The best way to make new friends

The football season is over. As a single person who gets to binge on football and non-virgin libations every Saturday in the fall due to having few obligations, I find myself with far too much time upon my hands in the winter and spring. Do I sulk about one of my greatest joys/pains now being gone for 8 months? Well, yes. But do I content myself to just sit on the couch until football returns? PERISH THE THOUGHT. This is our off-season as well. This is where we improve. This is when we find new things to drink during the season. Better things to eat. As our team trains and practices for a better 2015, so must we hone our craft. So, in an effort to expand your skillset, I present: S'mores Kolaches.

Because no matter what happens on the field come September, at least we'll sure as hell have eaten well.

The dough recipe was adapted from The Homesick Texan and the filling was adapted from my sainted Aunt Linda

INGREDIENTS

For the dough:

3+ cups of flour (NOT self-rising)

1/3 cup of sugar

1 cup of warm milk

1 packet of yeast

1 cup of chocolate stout beer (optional, see note at bottom)

2 eggs

8 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon of salt

For the filling

1 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1/3 cup of flour

1 1/2 cups of milk

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chocolate stout beer (again, optional)

Large marshmallows or marshmallow creme

Crushed graham crackers

DIRECTIONS

1) First, for the dough, warm up the cup of milk. The milk needs to be above room temperature, but if it's too hot then it will kill your yeast and the dough won't rise. In a mixing bowl (I use a stand mixer for this), combine the sugar, about a one and a quarter cups of flour, and the packet of yeast. Pour in the warm milk, and mix until well combined (should look like the picture above). Cover the bowl with a damp cloth, and let this sit for 30 minutes, or until it starts to rise. See the picture below for a look at how you know it's working.

2) Melt the 8 tablespoons of butter, and combine with the 2 eggs and the teaspoon of salt. (NOTE: make sure the butter has cooled off before you add the egg, or else they will begin to scramble). Once this is combined, begin to drizzle this into your dough; if you're using the beer, go ahead and slowly add it in. As this is mixing (I use the beater attachment on my KitchenAid until the dough gets too thick, then switch to the dough hook), slowly add in flour, about 1/4 cup at a time. When it starts to reach the consistency seen in the picture below, set a timer for 10 minutes.

If you're kneading by hand, flour a surface and fold the dough over itself, from the bottom to the top, then from the left over the right, over and over, pushing down with the heel of your hand. Continue to add flour until it stops being sticky. If you're using a stand mixer, just continue to add flour until the desired consistency is reached, then let the mixer keep going until the 10 minutes is up. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour.

3) After an hour, your dough should have doubled in size thusly:

Punch the dough down and divide it into about 18-20 balls. Then, using a tortilla press or rolling pin, roll out the balls into 3-4 inch discs, and place on a greased baking sheet. Once they're all flattened out, cover them with a towel again and let them rise for about 30 minutes.

4) While the dough is on its last rise, make the chocolate filling. Combine the sugar, cocoa, flour, milk, beer, and egg yolks together in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, constantly whisking. Keep doing this for about 15-20 minutes, until it starts to get thick (you're essentially making pudding). Once it thickens up pretty well, stir in the butter and the vanilla.

5) Preheat the oven to 375°. Once the dough has risen, use your thumb to make an indentation in the middle of each of the discs.

6) Using a spoon, scoop the chocolate into the holes you made in the dough. Then, if you're using whole marshmallows, slice a 1/4" round off and place it on top of the chocolate. I find the creme/fluff really unwieldy, so you might want to chill it in the fridge for awhile to make it easier to scoop. Sprinkle the tops of the kolaches with the graham crackers

7) Bake the kolaches for about 15 minutes, one tray at a time. The marshmallow will expand, and sometimes fall off, so just remember when you try to put it back on that this junk can be like napalm. Use a spoon or fork. Let them cool off for about 5-10 minutes, and then enjoy!

ON THE VERSATILITY OF KOLACHE DOUGH: The base dough, without the the stout, is the best leftover delivery device known to man. Examples of fillings I have used in the past: boudin, jambalaya, chicken parmesan, pork asado, pulled pork, brisket, frito chili pie, beer brats. If you want to add a beer to the dough, I suggest Deschutes Chainbreaker White IPA. Experiment! But this doesn't excuse you from coming to my kolache bakery/bar when it opens

ON ADDING THE BEER: Some friends of mine are really into beer, and do bottle shares of some rare/aged stuff often. I started making kolaches to pair with the food, and then I started playing with beer in the dough. For the chocolate stout, I prefer Southern Tier Choklat if it's available, but Samuel Smith's Chocolate Stout also works really well.

When you add the stout to the dough, it brings a bit of the flavor of the beer, and I think tends to make the dough a bit denser. When you add it to the filling, it brings a bit of bitter in, making it taste more like dark chocolate. However, it does balance out with the sweet of the marshmallow and dough, so if you're intrigued by that, give it a shot. Otherwise, making these without the beer is just as delicious.