Monster Pops

Monster Pops

 

When is the last time you had a real homemade brownie – from scratch?  We are talking about a super dense hunk of fudge-like chocolate.  Not just an average brownie, but a brownie that is really amazing, over the top amazing?

Sure you can buy brownies at the store deli, they are good.   The great ones are about three dollars each – about the same price to make this whole batch of brownies!

For fun, we shaped the brownies, added a stick and decorated them with Halloween designs.  (The instructions are at the end of the recipe.)

Here are a few tricks to making this perfect treat:

-          Use Southern Biscuit All-Purpose Flour, it is a blend of soft wheat and hard wheat so you have a brownie texture that is dense and fudge-like.

-          Use real butter if you have it.

-          Add a bit of brown sugar, it brings out the chocolate flavor.

 

Rich Fudge Brownies

Makes about 30 servings of Monster Pop-size brownies.

 

1 cup (2 stick) unsalted butter

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup brown sugar

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup Southern Biscuit® All-Purpose Flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

8 ounces white candy coating

Food coloring

Mini chocolate chips

Pop sticks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9-inch square pan with non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper leaving an overhang at the sides to lift cooled brownies easily from pan.

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium saucepan.  Whisk in the sugars until completely smooth.  Remove from heat and add the eggs gradually, beating constantly using a whisk.  Add the vanilla and stir to combine.

Stir in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt slowly at first until blended.  Once the ingredients are moistened, beat using a wooden spoon for about 60 strokes or until the mixture is smooth throughout.

Pour the batter into the pan.  Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted is almost clean when removed.  The toothpick should not be wet, but have a few bits of brownie that sticks.

Cool completely on a cooling rack.  To remove from pan, lift on the foil or parchment paper.

To make Monster Pops:

Use a cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon to portion brownies.  Use your palms to roll the brownies into a ball.  Don’t use the crisp sides along the edge of the pan and roll so that any crusty pieces are not on the outside so the ball is smooth.

Place a pop stick into each ball.

Melt the white candy coating according to instructions on package, adding vegetable oil to thin as needed until brownies are easily dipped and coated.  Too thick coating will cause the brownies to break apart.  Add food color as desired to make orange pumpkins, green monsters, or other colors as desired.

Dip and place on parchment paper to cool.  If the coating is too thin, allow them to cool and set, then dip again.  Decorate with mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts for eyes or purchase candy eyes.  Pipe on mouths using decorating frosting.  These can also simply be rolled in sprinkles or other decorations.

 

Halloween Supper – Harvest Pot Pies

Halloween Supper

The trees in the mountains are burning with color this year, and it won’t be long before the colors are everywhere. We decided to take that color to the plate with simple sweet potatoes and apples paired with country sausage and topped with a biscuit. Yes, country sausage for supper, it is economical, flavorful, comforting, and pork and apples are delicious together – so why not?

For the topping we used Southern Biscuit® Formula L Biscuit Mix and sour cream. That’s all, just two simple ingredients is all you need. The biscuit mix gives recipes a buttery flavor unlike any other biscuit mix.

Along with fall beauty comes Halloween fun. Most kids love the holiday, so why not turn a simple meal into a Halloween treat with some simple cheese slices. Let children create their own topping on COOLED pot pies. Try topping them with olives, capers and peppers too, you can use anything they like to create fun or scary faces. Then return pot pies to the oven to melt the cheese and reheat. Take a picture and send us your kids and their creations, we will post them!

Harvest Pot Pies

Serves 6

Filling
1 pound country sausage
2 large apples, peeled, cored and diced into ½-inch chunks
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into ½-inch chunks
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping
2 cups Southern Biscuit® Formula L Biscuit Mix
1 cup dairy sour cream
6 slices American cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat six ramekins or one 9-inch round baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Crumble sausage into a medium to large skillet. Add diced apples, sweet potatoes, and chopped onions. Cook over medium low heat until the sausage is browned. Cover and continue cooking for about 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are just tender. Drain skillet.

Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour filling into each of the ramekins or the baking dish.

Combine the biscuit mix and sour cream. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Use a floured rolling pin or your floured hands to roll the dough to about 1/3-inch thick (slightly thinner than for biscuits). You want your dough to be the size of your dish so cut dough in a round and place it over the filling, sealing the edges of the dough to the sides of the baking dish. If using ramekins, place on a baking sheet..

Bake ramekins for 20 minutes, and the casserole for 30 minutes or until the biscuits are lightly browned. Let cool if children will be decorating them. Top cooled pot pies with cheese, to make Halloween scary faces as desired.

Return to oven to melt cheese and reheat the pot pies.

Recommend Us and Win!

Thanks to those of you who have written a recommendation for us! Some of you may not know you have that option.  See the illustration above?  Off to the right of our page there is a fairly new option to leave a recommendation for us.  Those of you that have been with our page from the beginning may not have seen this feature.  But currently when you “like” a page it allows you the option to recommend the business, product or page if you care to.

What:  We want to give all our fans an opportunity to leave a recommendation

Why: It helps people to know how great our products are.  Consider you are assisting  others to bake better:)

How: In the recommendation box underneath is a text box with “Write a Recommendation…”.  Click there and type your thoughts.

When: For the next week we will see who leaves us the best recommendation

Win: We will pick the best recommendation and send the winner some of our great products

Good luck and we look forward to reading your recommendations! Thanks in advance.

Game Time

If you are into tailgating or you prefer watching the game at home, either way – it is time to serve up fun foods.  Sure you can buy the usual chips and dips, but how fun is that?

Main dishes such as burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, wraps – they all go with fries. Even if these fries are the main dish, they will be a hit.

Homemade fries that are battered have lots of flavor and the batter helps keep them hot longer.  (A secret that restaurants have known for years.) Tenda-Bake Seasoned Flour is ready to go with the perfect seasoning that everyone loves!

Try this simple recipe and you will be hooked.

Chicken Fried Potatoes

Serves about 8

2 pounds baby or fingerling potatoes

1 cup buttermilk or milk

2 cups Tenda-Bake Seasoned Flour Mix

Peanut or vegetable oil to fill fryer

Slice potatoes 1/8-inch thick, only if they are larger than 1/8-inch thickness, and soak in cold buttermilk.  (If they are small fingerling potatoes, you do not need to slice.) You can leave the peel on the potatoes or remove it as you like.

Pour 2 cups of seasoned flour mix in a plastic or paper bag. Drain the potatoes and toss a few at a time with the seasoned flour mix.  Remove from the bag, dusting off any excess seasoned flour and return to the milk.  Soak briefly, drain and return the potatoes to the bag for a final coating. Continue until all of the potatoes are coated. (Using a colander, helps to drain and transfer the potatoes.)

Preheat oil in a deep heavy skillet filled no more than 1/3 with oil or a deep fryer.  Heat oil to 425 degrees. Cook in small batches so the potatoes do not touch.  Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.  Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels or a rack over a baking sheet.

Serve hot with ketchup.

A Winning Tailgate

When it comes to tailgating, nothing pleases a crowd more than the southern classic.

And while most of us have been known to pick up a bucket at the drive through, we all in our hearts know there is nothing better than the homemade version like grandma made in her cast iron skillet.  That chicken cooked in a skillet beats everybody else’s.  If you are going to eat fried chicken, why not the best?

Tenda-Bake Seasoned Flour simplified grandma’s recipe with a shortcut – seasoned flour just right (not too spicy, not to bland) ready to dust your fried chicken.  What could be simpler unless grandma came and cooked it for you? In about 20 minutes you can have the best chicken ever.

To go along with the chicken, take another shortcut by following the recipe on the Southern Biscuit Formula L Baking Mix package to make super simple buttery biscuits to go along with the chicken.  Like we said, why not the best?

Take your cookin’ to center field for memorable good times.

 

Southern Fried Chicken

1 whole chicken cut in pieces

2 cups buttermilk

1 package Tenda-Bake Seasoned Flour

Vegetable or peanut oil

Place chicken in a plastic container and cover with buttermilk.  Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.  If you don’t have time for this step, just dip the chicken in milk.  (The buttermilk tenderizes the chicken and is worth the trouble if you have the time.)

Pour seasoned flour into a large bowl or large plastic bag.  Drain the chicken and then dip the pieces one at a time into the bowl or shake in the plastic bag until well coated.  Set aside on a plate.

Preheat oil in a heavy skillet with 2-inch sides, add enough oil to come 1/8-inch up the sides.  Heat the oil to 350 degrees and test using a thermometer to insure it is hot enough or add a bit of the coating, it should sizzle and brown to a golden color quickly.  Don’t heat the oil until it smokes.

Beginning with the white meat, add the chicken to the hot oil, skin side down.  The oil should be half way up the pan.

Cook the chicken until it is golden brown on each side, about 10 to 12 minutes on each side until the chicken reaches 180 degrees.

White Chocolate Cream Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy

 

 

Chocolate gravy is seriously delicious.  It is a creamy chocolate fudge sauce that is spooned over biscuits.

We had never heard of it around Midstate Mills until a consumer contacted us and asked for the recipe, so we did some research.  It turns out Chocolate Gravy has actually been written about in food and culture magazine, Saveur   The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture states that it is popular in Appalachia (but we are nearly in Appalachia and had not heard of it) so it must be very regional.

We decided to add more chocolate by making White Chocolate Cream Biscuits. The biscuits are just three ingredients, Southern Biscuit ® Self-Rising Flour, cream, and white chocolate chips.  Southern Biscuit ® Self-Rising Flour is all soft wheat milled in Newton, North Carolina so it makes the texture light and fluffy.  We would not recommend making cream biscuits with just any old flour, they will come out tough.

Now, imagine dessert made in seconds, using ingredients you have at home, and it is inexpensive too.  Here’s a great chocolate combo.

 White Chocolate Biscuits

 

Makes 8 biscuits

2 cups Southern Biscuit ®  Self-Rising Flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Combine flour and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Stir in white chocolate chips.

Add heavy cream and mix until combined.  Dough will seem somewhat dryer than traditional biscuit dough.

Roll onto lightly floured surface, form a ball and pat or roll to ½-inch thick.  Cut using a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter.  Brush top with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Place on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until browned.

 

Chocolate Gravy

Makes about 2 cups.

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons Southern Biscuit ® All-Purpose Flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter

Combine cocoa, flour and sugar in a heavy saucepan.  Whisk in milk.  Heat over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 5 minutes.

Add vanilla and butter to hot mixture.  Serve warm over biscuits.

 

 

 

 

Share the Happiness!

We all know that Biscuits can make you happy! All this month those that like our Facebook page will be able to share a Biscuit “Gift” with their Facebook Friends. Spread the happiness. We have 9 varying Biscuits to make it more fun.  You can share as much as you want!  Start here –> http://on.fb.me/SBDGift

Have fun and let us know what you think about our Biscuit Gifts!

Back to School Tips Winner #3

 Amy Angelo

 

Her Back to School Tip:

We make TONS of pancakes on Sunday morning…after we eat our breakfast, i have the kids help me package up the leftovers in individual freezer bags.  The frozen pancakes can be quickly warmed up in the toaster or microwave during the week! They freeze wonderfully!

She wins a 4 pack of  Midstate Mills Pancake Mixes

You can be a winner also! Click here!

Back to School Tips Winner #2

Nikki Smith

Her tip:

“Back to School Boot Camp!

 Kids have to start their school schedule a week before school starts.  

That way they are not so tired that first morning.”

She wins a 4 pack of  Midstate Mills Pancake Mixes

You can be a winner also! Click here!

Back-to-School Tip Winner #1

Congratulations!

Jody Currin

Her winning tip -   I usually place a dollar in a note secretly hiding it in a pocket or book and on the note write to the best child a mom could ask for, here’s a little something extra to buy extras at lunch or to save for a rainy day, do good, mind your manners and tell your teacher that you appreciate them.

She wins a 4 pack of  Midstate Mills Pancake Mixes

You can be a winner also! Click here!