Good Press

  These are the easiest doughnuts I've ever made -- you could whip them up on a Sunday morning before church or, if you're really quick, on a weekday before school. My friends were passing this recipe for Betty Crocker's Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts around Facebook last fall. I baked mine in my Pampered Chef Silicone Floral Cupcake Pan . The photos didn't turn  out well enough for you to see the cool designs. BAKED PUMPKIN DOUGHNUTS 2 cups Bisquick® Complete pancake & waffle mix 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1/3 cup milk 1/3 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) 1 tablespoon real maple or maple-flavored syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons butter, melted Heat oven to 425°F. Spray mini do...

I love magazines. It’s a shame so many are becoming an all-digital format. Since I was a child I’ve loved to get a magazine in the mailbox, curl up with it somewhere in the house and read it cover to cover. I learned to cook from Cook’s Country and many of my favorite recipes come from Woman’s Day and the Taste of Home stable of Healthy Cooking , Country Woman and more. I’ve been known to spot a must-try recipe on a magazine cover in the supermarket checkout line and snatch it up. My aunt Laura long ago subscribed me to those Betty Crocker and Pillsbury recipe booklets sold by the checkout. I have tons of those booklets in my kitchen and I’m always excited to get one in the mail. Many times they contain a winner (no, really, a contest-winning recipe) that I have to make over and over again. This recipe for Butterscotch Blondies doesn’t claim to have won a prize but it gets a blue ribbon from me and everyone I’ve served it to over the late summer and fall. I’ve ...

It was the photo of Praline Apple Bread in Betty Crocker’s Fall Baking recipe booklet that made me want to make it and eat it. Creamy caramel glaze overflows the top of a brown loaf studded with pecans. I read the recipe and was instantly suspicious of the glaze -- it seemed like too few ingredients. But I proceeded, wanting to give the recipe a fair trial. I melted the stick of butter and stirred in the ½ cup of brown sugar and boiled it for a minute. The glaze was still separated, with the sugar clumping in globs. I decided to go my own way and make a quick caramel frosting I’ve made before that I knew would be creamy and look like the photo. I stirred in ¼ cup of milk and about 1/3 cup of powdered sugar, which is all I had. You really need to use more powdered sugar than that. I poured the glaze over the bread and it ran down the sides to puddle under the cooling rack on the baking sheet. That was OK. What pooled on top the bread around the pecans formed a crunchy topping t...

This is so flavorful and satisfying -- perfect for a cold winter night. And better the next day! I found this in a Betty Crocker publication that's sold in the supermarket checkout lane. But I get it in the mail because my Aunt Laura subscribes to it for me. SLOW COOKER FRENCH ONION BEEF 1 1/4 -pound boneless beef round steak (1/2- to 3/4-inch thick) ...

Served with bacon, these filling pancakes were a comforting breakfast-for-dinner on a cold, snowy winter night. I took a photo of this one because I thought it kinda looked like ... something ... maybe a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Princess Leia or Nancy from the old comic strip. But instead of selling it on eBay, we ate it. SPICY PUMPKIN PANCAKES 2 1/3   cups Original Bisquick® mix 1/3   cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) 1 1/4   cups milk ...

The cover of the Betty Crocker Christmas cookies supermarket aisle cookbook is disturbing. Why is he winking? And am I the only one who reads it as "bite me" instead of "bake me" on first glance?