A Big Fat FLOP

I've been stretching outside my comfort zone and actually looking at WW's Connect, their on-line community.

I love how positive and supportive they are of each other.

I love the food ideas they post.

And so I thought I'd try out one of those ideas.

It was from someone whose username is mudhustler and it's for a 1 pt doughnut.

The recipe he listed is as follows so you'll know what I had to work with.

mudhustler

Donut King Waffle Master

Its donut time! #original1spdonut 
All buisness today... killing it in the kitchen. 
1 cup of Kodiak power cakes mix (any of their mixes work in this recipe) 
2 serving or scoops of Quest protein (I used a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of saltedcaramel) flavor of your choice 
1tsp cinnamon (I added a few drops of coconut extract today) 
1tbsp baking powder 
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 
1 1/2 cup cold water 
375 for 10 min 
makes 12 donuts 1sp each (The topping I used on the pretty little donut in the pic iscoolwhip and a drizzle of walden farms carmel sauce) 

Let me just say the picture on this looked amazingly delicious and I saw that many people had made them and loved them.

I even went to the trouble of ordering a doughnut pan on Amazon.  I got one that had 12 doughnuts and this was a mini doughnut pan.

Really at every step this was a disaster.

But you don't have to just take my word for it, take a look...

It starts out rather innocuous.  Everything looks okay so far... 

But...

After adding the wet ingredients the consistency was so thin I would say it was watery.

Another big "uh oh" as I filled the doughnut pan and had a LOT of leftover batter.

The doughnuts came out and low and behold they've overflowed over the top of the pan.

And they stuck to the pan.

And they tasted like, well, let's just say they tasted awful!

My husband is usually more forgiving than I am with this kind of thing but even he told me they were rotten.

He said, and I quote, "I just kept thinking if I ate more of them maybe I would like them but, man, they're just awful".

So, let me be clear, I'm not disparaging this guy.

It's probably me.  I've probably done something wrong and I really would like this recipe to work because, hey, a 1 pt doughnut is an amazing thing.

Certainly the recipe seems abbreviated.

It would be nice to have more direction and more of what to expect, the consistency of the batter etc.

I may consider giving this another try with a LOT of changes made to, at minimum, enhance the flavor.

The thing is that there's a big learning curve here for me.  I've never been a baker so I don't know how to ad lib as well but I'm determined to make this better.

It was disappointing because I was SO EXCITED to try these because everyone on Connect seemed to love them.

I think that's why it was an even worse experience but again, I probably screwed up the recipe somehow.

If I get this sorted I'll let you know.

Just goes to show you, even after years of cooking I can still make mistakes.

And sometimes even with the best of intentions my kitchen experiments just flop.

But we go on and try again.

And more importantly, we learn from it!

Happy Cooking!

Mudhustler's Pumpkin Spice Donuts!

A while back I tried to recreate WW member, Mudhustler's 1 sp donut.  

As you can see here.  It wasn't successful.

But, I believe in getting back up and trying again so I decided to make another attempt, this time making it the pumpkin spice flavor.

I am so happy to report that this time it worked!!!!

So, what did I do differently?

I bought aluminum free baking powder and I used 2 tsp instead of 1 Tbsp of baking powder.

When you're making the pumpkin spice version you also substitute pumpkin puree for the applesauce.

In addition I've noticed not all protein powders scoop measures are the same.  I think it's best to get the Quest protein powder.  

So, here it is...

Ingredients

1 cup Kodiak power cakes mix(whole grain buttermilk)

2 scoops of Quest Salted Caramel protein powder

2 tsp aluminum free baking powder(I used Rumford brand)

2 packets Truvia

1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree(NOT pumpkin pie filling)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 cold water

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375 F.

Mix all the dry ingredients together with a whisk to blend well.

Next add in the wet ingredients and mix well.

Fill a standard doughnut size pan(6 donut pan) 1/2-2/3 of the way full.

Bake 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These were fantastic!!!!

So yummy!

I'm so happy I finally got this recipe to work for me.

This is most definitely worth a try!

Happy Cooking!!!

More From Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think

As I mentioned before I'm reading Brian Wansink's Mindless Eating:  Why We Eat More Than We Think.

One thing I really loved that the author said is that, in general, when we eat 1000 fewer calories a day we feel deprived.

When we eat 1000 more calories daily on a routine basis we’ll be shopping for larger clothes. 

However if we eat 100 calories more or less we’re generally unaware of the difference.  

This is what the author calls the Mindless Margin.

Now think about this ~

Making small changes can have a really big impact on your waistline.

If you eat one less 270 calorie candy bar each day you’ll weigh 27 fewer pounds in a year.

One less 140 calorie soft drink each day = 14 fewer pounds a year.

One less 420 calorie bagel or donut each day = 42 fewer pounds a year.

The other thing I love is that he is absolutely against giving up favorite foods because anything that makes you feel deprived will never be a long term solution.

And the plus about the Mindless Margin is that, even if you don’t change anything else but that one small thing, you’ll still lose weight at the end of the year.  It’s slow but it’s still meaningful weight loss.  😀

That’s why the author says “the best diet is the one you don’t know you’re on”.  😉

Here’s to creating life long habits we can live with and live well!