Beat the Wheat: S'mores Pie for Grownups
An old boyfriend once gave me a beautiful copper fire pit as a birthday gift. The relationship didn't last, but my love of cooking over an open fire sure did.
On Friday evenings when the weather is nice (and, honestly, sometimes even in the snow), I load up the big copper bowl with kindling and logs, and invite the neighbors over for s'mores and bourbon. No matter what kind of week any of us has had, all our troubles are washed away by the mesmerizing flames and gooey, chocolatey, oozy s'mores.
Making s'mores levels the playing field. You don't need special gadgets, expensive ingredients or a culinary degree. You just need to be OK with sticky fingers.
If you don't have access to an open outdoor fire or gas stove with a flame, you can still have some s'mores-y goodness for dessert in the form of a s'mores pie. Of course, I made one I could eat, using gluten-free graham crackers as part of the crust, and that pie was gone in seconds.
I created this recipe based on a chocolate chip cookie breakup consolation pie I once made for a friend (OK, for me). I recently realized I could approach a s'mores pie in a similar way, and voila — S'mores Pie for Grownups! Why for grownups? Because there's bourbon in the crust to add a little extra depth to the overall flavor. I use a little almond flour in this recipe because gluten-free graham crackers lack that creamy graham-y taste that those of us with celiac love and miss, and almond flour almost makes up for it. You can omit the bourbon if you want to keep it alcohol-free. And, if you need to omit the almond flour to address a nut allergy, use more brown rice flour in its place.
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature (keep wrapper to grease the pan)
8 ounces dark chocolate (60 or 70 percent cacao preferred), broken into small pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 9-inch pie pan with the reserved butter wrapper, or use cooking spray.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar and butter and beat on medium for 20-30 seconds until creamy. Add egg, vanilla extract and bourbon, and beat on medium for about 20-30 seconds until fully incorporated into the mixture.
Add the graham cracker crumbs, mochiko, brown rice flour, almond flour, salt, baking powder and xanthan gum. Beat on medium-high for about 45 seconds until the dough comes together in a ball in the mixing bowl.
Split the dough into thirds. Using your hands, press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the pie pan and bring it as far up the sides as you can.
Using the back of a spoon or offset spatula, spread the entire jar of marshmallow creme onto the crust.
Top marshmallow creme with all of the dark chocolate pieces, then evenly top with the mini marshmallows.
Break the remaining pie dough into small pieces and, using the palms of your hands, flatten them before placing them on top of the marshmallows. Distribute them evenly across the top of the pie so that you can still see some of the marshmallows and chocolate chunks below. It won't make a complete top crust, and you don't want that. You want the marshmallow ooey goodness to bubble up through while baking.
Top with chocolate chips.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, on the middle rack of your oven. You want the crust to have darkened a bit and the marshmallows to have begun turning light brown.
Let cool for 45 minutes before serving. It should still be warm, but won't burn your mouth. Pie will keep, covered, at room temperature for 2 days.