One of the pleasures of writing this column is the letters from our readers. The requests we receive are always interesting and often get us digging to find the answers. Sometimes a reader’s request for a recipe is difficult to find an answer for, so we may ask other readers to help.
A couple of months ago we were looking for a Sunny Boy muffin recipe, the one on box of the Sunny Boy cereal in the 1970s. This request prompted more than 25 readers to respond.
The cream of wheat squares request prompted a similar outpouring, many of them identical.
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We have also received letters from readers after we have found a recipe or some information for them. One reader commented that she appreciated receiving the recipe because it was one that she had originally received from her mother, who had since passed away.
We do try to respond to your letters and requests individually or in the column, but, sometimes a reply may take several months to get into the paper.
Readers can now contact us via e-mail at: team@producer.com as well as “snail” mail, the traditional postal system.
Baked doughnuts
The following reader request is another one I hope readers can help with.
Dear TEAM: I’ve been reading The Western Producer for 60 years and enjoy it very much, especially the recipes. That’s my first page I look at. I’ve got so many recipes from the paper I could make a cookbook for myself. Anyway, I’d like a recipe for baked doughnuts. I have heard they are just as good as deep fried. – N.M., Sangudo, Alta.
Dear N.M.: In answering your question I first had to find a doughnut pan. I found a couple in a specialty kitchen shop called Panhandler in Saskatoon. It had two sizes of pans – one that would cook six large doughnuts and one that would cook 24 small doughnuts.
I opted for the pan with the smaller doughnuts thinking it is easier to eat one small one rather than trying to eat only part of a large one. A doughnut pan is like a muffin pan, but has doughnut shaped holes rather than muffin shaped holes. These doughnuts are baked, not fried, so they don’t have as many calories.
The recipe recommended filling the doughnut cup 3/4 full. The dough was sticky and hard to spoon into the small pans when partially filling them.
I found another recipe for Baked Cider Doughnuts. When I tried these, I added more juice to make the dough more of a cake batter consistency.
I had difficulty getting either recipe to brown. A glaze gives a nice finish to the doughnut.
Do any readers have baked doughnut recipes that are different from either of the following?
Baked doughnut recipe
2 cups all-purpose 500 mL
flour
3/4 cup white sugar 175 mL
2 teaspoons baking 10 mL
powder
1/4 teaspoon ground 1 mL
nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground 1 mL
cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt 5 mL
3/4 cup milk 175 mL
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla 5 mL
extract
1 tablespoon 15 mL
shortening, melted
Glaze:
1 cup confectioner’s 250 mL
sugar
2 tablespoons hot 30 mL
water
1/2 teaspoon almond 2 mL
extract
For a chocolate glaze, stir 1/2 cup (125 mL) melted chocolate chips into the glaze mixture.
Preheat oven to 325 F (165 C). Lightly grease a doughnut pan.
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Stir in milk, eggs, vanilla and shortening. Beat together until well blended.
Fill each doughnut cup 3/4 full. Bake eight to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
To make glaze, blend confectioner’s sugar, hot water and almond extract in a small bowl. Dip doughnuts in the glaze when serving.
Baked cider doughnuts
2 cups all-purpose 500 mL
flour
2 teaspoons baking 10 mL
powder
1 teaspoon salt 5 mL
1/4 teaspoon ground 1 mL
nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground 1 mL
cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon honey 15 mL
11/2 cups unsweetened 375 mL
apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 teaspoon vanilla 5 mL
extract
Preheat oven to 325 F (165 C). Lightly grease the doughnut pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs, honey, apple juice concentrate and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
Fill each depression in the prepared doughnut pan 2/3 full with batter. Bake for eight to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Allow doughnuts to cool before removing from pan.
Lose weight with milk
Drink milk. Eat yogurt. Snack on cheese. Low-fat dairy products may help control body fat, according to the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
How? Lead researcher Michael Zemel says that a diet rich in low-fat dairy foods will change the way the body’s fat cells do their job.
“A diet high in low-fat dairy causes fat cells to make less fat and turns on the machinery to break down fat, which translates into a significantly lower risk of obesity.” In other words, dairy foods burn fat.
Who benefits the most from a diet rich in low-fat dairy products? Women.
“What we found is that women who consumed at least three servings of low-fat dairy foods per day were at the lowest risk of becoming obese,” said Zemel.
“In fact, there was an 80 percent reduction in risk for any given level of calorie intake.”
It’s tempting to cut out the dairy foods when we want to lose weight, but when you do this, Zemel said it sends a signal to the body to conserve calcium, which in turn creates higher levels of the hormone calcitriol. It’s calcitriol that triggers the production of fat cells. When the calcitriol levels are boosted, fat cells expand and store themselves in the body. Translation: You get fat. But when you eat dairy foods, you get more calcium. And calcium suppresses the calcitriol. That in turn breaks down more fat.
The best foods to eat are real dairy products – milk, cheese and yogurt – rather than calcium-fortified foods because the real deal contains more vitamins and minerals. Previous research has shown that dairy products also reduce the risk of osteoporosis, high blood pressure and possibly colon cancer. Now we know they’ll help you lose weight as long as you don’t overdo it.
Outdoor entertaining
- Prevent barbecue flare-ups by spreading lettuce leaves on the hot coals. The hot coals will blacken the lettuce, but it will not ignite while acting as a barrier for dripping fat.
- Use clean buckets, wheelbarrows or kiddy pools filled with ice as makeshift refrigerators.
- Make the table the focal point of the party or meal. Use simple but clever decorations to convey a theme or set a mood, so they aren’t difficult to prepare or clean up.
- Get festive with a theme. Use bales of hay and gingham accents for an old-fashioned barbecue or exotic flowers, pineapples and Hawaiian print tablecloths to turn the party into a luau.
- Don’t let bugs make preparation and hard work go to waste by driving guests indoors. Make the party less inviting to insects by keeping food covered and garbage and scraps far from the entertaining area.
Betty Ann Deobald is a home economist from Rosetown, Sask., and one of four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them at team@producer.com.
