Homemade in the High Plains breads and rolls category winner Connie Richards

Connie Richards, of Tingley, Iowa, was selected as the grand prize winner for the breads and rolls category of High Plains Journal’s Homemade in the High Plains cookbook. Richards grew up on a farm and later married a farmer and has raised three daughters. She also has nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Richards helped her husband on the family farm for years, but no longer participates in the manual labor as two of her grandsons and her son-in-law have taken more prominent roles in the operation. Their farm produces corn, beans, alfalfa, oats and a cow-calf herd.

She has always loved to cook and even owned a small café previously where she enjoyed trying out new recipes. Richards still takes meals to the field when the workers are harvesting.

“One of the best parts of harvest is watching my grandkids ride in the combine with my husband,” Richards said.

Richards’ winning recipe is called Rita’s Raised Doughnuts and it originally came from a woman whose husband worked on the Richards’ farm. The family liked the pastries and they started making them every year.

“My mother-in-law always made the donuts on New Year’s Day and we would all go down and eat them together,” she said. “When she could no longer do it, I started doing it.”

She said the last couple of years she has stayed in Arizona for the winter and has not been in Iowa to make the doughnuts on New Year’s Day, but the recipe has made its way to the next generation, as one of Richards’ daughters has taken over the tradition.

For more recipes and helpful cooking and harvest meal tips and tricks, follow along with the All Aboard Wheat Harvest program, watch for more coverage of the grand champion category winners on the home and family page or purchase the Homemade in the High Plains cookbook at www.hpjsubscribe.com/cart/.

Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].

Rita’s Raised Doughnuts

From the Kitchen of: Connie Richards

Farm Wife from Tingley, Iowa

Servings: 30

Total Time: 3-4 hours

Ingredients:

Doughnut:

1 package yeast

2 cups scalded milk

7 cups flour

4 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

Glaze:

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 Tbsp cream

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla

Scant 1/2 cup cold water

Instructions: When milk is cool, stir in yeast. When yeast is dissolved, stir in two cups of flour. Mix well and let rise for 2 hours. Beat egg yolks and one egg together and stir. Melt butter, cool and add. Stir in remaining ingredients. Add enough flour to knead easily. Knead until smooth. Place in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled in bulk. Roll out 1/2 inch thick. Let rise until 1 inch thick. Cut with a doughnut cutter or glass. Put a hole in the center as you drop in hot oil. When the bottom is golden brown, turn over. When golden brown, remove, glaze and place on a cooling rack. Frost while hot and drain on a rack.