roughly 18 crackers, finely ground in a food processor)

for the chocolate filling

7 ounces Enjoy Life semi sweet chocolate (or any other chocolate semi sweet chocolate)
1 cup unsweetened, full fat coconut milk (from a 15 ounce can)
1 organic, free range egg

for the marshmallow meringue

1 cup pure cane sugar
4 organic, free range egg whites
pinch of salt
splash of pure vanilla extract

directions

make the crust

preheat oven to 350° and lightly oil a pie plate with coconut oil. in a medium sized bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs and coconut oil; turn out onto pie dish. press evenly into the bottom and sides of the pan. bake in the center of the oven for 12-15 minutes; until shell is crisp and slightly browned. let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour

make the chocolate filling

preheat oven back to 350°. put chocolate in a heatproof bowl. in a saucepan, bring coconut milk just to a boil, then pour hot cream over chocolate. let stand for 1 minute, use a whisk to combine until smooth. gently, whisk in the egg and a pinch of salt until combined; pour into graham cracker shell. bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, until the chocolate is softly set and giggles a bit in the center. (deb recommends covering the edges of the graham cracker crust with tin foil before baking the chocolate, however i did not as the graham crackers i used did not burn from extra time in the oven.)
on a rack, cool pie to room temperature. the filling will firm as it cools, about 1 hour

make the marshmallow meringue

combine 3/4 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup of water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and simmer syrup without stirring until the thermometer reads a temperature of 240°, occasionally swirling the pan. place the egg whites, salt and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. whip on high until frothy and add the 1/4 cup of sugar. whip until peaks form
reduce speed to medium, and with the mixer running on low pour the hot syrup into the meringue in a steady stream, being careful not to let it touch the side of the bowl or the whisk attachment (if the syrup hits the bowl or whisk it will harden and be difficult to clean. if it ends up hitting anything just soak in hot water.)
gently spread the marshmallow over the top of the pie. if eating immediately, turn your oven to broil and toast the marshmallow meringue until lightly browned 30-50 seconds. if not eating immediately wait to toast until you're ready to eat. the pie can stay in the fridge for up to one day before toasting

slice carefully and enjoy!

chopped tahini salad w/ crushed pine nuts + mint / September 10, 2013 by Lindsey | Dolly and Oatmeal

the weather here has been so insanely gorgeous, temperatures in the low 70s, cool breezes, blue skies, and plentiful sunshine. it's been perfect weather for shorts and a sweater, or your favorite denims with a T. i am seriously looking forward to breaking out a scarf or two, and perhaps my new wool panama hat...just saying. anywho, this salad was the perfect picnic salad, so we did just that...on our fire escape of course. we used our rad picnic blanket (ahem, i mean tea towels), laid them out to cover the beautiful black metal beneath, served our salad, and dug in.

this chopped salad was inspired by a fresh vegetable salad in Jerusalem, and also inspired by the massive amounts of beautiful tomatoes and peppers out there this time of year. you may notice that i include sweet peppers in the ingredient list. mine somehow never made their way into my bag at the farmer's market, but i left them on the list because they i know they will surely be a lovely addition here. the tahini sauce is super dreamy and creamy, there's nothing better than when the tomato juices mix with the tahini sauce and you're left with a slightly tomato-spiked sauce! the crushed pine nuts and mint was kind of an afterthought, but i had the mint on hand and i love the flavor of toasted pine nuts, and thought it would be a great addition. turns out it was, but next time i will add more (i increased the amounts in the recipe below).

the next couple of weeks are fun ones for me and my husband. he will be turning the big 3-0, and i will be celebrating my birthday a few days later. lots of celebration and good times around here. stay tuned for celebration goodies, swiftly followed by detox!

chopped tahini salad w/ crushed pine nuts + mint

salad inspired by, and tahini sauce from: Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem

| serves 4 as a side salad |

ingredients »

2 cups chopped greens
1 cup chopped heirloom tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumbers
1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers
1 tablespoon fresh chives (i used garlic chives)
2-3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
2 teaspoons fresh mint leaves
a pinch of salt
smoked paprika to taste

tahini sauce (i halved the original recipe) »

1/3 cup tahini paste
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1/8 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

instructions

for the tahini sauce »

in a medium sized bowl, whisk the tahini, water, lemon juice, crushed garlic and salt until combined
cover, and let the mixture sit in the fridge until ready to use

for the salad »

with a mortar and pestle, crush the toasted pine nuts with a pinch of salt, add the mint and grind until the mint and nuts are small pieces. set aside
in a large bowl, combine the greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. drizzle the tahini sauce, and garnish with crushed pine nut/mint mixture, chives and paprika

serve with additional tahini sauce and enjoy!

spelt scones with baked stone fruit / September 3, 2013 by Lindsey | Dolly and Oatmeal

these stone fruits were some of the last i had in my kitchen. and while i could have easily eaten them as is, i decided to bake them up, and toss them into some simple scones. stone fruits this summer, especially peaches, did not disappoint. while i was out east on long island for our wedding, my family and i were fortunate enough to stay in a rental house that sat between a beautiful creek and a peach orchard (!) for the entire week my mom and i would jog through the path that lead through the peach orchard, past a growing corn field, up to what was called a "button tree", down a path lined with plum trees, nectarine trees and wildflowers. on our way back we would point out the beautiful peaches, and help each other from not picking the superb fruit before us. every other day or so, we would drive down the street to the farm stand, and buy our peaches that we had longed for that morning. i'm never ready to say "see you next year" to such delicious fruit, but i've been lucky enough to have had so much this summer.

i really wanted the fruit to be super present in these scones so i cut them in rather large chunks, and paired them with a scone recipe that lets them shine. i've had my fair share of baking-with-fruit experiences where the batter surrounding the fruit never cooks, and i was left with gooey, uncooked sections, so i pre-baked the fruit to let some of their juices out.. although this recipe is vegan, it is not gluten free. i have been experimenting with spelt flour, as i know it's more nutritious than many other grain flours. flours with gluten have a very limited presence in my diet, as their glycemic index is can be high. therefore, i frequently bake with grain flours/meals such as almond flour, buckwheat, and oat flour as their glycemic index is way lower than that of grain flours. however, i look forward to mixing in spelt whenever i can with my grain free flours.

the original scone recipe called for a mix of unbleached flour and spelt; i used 100% whole grain spelt flour here. feel free to substitute any grain flours, i would think substituting half the spelt with rye flour would taste pretty rad here. (i'm not sure how grain free flours and meals would work. i'm still working on the perfect grain free scone, definitely haven't found it yet!) i also substituted butter and heavy cream, with coconut oil and coconut cream, and both lent a sweet subtle scent. these scones are delicious in their right; hearty but light, nutty but also slightly sweet, all with a delightful crumb.

spelt scones with baked stone

| makes 8 large or 16 small scones |

| vegan |

adapted from Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain and also inspired from here and here

ingredients

for the scones

2 1/4 cups whole spelt flour
2 tablespoons raw turbinado sugar or coconut palm sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil, solid
1 cup chilled, unsweetened coconut cream (i like Native Forest Organic)

for the fruit

1 cup mixed stone fruits (roughly 1/2 pound)
1 teaspoon coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons raw turbinado sugar (alternatively, you can use any sugar, agave nectar, maple syrup, or honey)

instructions

preheat oven to 350°. line a small rimmed baking sheet with parchment

make the baked fruit

slice and remove the stones from your fruit. cut all fruit the same size and place in a medium sized bowl (i cut mine into about 1 inch cubes). pour melted oil over fruit, and toss in the sugar. gently, toss the fruit so that each piece is coated with oil and sugar
place in the middle of your oven and bake for 15 minutes - you want your fruit tender, but not mushy. (this also depends on the ripeness of your fruit pre-bake. if they are very ripe check after 10 minutes, if less ripe you may need to bake longer than 15 minutes. you know they're finished when a sharp knife is inserted easily to the fruit.)
remove from the oven and let cool completely

make the scones

turn the oven temperature up to 400° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

place flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. (if using a liquid sweetener do not add yet.) next, add the hardened coconut oil and pulse until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal
turn out scone mixture into a large bowl and add the cooled fruit. use a spatula to gently mix. add the coconut cream a half cup at a time until the dough comes together
place your parchment lined baking sheet on a work surface. dust the parchment with some flour, and turn dough out onto the sheet. using your hands, shape the the dough into a 1" inch thick, 9" circular disk. using a sharp knife, cut in quarters and then in quarters again until you have 8 pieces
sprinkle tops of scones with a hint of sugar (optional)
bake in the middle of your oven for 17-20 minutes, rotating halfway through. you know they are finished baking when the tops and bottoms are golden brown

enjoy!