Warm, Homemade Maple Bars - What Could Possibly Be Better?

Dear Laura: I’ve been trying to find a recipe for maple bars and maple icing. Hope you can help me. Thank you. - J.W.G., Cusick, Wash.

Dear J.W.G.: Use any favorite raised doughnut recipe or even a packaged roll dough mix for your maple bars. Allow dough to rise once, then punch down and roll out to about 1/2-inch thickness and cut in 1-1/2- by 4-inch rectangles. Let rise, uncovered, until doubled in bulk. Fry for 3 or 4 minutes in deep, hot fat at 365 to 375 degrees. Drain on absorbent paper. While still slightly warm, spread with a maple glaze. If you don’t have a favorite recipe to use, try this one.

Maple Bars

1-1/4 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, optional

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 package yeast

4 cups flour

1 egg, beaten

Maple glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup boiling water

2 teaspoons butter or margarine

1 teaspoon maple flavoring

Combine milk, sugar, butter, nutmeg and salt in medium saucepan; heat over medium to about 110 degrees (butter need not melt completely).

Combine yeast with 1-1/2 cups of the flour. Stir flour mixture and beaten egg into the warm milk mixture; beat until smooth. With a heavy-duty mixer or wooden spoon, mix in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled (about 1 to 1-1/2 hours).

Beat dough with a wooden spoon to release air. Turn out onto a well-floured board. Dough will be very sticky; roll it around to coat all over with flour so it won’t stick to board. Let rest 10 minutes.

With a floured rolling pin, roll dough into a rectangle 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. With sharp knife, cut in rectangles, about 1-1/4 by 4 inches. Leave on board; let rise until light, about 1 hour.

Fry in deep fat at 365 to 375 degrees, top side down first, for about 4 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Drain on absorbent paper and allow to cool slightly.

Blend glaze ingredients together and frost doughnuts while still warm.

Yield: About 2 dozen.

Dear Laura: Is there a way to modify this tapioca pudding recipe for diabetics? Thank you. A regular reader - J.T.W., Spokane

Dear J.T.W.: Instead of modifying your recipe, try this low-fat, sugar-free tapioca pudding and see if it meets your requirements. It’s adapted from an out-of-print book, “How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too!” by dietitian Norma M. MacRae.

Tapioca Pudding

2 cups skim milk

3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca

4 drops butter flavoring

1 ounce liquid egg substitute

1/4 teaspoon salt, optional

2-1/2 tablespoons granular sugar substitute (or other sweetener to equal 1/3 cup sugar)

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Soak tapioca in 1/2 cup of the milk. Scald remaining milk; cool slightly.

Add tapioca, butter flavoring and egg substitute to warm milk. Cook in double boiler, stirring constantly, or in microwave oven, stirring frequently, until fairly thick. (Mixture will continue to thicken as it cools.)

Add salt, sugar substitute and vanilla; mix well. Cool to room temperature or chill before serving.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 77 calories, 1 gram fat (12 percent fat calories), 5 grams protein, 12 grams carbohydrate (exchanges: 1/2 meat and 1 fruit).

Dear Laura: Several months ago I was fortunate to try a cake which had sauerkraut in it. It was moist and delicious. I would really appreciate having you print a recipe for the cake. Thank you. - Viola, Spokane

Dear Viola: This version is adapted from one found in several community cookbooks.

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake

2/3 cup butter or margarine

1-1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1 cup rinsed and drained sauerkraut

Cream butter with sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients; add alternately with water to creamed mixture. Stir in sauerkraut.

Bake at 350 degrees, in a 9- by 13-inch greased and floured pan, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Frost with your favorite chocolate or vanilla frosting.

Dear Laura: Ground cherries - where do I find them in the Spokane area? - Grant, Veradale

Dear Grant: I don’t know. Perhaps another reader will know and share the information, or you can check with a grocery store produce manager to see if they’re available or can be ordered.

Tom Stobart’s “The Cook’s Encyclopedia” defines ground cherry as a fruit native to parts of central and eastern North America from New York to Florida and west to Iowa and Minnesota. Other names include strawberry tomato or dwarf Cape gooseberry, poha (in Hawaii) and the scientific name Physalis fruticosa. Stobart reports that ground cherries are used for jam and pies and that they become sweeter when stored for a month or more.

, DataTimes MEMO: Have a food question? Looking for a recipe? Laura Carnie, a certified family and consumer scientist and food consultant in Coeur d’Alene, would like to hear from you. Write to Cook’s Notebook, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. As many letters as possible will be answered in this column; sorry, no individual replies.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Laura Carnie The Spokesman-Review