Mixed Up Food Friday - October

Let's face it, as much as we may like making things from scratch, some days just don't allow for that.  The last minute bake sale notice, the friends dropping by unexpectedly, that midnight craving all require fast action.  And that means turning to a mix.  And if you must use a mix, at least make it a good quality one!  King Arthur has some great mixes that give you that homemade taste in less time!  We are adding what will become a regular feature here of "Mixed Up Food Friday" where we will try a variety of the King Arthur Flour mixes.

from Tracey G.

Kris and I were intrigued that King Arthur Flour had come out with a new line of mixes, called Essential Goodness. They are pretty much as close to homemade as you can get from a commercial mix. And being they are from King Arthur Flour, I had no reservations in giving one (or two!) a whirl! To sweeten the deal, King Arthur Flour is donating the cost of one meal to Feeding America per mix bought! There is no end date to their program either, which I find simply wonderful! Here's a link to the page with the information on the mixes and the program: Buy a Mix, Give a Meal  And it's a program I'm happy to help support!

So, my mix offering this week is the Essential Goodness Sour Cream Coffeecake. It was sooooo simple to put together and so very yummy! Minimal ingredients were required - eggs, milk and butter. Half stick of butter went into the topping, and the other half went into the cake, along with the eggs (2) and milk (3/4 cup). It all mixed up so easy and went together easily as well. It was layer half the batter in a square pan (I used a 9x9x2" pan), top that with half the crumb topping and press it in a bit. Top that with the rest of the batter and then finish with the rest of the crumbs. Bake and then enjoy!

Everyone in this household loved it. The cake was moist, and had a really nice flavor. I'd read some reviews online for it and some complained it was a bit too "nutmeggy" for them, well, I thought it was perfect. There's a definite hint of nutmeg, I could really smell it when I was mixing it up, but by the time it was baked and in combination with the cinnamon flavor of the crumb topping, it was just perfect in my opinion! I think between the 3 of us, I only managed to get 2 pieces before it was all gone, the boys seemed to have seconds and possibly thirds each time we had some, lol. But that's a good thing because it's so good it could be a serious detriment to my weight management efforts to be sure!!!

I do hope you give it a try when you get the chance, it's a yummy treat for a lazy morning with a cup of coffee!!! 

Variations and tips for the mix:

Essential Goodness Sour Cream Coffeecake Product Page



from Kris B.

Why are doughnuts so good?  I can resist almost any kind of sweet treat when I put my mind to it...except doughnuts.  Chocolate iced cake doughnuts are my absolute favorite, but unfortunately, I'm not picky and if these aren't an option, I'll take any kind of doughnut  that there is.  The good thing is that acquiring doughnuts usually requires forethought.  You have to plan on getting up early to get them from the local doughnut shop or grocery store bakery early in the morning when they are nice and fresh.  Doughnuts are not something that are easily "whipped up" at home when you have a craving for them...until now!  Enter King Arthur Flour's Pumpkin Spice Doughnut mix!   Doughnuts, pumpkin (another definite favorite flavor of mine), and twenty-four hour availability...life is good!

A single box of King Arthur's Pumpkin Spice doughnuts makes a dozen doughnuts, but they are packaged in two half dozen pouches.  This is good for two reasons: The doughnuts are baked, and a standard "doughnut pan" holds six doughnuts.  And perhaps more importantly, I don't feel obligated to eat a ridiculous number of doughnuts in one sitting!

About the baking of doughnuts...

Most of us recognize doughnuts by their shape, the ring with the hole in the middle, or maybe just the hole itself without the ring, but doughnuts earn their status as such by their fat content and because they are deep fried.  After I made the doughnuts from the King Arthur mix, my daughter "explained" to me that they really weren't doughnuts because they weren't deep fried.  Well, maybe they aren't technically "real" doughnuts, but they taste as good of better than any "real" doughnut that I 'ever had recently!  They have a "cake-y" texture that is absolutely delicious!

The batter mixes quickly and only requires the addition of 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, and 1/4 of water.  Easy!  I used a 1/4 cup measure to scoop the batter into the rings.  This gave me six perfectly sized doughnuts. And there was barely enough batter left to make licking the bowl a treat!

The doughnuts bake for 8-10 minutes.  Once out of the oven and cooled in the pan for a few minutes, they can be dipped in glaze (a simple recipe for maple glaze is included on the package) or a non-melting sugar or powdered sugar.  I tried both.  Suffice it to say that the three adults in my house made short order of the six pumpkin spice doughnuts!

If you cannot find the King Arthur mixes at your local grocery store, they can be ordered directly from King Arthur Flour, as can the doughnut pan.

Give them a try!

I'm off to make a pot of coffee and my other half dozen King Arthur Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts!