Northwoods Woman

After finding said instructions I was all prepared to roll up my sleeves and pray to the baking gods that I could pull it off when I realized I didn’t have a doughnut cutter.

*facepalm*

Never fear, Amazon to the rescue!

Search… order… receive… READY!!

Here’s what you’re gonna need:

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup scalded milk
• 2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
• 2 packets active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 5 cups sifted flour (approximately)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon cardomon
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon mace
• Vegetable shortening or cooking oil, for deep fat frying

Topping

1/2 cup superfine sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

STOP!!  Before we go any further, I gotta tell ya that I didn’t follow this recipe to the letter (shocking, I know).  First off, I didn’t sift my flour.  I’m a cooking rebel, remember?  Secondly, I didn’t have any cardomon or mace, and I wasn’t about to go out and buy any for one recipe.  Thirdly, I didn’t use the suggested topping because I found a glaze that I wanted to try instead.

I’m not doing so good with following directions, am I?

Who cares, let’s just get on with the recipe*, shall we?

Melt butter in milk and cool to lukewarm. Place water in a warm large mixing bowl, sprinkle in yeast, and stir until dissolved; add milk mixture and sugar. By hand, beat 2 1/2 cups flour in until smooth; mix in eggs, salt, and spices. Mix in remaining flour, adding a little extra, if needed, to form a soft but manageable dough. Knead lightly 1 minute on a floured pastry cloth; shape into a ball, place in a greased large bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down, roll 1/2-inch thick on pastry cloth**, using a floured, stockinette-covered*** rolling pin. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter and place 1 1/2-inches apart on un-greased baking sheets. Reroll and cut scraps. Cover with cloth and let double in bulk.

Meanwhile, begin heating fat in a deep fat fryer. When doughnuts have risen and fat has reached 375 degrees F, ease 4 doughnuts into fat, 1 at a time. Fry about 2 minutes until golden brown all over, using tongs to turn. Drain on paper toweling.

Note: Never fry more than 4 doughnuts at a time and keep fat as near to 375 degrees F as possible; if too hot, doughnuts will brown before they cook inside.

While doughnuts are warm, roll in topping.

The result?

Can you say NUMMERS!!!

I was actually accused by a friend on Facebook (Hi Dawn! ) that I bought some Krispy Kreme doughnuts and put them on a wire rack and took a picture.  I’m taking that as a compliment.

Oh and the recipe for the glaze is super simple:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk (warmed)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

I took a dozen of these bad boys up to Rick’s shop.  Apparently they disappeared quickly.

So, there you have it, my version of a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

Next time I’m gonna find a chocolate frosting recipe and use that instead of the glaze.  I’m dangerous like that.

**  Pastry cloth?  Yeah, right, like I have one of those.  I floured some parchment paper.  Worked like a charm.

***  Stockinette-covered rolling pin… bwahahahahaha!  Really, just flour your rolling pin, ‘k?

Perhaps it’s because I’m always baking bread or sweets for our home use all the time that I just can’t get into the mood.

Or perhaps I’m just too lazy.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to get back that seasonal passion of spending 20 hours of doing nothing but bake up some wonderful holiday morsels and then collapse in a baking coma for 3 days.

Did that come out a little harsh?

Sorry.

Actually, we have some wonderful friends that stop by each year with calorie-laden trays of cookies, breads and cheese, enough to pack on the Christmas pounds for a couple of weeks.

I love those people.

And some day I hope to be able to return that favor.  Maybe that will be my New Year’s Resolution:  Bake Christmas delights for those that have been so kind to us over all these years.

And I wont have to worry about breaking it fulfilling it for 11 months!

Ready?  Here we go!

Grandma Fellings’ Sour Cream Raisin Pie

Our cast of characters are:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp.cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp.cloves
• 1/2 tsp.nutmeg
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Mix all together really well pour into a 8 or 9 inch unbaked pie shell.  Bake at 325 degrees for one or more hours until a knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.

Just for the fun of it, let’s make this a little more exciting and add some step-by-step instructions and pictures, shall we (because otherwise this will be a really boring post).

Like the directions say, throw it all in a bowl (not in the instructions, but though I’d add for those that are baking illiterate)

And mix together.

Ummm… not very appetizing, eh?  But let’s not judge yet, OK?

Pour into pie shell… check

Bake (sorry, no exciting picture of me throwing it into the oven) at 325 for 1+ hours.

Here is where I diverted a little.  Since I used my convection oven, the pie was done in roughly 45 minutes.  I noticed that the middle was still slightly “jiggly” so I didn’t put the knife in it, but the outside of the pie was in risk of being over cooked and I knew that it would continue to cook after I pulled it out, so I stopped cooking it at that point and prayed to the baking gods that it would turn out OK.

And they answered with a resounding “yes!”

Rick was so happy that I made this that he dug right in that night and had 2 slices.  (I consider myself lucky to be able to even show you one slice!)

Actually, I think I’ll have some Cool Whip on mine.  I’m all about the fancy stuff, ya know.

Now, if you are not a raisin lover, have no fret because SIL Roxy says that you can leave the raisins out (as she does sometimes).

Beware:  this is a very sugary-sweet pie.  Not that that is a bad thing, just thought I would throw it out there.

Try it out and let me know what you think!