Literary Post: Homer Price. Doughnuts Made With Minimal Labour-Saving Devices.

I have to admit: I’m rather appalled at how few of my friends, including friends I consider fairly well-read, have the slightest inkling who Homer Price is. I first made my acquaintance with him through an old school reader in which his first adventure involving Aroma the Skunk and some interesting radio robbers was (slightly abridged). Afterwards, the book was on my shelf as much as it was on the library’s. Maybe more.

At any rate, one of the most iconic stories in the book involves Uncle Ulysses’ newest labour-saving device, a doughnut machine, that has a technical glitch and won’t quit making doughnuts after a rich lady comes along and mixes up a gigantic batch of doughnut batter one night while Homer is alone in charge of Uncle U’s lunchroom. The machine was a new-fangled contraption that dropped the rings of batter into hot fat, flipped them over, and pushed them out a chute into a bin ready to gather up and eat.

In a whole doughnut
There’s a nice whole hole
When you take a big bite,
Hold the whole hole tight,
If a little bit bitten
Or a great bit bitten,
Any whole hole with a hole bitten in it,
Is a holey whole hole,
And it just plain isn’t!

I realise I already featured a Robert McCloskey book in my Literary Food Series, but who can pass up doughnuts?

I have two things to say about doughnuts:

• I reject the spelling “donut”.
• Baked doughnuts are da bomb.

So, with those two points in mind, here’s a doughnut recipe for you. This is (rather greatly) adapted from a recipe I first tried during home ec.

This is a picture of my first test batch of doughnuts. They were exactly like churros. See the end of this post for what to do if you want to recreate the churro doughnuts.

Preheat your oven to 400. Spray your doughnut pan(s).

With a handmixer, beat together:
2/3 c vegan non-hydrogenated margarine
1 c sugar
2 T tapioca flour
1/2 c water

Add, stirring by hand just until blended:
3 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c non-dairy milk

Put batter in pans, spreading evenly with a spoon. I had the batter come up pretty much to the rim. Put in the oven and bake 18-20 minutes. While they are baking, prepare the coating (described below) if using. Otherwise, just remove them from the pan when they’re done and allow to cool on a rack, or eat them while warm.

Optional coating:
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c melted vegan margarine

While the muffins bake, melt margarine in a small saucepan and mix sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Immediately after taking the muffins out of the oven, dip them in the margarine and then the cinnamon-sugar. This amount is enough for dipping just one side. If you want to dip both sides, just double it.

I promise this recipe only makes 12.

Nomming on a sample doughnut from my 3rd and final test batch. Light, fluffy, perfect.

If you want a flavour/texture like churros, make the following changes: reduce water to 1/3 cup, fill doughnut pan slots only 1/2 full, bake at 350 for around 25 minutes, dip in the coating, and eat.

Chocolate-Ginger Muffins

I really need a flour sifter.

I keep looking, but the antique stores charge too much for something that’s used, and the thrift stores haven’t turned up one for me yet. And I’m too cheap to go buy a new one. Maybe that’s lame, but there it is.

Anyway, so I use a fork in the meantime to smush up my dry ingredients if I have dry lumpy stuff like brown sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda in.

Speaking of recipes with dry lumpy stuff, here’s a recipe. For THESE.

Ever since my secret sister at church gave me some dark chocolate-covered ginger from Trader Joe’s a while back, I’ve become a little obsessed with the combination. At first I was like, “Uh… chocolate? Ginger? How does that even go together?”

But it DOES. It’s actually really amazing. So I’m on a quest to ginger-ify various chocolatey things.

I found this basic vegan chocolate muffin recipe and adapted it a bit for my purposes. Here’s my version.

Chocolate Ginger Muffins

Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl:
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c white flour
1/2 c cocoa powder (just regular – I used half carob in the pictured batch because my cocoa stash was very depleted)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used a little under 1/2 cup)
1/4 c minced candied ginger (optional)

(If you have a flour sifter, that’s awesome. If not, use a fork.)

Add in the following:
1 1/2 cup natural unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla

Stir just until combined. Spoon into 12 regular prepared muffin cups or 24 mini ones. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

And then eat them.

Update since I originally wrote this post: I NOW HAVE A FLOUR SIFTER.

Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie Wannabes

 

A luscious mouthful of gingery goodness right here.

I was always a fan of the gooey goodness that is known as a Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie. As I’ve become more health-conscious, however, the ingredients therein have become really unappealing to me, especially the presence of egg white in the filling. Ew.

The following recipe is a wonderful homemade version of a very comparable cookie, with a filling that does not involve egg whites.

One thing you can do to make this a little fancier is to snip up the raisins before mixing them in. You could probably do this in a food processor, although I haven’t tried it myself. I’ve just used kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. Another fun thing you can do is wrap the individual pies in plastic wrap and pop them in the freezer for a summer treat. Yum.

1 1/2 c shortening
1 c brown sugar
2 flax eggs (6 Tbsp hot water + 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed. Let sit until gel-y.)
2/3 c molasses
2 1/2 C flour
2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
3 c oats
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c raisins

Cream shortening and sugar. Add flax and molasses. Beat until fluffy. Add flour, soda, salt, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon. Stir in whole wheat flour, oats, and raisins. Form into balls. (If you have a cookie scoop, this is a great recipe to use it on so all your cookies will be perfectly uniform.) Roll in white sugar and flatten with a glass likewise dipped in white sugar. You can use the glass bottom as a gauge to make sure your cookies are all the same diameter. These will spread a little, not a lot, but you’ll want to leave enough room so you don’t end up with square-looking pies.

Unless you like square, in which case, go for it.

Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes.

Tip: If you take them out of the oven when they are still a tiny bit raw inside and let them cool on the cookie sheet for a minute before putting them on a rack, you’ll have a softer cookie.

If you make these just as individual cookies, with a tablespoon cookie scoop, it makes 76 cookies. If you do a sandwich cookie with filling, it will make half that amount. Obviously.

Filling recipe:
1 stick butter sub (I used Nucoa) at room temperature-ish
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract

With a mixer, mix the butter, shortening, and sugar until it is combined. It will look crumby. Then add the vanilla to get a nice creamy thick frosting.

This should fill all the cookies as long as you don’t go overboard. You can see approximately how much I put in each sandwich. If you want thicker filling, just double the recipe.

I know you wanted another look.

Raisin Oat Scones

This is a recipe my husband came up with. He adapted it from another recipe such a long time ago that he doesn’t remember anymore where it came from. They are nice because they’re compact and easier to transport than the regular triangular scones that tend to be more flaky and fragile, but they are really tasty and even addictive, especially fresh out of the oven. They also go together very quickly, which makes it a good breakfast choice.

2 cups regular rolled oats
2 cups soft white wheat flour (or all-purpose, or regular whole wheat)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp brown sugar, agave, or honey
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins
1 tbsp lemon juice
2/3 cup olive oil or other veggie oil
1 cup water

Combine all dry ingredients thoroughly, then stir in liquid ingredients. Mix with a spoon or your hands in the bowl just until combined.

Take small balls of dough and knead in your hands just until it holds its shape. Shape into flat circle and place on sprayed cookie sheet.

Bake at 450° for 10-12 minutes.

Smoothies

I love smoothies. I really started getting into them when I was pregnant with my daughter, because I’m not in love with swallowing pills and it was a great way to down all the vitamins and supplements I was taking.

The nice thing about smoothies is they don’t have to be expensive or fattening. I don’t use ice cream or yogurt and I don’t use a great lot of expensive berries. I never really follow a recipe, but here’s my basic formula.

You start with whatever kind of fresh fruit is cheap: apples, oranges, pears, bananas (I’m not a fan of bananas, but they’re usually pretty cheap if you like them). You’ll do about 2 of that fruit. Chop it up and toss it in the blender with a little non-dairy milk or just plain water – or some juice concentrate if you want it to be a little sweeter.

For pizzazz then you can add in some frozen berries or fruit. You don’t have to use that much, maybe a cup or two at most, depending how frosty you want the smoothie.

Then you drink it. Sometimes I stir it up in a bowl with raw oats or unsweetened cocoanut for a light supper. It’s fantastic. It’s easy. Kids love it.

Healthy Soft Granola Bars

Here’s a pretty straightforward recipe that disappears quickly any time I make it. Most, most delicious. I don’t appear to have a photo of it in my files. I guess that means I need to make it again soon?? Great for a snack or a healthier dessert choice.

1/2 c brown sugar
2/3 c peanut butter
1/2 c honey (or agave for vegans)
1/2 C butter (or Nucoa margarine for vegans), melted
2 tbsp vanilla
3 c oats
1/2 c cocoanut
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/2 c raisins
1/3 c whole wheat flour
1 c chocolate or carob chips

Mix brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, butter, and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients.

Press into sheetcake pan.

Bake at 350 for twenty minutes. Cut into squares while warm; then let cool completely before removing from pan.

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You could try other nut butters and combinations of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. I always initially balk at the idea of combining peanut butter and raisins, but when it’s actually in my mouth, I really enjoy it, and therefore haven’t really tried any other options at this point. Let me know what you try and how it tastes!

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I’ve been requested to do a post on salads, so I’m mulling that over and hope to have something on that topic next week!