Category Archives: Mix It Up Friday

Food Friday – A Taste of Alaska

17 Friday Aug 2018

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Alaskan Sourdough Bread Mix

Earlier in the summer I spent twelve days in Alaska.  This was a bucket list trip for me.  Even though it was intended as a “once in a lifetime” trip, I had no real must-do’s or must see’s.  My goal was to be present and open to whatever the moment brought.

When I got home and was searching the King Arthur Flour website for the rest of our 2018 Sifted Together monthly mixes, I found the Alaskan Sourdough Bread Mix.  I chuckled and then hit that ADD TO CART button.  I laughed because while in Alaska, I had no idea Alaskan Sourdough was “a thing.”  What is it?  And, how did I miss it while I was there?

Looking back, I think I know how I missed that Alaskan sourdough is a thing.  When I left on my trip, I was three months into my Weight Watchers journey.  All of my friends who had been on cruises before warned me to be prepared to gain wight while I was gone because food on the ship would be delicious and plentiful.  Though I didn’t want to deprive myself of enjoying the eating part of this adventure, I also did not want to undo all of the work I had done. I made a promise to myself that I would be mindful and intentional about what I consumed while away.  Fortunately, in addition to all the less than “waist-friendly” choices that were offered onboard the ship, both fresh fruit and veggies were available almost around the clock.  It was relatively easy to make good choices!

If you are wondering, I ate three satisfying meals a day and I had dessert with dinner every night; I never felt that I had deprived myself in any way and I actually lost a pound and a half while on vacation.  I’m sure that walking almost 200 flights of stairs during the seven days on the ship and the almost non-stop adrenaline rush that I had going on helped with that, I think.

Also, when we were in port, though many local restaurants were suggested to us, I did not take time to stop and eat while on shore.  There were too many things  to see and do besides eat.  And, I’m not a seafood, or reindeer, eater so it was easy to pass and wait for meals back on the ship. 

I was mesmerized by the amazing sunrises and sunsets.

The wildlife.

The highlight of my trip was overcoming an intense fear of heights to take a helicopter ride to and walk on a glacier.

All of the blues were rich, abundant, and beautiful!

I guess this is how I missed the Alaskan Sourdough Bread!

All that to say that food and eating is not where my thoughts went first while in Alaska.  That, in and of itself, is a change in habit for me!  As I said, seeing and doing were the more appealing options.

So back to the Alaskan Sourdough Bread…

I had to look up exactly what it is, how it differs from other sourdough breads.

I found this exact statement on several different websites, ultimately tracing it back to Wikipedia.

The sourdough tradition was carried into Alaska and the western Canadian territories during the Klondike Gold Rush. Conventional leavening such as yeast and baking soda were much less reliable in the conditions faced by the prospectors. Experienced miners and other settlers frequently carried a pouch of starter either around their neck or on a belt; these were fiercely guarded to keep from freezing. However, freezing does not kill a sourdough starter; excessive heat does. Old hands came to be called “sourdoughs”, a term that is still applied to any Alaskan old-timer.

Here is another interesting read, followed by a few recipes, if you haven’t read enough about sourdough already.

And now to King Arthur Flour ‘s mix for Alaskan Sourdough bread…

First of all, though sourdough is used as a leavening agent instead of yeast, this mix using regular yeast.  The sourdough flavor comes from a dehydrated rye flour starter.  

In addition to the mix and the included yeast packet, the following ingredients are added:

  •  1 TBS vegetable oil
  • 1 1/4 cup warm water

Though dough can be mixed and kneaded by hand, using the dough hook on a stand mixer, or in a bread machine set on the dough cycle.  The instructions say that the bread’s first rise, in which the dogs should double, is about an hour.  Mine took about an hour and a half to double.

After the first rise, the dough is shaped.  It can either be made as two small loaves that are baked on a baking sheet or one larger extra crusty loaf that is baked in a dutch oven.  I chose the latter.  Once placed on the pan of your choice, the dough again rises until it has doubled, 30 minutes to an hour.  Again, mine was took the maximum amount of time.  

The baking instructions are slightly different for the loaves baked on the sheet and the one done in the dutch oven.  The dutch oven version is placed in a cold oven to begin the baking.  The other is placed in a preheated oven.  Be sure to follow the appropriate instructions!

I can’t compare the taste of this bread to true Alaskan Sourdough Bread, but I can say that it is a tasty, chewy, crusty bread that stands up to whatever you want to put on it – butter, peanut butter, or your favorite sandwich meat.  Or, it is delicious perfectly plain, which is how most of our loaf was eaten!

If you want that unique sourdough taste without the responsibility of caring for a starter, this mix is the perfect solution!

On another note, the photograph used in the background with the bread is the work of a talented photographer I met in Skagway, Alaska.  His name is Barrett Hedges, of Bearhead Photography.  Though I took a lot of my own photos, I wanted an image that summed up my Alaska experience in case mine didn’t turn out well.  And, I am always happy to support a fellow artist!  Take a moment to visit his gallery of images.  They show Alaska at its finest!

Mix It Up Friday -Pancakes and Waffles

03 Friday Aug 2018

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from Tracey G

Essential Goodness Protein Pancake Mix

With the new school year approaching, I’m on the look-out for easy breakfasts for Harry, that are fairly good-for-him and that will keep him going until lunchtime or snack time. I’m not exactly the most with-it person at 6 am (or earlier), so anything I can have ready the night before and just reheat the next morning – I’m all for it! And pancakes (or waffles!) are excellent for that sort of thing. Make a bunch, freeze them then pop them in the toaster or toaster oven to reheat. Boom. Breakfast is served!

As soon as I saw the Essential Goodness Protein Pancake Mix on the King Arthur Flour website, I knew I had to give it try, it was offering everything I was looking for! And this mix boasts 14g of protein per 3-pancake serving. That’s pretty darn good in my book!

One little thing though, I don’t have the best relationship with pancakes. Not the making of the batter, but actually cooking them! I have one of those griddle things that span two burners on your stove, and while it’s convenient to cook at least 6 at a time, the heating tends to be uneven and it’s a constant battle for me to get them fairly even looking in the browning department. Usually, when we have pancakes for breakfast/brunch or dinner, I make the batter and Jeremy cooks the pancakes! So, I was keeping my fingers crossed that I could actually get them cooked and look halfway decent for appearances-sake! I really need to replace my electric skillet that died years ago, I miss greatly…

But anyway, onward to the matter (or batter!) at hand. This mix was EASY to mix to prepare – just add eggs, oil and milk. Or if you prefer a vegan alternative they give the directions for that too – it’s for a small batch (6), and it just involves 1 cup of mix, water and oil.  You can also make this mix up for a waffle-version, and for that you just increase the oil! They also provide some alternative ways to use the mix on the Essential Goodness Protein Pancake Mix Product Page!

When it comes to cooking the pancakes, they recommend 1/4 cupfuls per pancake – it’s stated you should get 20-24 (or 5 waffles). I got exactly 24, so that was right on the mark.

After they were done – I had them on cooling racks so the bottoms wouldn’t get soggy since I knew I would be stacking these between wax paper later to freeze them, Harry popped in and snitched an “ugly one” as he called it, and ate it out of hand like a cookie! They were right then given a two-thumbs-up review and he asked when he might be able to have more. Of course he got the standard “after they’ve had their portraits taken” answer! But after his taste-testing, I felt compelled to give one a taste too – and I agree, they are very yummy! Not too sweet, just right if you ask me.

After they had their photos taken, we all had a nice little brunch of pancakes and I’m happy to report that they reheated nicely in the microwave, a 3-pancake serving, wrapped in a paper towel for about 25 seconds. I too had the recommended serving size (3) and I can say that they are filling! Normally I eat way more than 3 (unfortunately for my hips, lol), but with these – I’m happy and content with that serving size!

I can state with confidence I will buy this mix again – this is something I can mix up in a hurry and get prepared to be pulled out for school morning breakfasts! It’s time and cost-effective (at the time of this writing they are selling for 4.95 a box) if he eats a serving of 3 on school mornings, that’s about a month’s worth of breakfasts right there! Totally worth it for me!

Oh! And as a side note, a little tip I discovered in my make-my-mornings-painless-as-possible quest, are the little plastic souffle cups with lids – I can pre-portion out some syrup (or anything else small really) the night before for the week or just the amount needed the next day, snap on the lid and I don’t have to worry about the disaster-potential of me trying to pour sticky stuff in early morning! I found them at Amazon, they were really inexpensive and I’ve actually found tons of uses for them!!

from Kris B.

Belgian waffle Mix

These are not your mother’s waffles!

Well, they are not my mother’s waffles.

When I was a kid, pancakes and waffles were a favorite dinner for my mom and me during times when my dad was deployed.  Pancakes and waffles were quick, easy, and we both loved them.  This was a quick and easy meal because my mom whipped out the Bisquick, added a few basic ingredients, and they were done.

I still love waffles and pancakes at any mealtime, but I now make mine from scratch.  It really isn’t that much more trouble than using a mix.  When I decided to try King Arthur Flour’s Belgian Waffle Mix, my head went back to the simplicity of those quick meals of my childhood.  I planned that Weber and I have would have the waffles for dinner.

About 4pm, I started slicing the fruit to top the waffles.  (The big change from my childhood waffles is that now we top them with yogurt and fruit rather than butter and syrup.)  I then reached for the box to whip up the waffle mix.  It was not until this point that I read the instructions.  How difficult could waffles from a box be, right?  Well, to my surprise, there was a little more to the making of these waffles than there is to the Bisquick waffles.

The King Arthur Flour Belgian waffles contain yeast.  And you guessed it…that means that the yeast needs to proof…OVERNIGHT!  Yep, the batter is mixed, rests at room temperature for an hour, and then in the refrigerator overnight.  Aside from this minor little detail, the making of the batter is simple.  You add warm water, milk, and eggs.  As I usually do in baked goods, I used almond milk.

There went our dinner plans. 🙂  In case you are wondering, Weber had hot dogs and I had an English muffin with peanut butter that night for dinner.  On the upside, we enjoyed a really nice breakfast the next day!

The waffles themselves are delicious!  The box says that it makes 10 7 inch round waffles.  I have a Breville waffle maker that makes four 4″ waffles at a time.  A box of the Belgian waffle mix made fourteen 4 inch waffles.  They cooked nicely on the Belgian waffle setting at medium darkness.

The waffles themselves are not sweet, so topping them with syrup or sweet fruit does not make them too sweet.  I think they would be really good topped with ice cream, bananas, and a little hot fudge sauce.  You get banana split and waffle cone all at once!  I froze my extra waffles.  After I give them a try as a vehicle for ice cream, I’ll report back to you!

Making Belgian waffles from this mix instead of completely from scratch saves a little mixing time.  The fact that the batter rests overnight gives them a fantastic made-from-scratch taste.  If you learn from my mistake and plan appropriately, this mix is well worth trying!

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert…the King Arthur Belgian Waffle Mix fits the bill!

Mix It Up Friday : Seeing Double – Double Duty Scone Mix & Double Chocolate Cookies!

15 Friday Jun 2018

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from Kris B.
French Toast Scone Mix Bread

In our Mixed Up Friday post last month, Tracey and I had both made scones from King Arthur Flour mixes.  We mentioned that on the King Arthur website were suggestions for ways to use these mixes to make things other than scones.  Since I had a lonely box of French Toast Scone Mix sitting in my pantry, I figured I would give one of those alternative options to scones a try.

My choices were pancakes, coffee cake, shortcake, muffins, and bread.  All the choices sounded good.  I’ll be honest and tell you that I opted for the bread because it was the least offensive with regard to calories.  Rather then following the directions on the box for scones, instead, to the mix is added:

  • salt
  • vegetable oil
  • milk
  • an egg
  • optional white sugar

The optional is 2-3 tablespoons in case you want a sweeter bread.  I did add two tablespoons of sugar not so much for the added sweetness, but because I hoped it would help to create a “crisper” bread crust.  As I always do, I also used almond milk instead of cow’s milk.  That substitute is 1:1.

The dry ingredients are whisked together in a mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, or mixing cup with pouring spout, the oil, milk, and egg are whisked together and then added to the dry ingredients.  The batter is then poured into a greased 9X5 loaf pan and popped in a 375 degree oven for 50-60 minutes.  The most difficult part of this recipe is remembering to tent the bread during the final 15-20 minutes of baking!

This mix’s french toast flavor comes from cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as cinnamon chips.  I will say that the smell of this stuff baking is almost as good as eating it!

To me, the final product was lighter, not as dense, as most sweet breads that I have made in the past. It is possible that using almond milk contributed to the lighter texture.  The bread also seemed a bit oily to me.  I am tempted to try this recipe again, but next time substituting unsweetened applesauce for the oil.  Like the milk substitution, applesauce for oil is also 1:1.  Because the flavor of this mix is wonderful, working with it to get what I want is really a no-brainer!

And if you want French Toast Scones, follow the directions on the box and enjoy!  I have never been disappointed by any of King Arthur scone mixes!

from Tracey G.

Essential Goodness Double Chocolate Cookie Mix

What can I say? This has to be one of the easiest things I’ve ever done/made! The EG Double Chocolate Cookie Mix is crazy simple! The only ingredients I contributed was 6 tbsp of butter and 1 large egg. That’s it.

The box states it can make 12-14 large cookies, that’s if you form the dough into 1.5″ balls. I used a smaller scoop, about a teaspoon size. (I actually used this one I treated myself to recently in preparation for Christmas cookie baking: Teaspoon Cookie Scoop) It made about 3 dozen fun little cookies.

As for the final outcome? They’re super yummy – think brownie in a cookie form! That’s what they taste like to me. I was really pleased with them and this mix. This mix also has various other treats you can make with it, and they can be found here on the Essential Goodness Double Chocolate Cookie Mix Product Page.

I can safely say it would be a handy and tasty mix to have hanging about the pantry for sure!!

Mix It Up Friday -Scones for the Holiday Weekend

25 Friday May 2018

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from Tracey G.

Very Berry Scone Mix from King Arthur Flour

What perfect timing for Mix Week – cruising into a Holiday Weekend! I do appreciate something fast when the schedule gets hectic – even if it’s a fun kind of hectic!

The King Arthur Flour scone mixes are always easy and I’ve not had a disappointing experience yet! And, the scone mixes are so versatile! They provide you with “recipes” for transforming the mix into various other goodies like muffins, pancakes, coffeecakes etc. Just check out their Scone Mix Magic page for them!

To make the Very Berry Scone Mix, you just need a few ingredients:

  • Salt
  • Butter
  • Milk
  • Egg

You start by adding the salt to the mix, then mixing/cutting in your butter. Once that’s done, combine milk and egg, add that egg/milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. You’ve got a few options for shaping, you can go the traditional triangular way by patting dough into a circle on baking pan and cutting or make drop-scones. I used my scone pan for mine!

I couldn’t wait to try these as the smelled so very yummy while they were baking! The “berry” comes from their Jammy Bits in the strawberry, blueberry and raspberry flavors. I love those little things as they’re made from real fruit, not “fruit-flavored” bits like in some other mixes out there. I also like that you can buy them separately to add to your own creation!

But, back to the Very Berry Scones – they are delicious! They tasted as good as they smelled while they were baking. I will be buying more of this mix as they make a yummy addition to your morning coffee or in the evening as a treat!

 

from Kris B.

Peaches and Cream Scone Mix from King Arthur Flour

I am departing from my healthy, low-calorie, Weight Watcher’s point friendly food here and moving toward pure decadence!.. These may look like basic drop biscuits, but in reality they are peachy rich goodness!

I suspect that the basic scone mix for the King Arthur Flour Peaches and Cream Scones is exactly the same as that of the Very Berry Scone Mix that Tracey made except with Peach Jammy Bits.  Though the Peaches and Cream Scones offer an alternative recipe that uses butter and milk as it’s liquid, the primary recipe calls for the addition of:

  • salt
  • egg
  • heavy cream

I used the cream and have no regrets! 🙂

I generally am not a fan of boxed mixes that include “fruit” because normally they taste fake.  That is not the case with this mix.  From the mixing of the ingredients to the baking, the aroma of fresh peachiness was exceptional.  Thankfully, I was not disappointed when it came to the taste test.  I had my daughter, who is much more of a “food snob” that I am, try one of the scones and she was equally impressed.  That say something!

The one thing that I will do differently the next time I make these is rather than making eight generously sized scones, I will make them smaller, aiming for 12-16.  Even at half the size, paired with morning coffee or afternoon tea, you will have a tasty and satisfying treat.

As Tracey also mentioned, the Scone Mix Magic page offered by King Arthur Flour provides even more options for using your scone mixes.

King Arthur Flour often has sales on their mixes.  Keep an eye out.  You will want to have a few of these mixes on hand just in case!

Have a safe and blessed Memorial Day weekend.

 

Mix It Up Friday – Circles and Bars

29 Sunday Apr 2018

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from Tracey G

Buttermilk Doughnut Mix from King Arthur Flour

I’m really glad it was mix week – I’ve had one heck of a week that has not left me in the best of dispositions! To give you an example, one of the mornings getting Harry’s breakfast ready before school, I went to get the new Hershey’s syrup out of my cabinet. Somehow, my 90% full KAF Vanilla fell, the cap shattered and I watched at the very least, 1/3 of it pour out onto my kitchen floor. Now, I’m sure you’re all aware of vanilla prices these days so I know you’ll understand when I say I was literally almost in tears!

And that’s just one of the things this past week, so yep, I was ready for something easy and yummy. Enter the King Arthur Flour Buttermilk Doughnut Mix. This qualified as easy and it gave me a chance to play with my Doughnut Pan I’d bought from them awhile ago! Yes!

Ingredients you supply are simple:

  • Eggs
  • Melted Butter or Vegetable Oil
  • Milk or Water

That’s it. As most of you know since I mention it enough, I am watching my cholesterol, so I used the vegetable oil instead of melted butter, and water instead of milk. Mixed it up in one bowl, poured into my prepared-with-cooking-spray doughnut pan and baked about 10 minutes. I got 8 out the batch, they state 6 as the norm. Another thing about their doughnut mixes, I know Kris has mentioned before, is that they give you two individual packages of mix – and each makes 6. Which works out really nicely I think!

I just made an easy glaze I kind of whipped up by winging it, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and some corn syrup, and added some pink color. Spooned it over and added white sprinkles. Done.

This is not necessarily a “plain vanilla-type” doughnut, it does have a hint of cinnamon as well. So, don’t expect a “plain” doughnut, even though it’s very light, it’s still there. But I guess I will leave this on the review of Harry-the-9-year-old:

“I love your doughnuts mom!!” and he ate 3-4 of the 8… ’nuff said.

from Kris B.

Trail Bar Mix

I too am thankful that this was mix week, but not because my vanilla shattered all over the kitchen floor; it was just a super busy week (as is evidenced by the fact that we are posting Food Friday on Sunday. :-))

I go in fits and spirts of making homemade granola, but have never gotten on the granola bar making bandwagon.  When I saw the King Arthur Flour Trail Bar Mix, I figured it would be a good first step toward homemade trail bars.

The Trail Bar Mix contains whole grain oats, cane sugar, oat flour, cranberries, whole millet, chia seeds, molasses, flax seeds, cornstarch and salt.

To this mix you add:

  • 1/2 stick melted butter *
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon water*

*The mix offers slight variations in the amounts of added ingredients depending on whether you prefer chewy or crunch bars.  I made the chewy bars using the above list of ingredients.  For crunch bars, the water is eliminated and the amount of butter is increased to 3/4 of a stick.

One of the reasons that I have shied away from making bars is that I don’t regularly keep all of the grains and seeds in my pantry.  Making the bars from a mix relieves that burden!

I loved the texture of these bars.  anything with oatmeal in almost always is a winner for me.  I found these bars to be a tad too sweet.  But I must add here that I have not had any sugar other than that which is naturally occurring in fruit for six weeks or so.  No cookies or baked goods!  It’s killing me, but the scale is happy. 🙂  Anyway, that may be why these bars tasted overly sweet to me.  That said, the rest of my family gobbled them up!

 

Mix It Up Friday – Spring Mixes

30 Friday Mar 2018

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country blueberry muffin mix

I am thankful that this is mix week because it is also Holy Week.  As a church musician, that means little free time between singing for the Triduum services in addition to my regular work responsibilities.  Simplicity is the motto that has gotten me to the end of the week still upright and fairly coherent!

Blueberries are a favorite at my house making King Arthur Flour’s Country Blueberry Muffin Mix seemed like a nice treat to have around during the busy weekend.  The mix requires that you add to it oil or butter, eggs, and milk.  I used almond milk and oil.  All of the ingredients are mixed together, poured into a prepared muffin tin, and baked for 18-22 minutes.  That’s it!  It doesn’t get much simpler than that!

We are still being careful about eating too many sweets and snacks at my house, so I decided that rather than making the dozen regular sized muffins that the mix makes, I would make mini muffins.  I got 60 mini muffins. I used about a TBS or a little more for each muffin.  They baked for only 10 minutes.

This is a great mix to keep in your pantry “just in case.”  Whether you need a quick breakfast or a snack, these muffins are quick and easy to make…and delicious!  They have a strong flavor of blueberries, which is what you want from a blueberry muffin, right?

To those of you that celebrate Happy Easter.

Happy spring to everyone!

from Tracey G.

Lemon Coffee House Cake Mix

Well, this week has been quite the adventure, with Easter coming up, an unexpected illness or two, so let me say I was extra double happy that it was Mix Week! Not only was I in need of a yummy treat, I was also in need of something fast and easy!

This Lemon Coffee House Cake Mix from King Arthur Flour was all of those things rolled into one – easy, fast and yummy! It’s a lovely lemon pound cake-style cake, with a yummy lemony icing they provide to top it with.

The cake mix required very little by way of extra ingredients  for the cake you provide:

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 stick of softened butter
  • 1/3 cup milk

For the icing:

  • 1 tbsp of butter, melted
  • 1 tbsp of milk (or more depending on the desired thickness of your icing)

Everything gets dumped into the mixer to be combined, then poured in the pan and baked about 45-55 min, mine needed about 50 minutes. You let it cool, mix up your icing ingredients and spread or pour it on. Done. Slice and eat! I should mention that, they also have an alternative preparation with involving these ingredients:

  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil instead of butter
  • 1/3 cup water instead of milk

I did notice that online, the back of the package has those amounts for oil and water reversed, but the product page has the ingredients as I listed out, which made more sense to me.

But that’s all there is to it. It’s very easy way to have a yummy informal treat that does go great with coffee! I have a feeling that on their next mix sale I will be picking up a couple to have around on hand!

Mix It Up Friday – Rich, Dark, and Delicious

23 Friday Feb 2018

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from Tracey G.

Chocolate Indulgence Cake Mix from King Arthur Flour

This past week has been a rough one, as you all know back in January Kris got to deal with influenza knocking her flat, well, this week it’s our household. Harry tested positive for influenza on Monday at his school’s clinic and has been home sick all week, as they have to stay out a mandatory 5 days. The clinic in his school is an Extension Unit of a local area Health Clinic/System, so they can do anything the regular doctor’s office can – and only deal with children (and they have helped us adults out a few times as well, out of the goodness of their hearts!). It’s wonderful, a huge step above when I was in school and we just had the school nurse who could only either send us home or back to class! It’s also nice because they pretty much know all the kids, so they aren’t just numbers to them. I was able to make an appointment for Monday and get him tested, and they even supplied the school’s office (just down the hall from the clinic) with the doctor’s note to excuse his absence, which originally was to be until Thursday, but after touching base with the N.P., she ended up extending to Friday – today. Unfortunately, this illness has now sunk its teeth and claws into Jeremy and I. Thank goodness it’s mix week, easy for the sick to make!

And that brings me to – in a roundabout way, to my mix for the week. I’d chosen this mix, Chocolate Indulgence Cake Mix in honor of Harry’s birthday, which is today, the 23rd, and mine which is tomorrow, the 24th. Also unfortunate as we are all sick! Not much fun to be had this weekend, so we’ll have to bump any fun to another weekend as soon as we can.

But I’d thought a cake would be a fun mix since Mix Week fell on Birthday Weekend. I’d decided on this particular mix, Chocolate Indulgence Cake a long time ago as it sounded super yummy and super easy. It’s a one-pan cake! It’s also flourless – and comes with the chocolate wafers to make a ganache coating out of, to finish the cake.

The ingredients are simple – all you supply are the eggs, butter and heavy cream for the ganache coating. That’s it. The only trouble I had with this cake was getting it out of the pan, which you cool it in for 2 hours. It didn’t stick, because when I finally did get it out of the pan, it wasn’t broken or anything, but I think a vacuum had created itself, thereby holding the cake firmly in the pan.

And once it’s out, don’t count on being able to move it around on your serving/presentation plate or cake stand, that’s not happening unless you want it in pieces. The texture is like a cheesecake without the cheese, lol. I had to live with it not being quite where I wanted it on my presentation plate. But oh well. No harm, no foul.

Now, the taste-test. Jeremy and I taste-tested it the day I made it – the day before I took my photos. We both were in agreement that this was not like any boxed mix we’d ever had. It was upscale-restaurant worthy all the way. He made the comment that all it needed was a drizzle of a raspberry sauce on the plate as garnish and it was ready for the public! So, the next day when I was debating on how to photograph it – I made a homemade raspberry sauce I’d found a recipe for somewhere online. It was super easy, just some frozen raspberries I’d had, a little water, sugar and lemon juice and I used a fine-mesh sieve to make it seedless. I used a bit of KAF’s Instant ClearJel to help thicken it a little as I think I had too much water in it to – I didn’t want my “drizzle” to become a “puddle”!

And that’s all there is to it. It’s a mix of cocoa powder, ground chocolate and sugar for the most part, then the chocolate ganache on top. It’s creamy and wonderful – I didn’t find it either too sweet or too bitter/chocolaty at all. It was just right in my opinion, and a little sliver goes a long way. I am really blown away that this was a mix, there’s no way I’d ever suspect that if I didn’t know any better! If you want an impressive dessert for company, or even just an indulgent treat for yourself – this is the mix to cover all of that and more!!

Dark Pumpernickel Bread Mix from King Arthur Flour

It’s no secret that I am a bread fan.  Not only do enjoy eating it, I enjoy the making of it equally as much.  So, it felt a little bit like cheating when I decided to make bread from a mix this week.  I chose the Dark Pumpernickel Bread Mix because Pumpernickel Bread, though a taste I enjoy, is not one that I make at home in my normal rotation of bread baking.  It is also a favorite of my husband’s.  Since he humored me by spending last weekend with me and hundreds of other woman photographers at Click Away, the pumpernickel is a nice treat for him.  I may even use it to make him a Patty Melt this weekend.

I have to admit that making bread where all I have to do is dump the mix, a cup and a half of warm water, and two tablespoons of melted butter or oil into a bowl and then knead it for a few minutes was really nice!  My least favorite part of bread baking is rounding up all of the ingredients on the kitchen counter and then putting them away.  Making this bread from the box was painless!

The direction say that once mixed, you may have to add additional flour or water until you have a soft, smooth dough.  I feel like my dough was a bit sticky when I shaped it for its first rise, but I decided not to add any additional flour.  I didn’t want to run the risk of a dry loaf of bread.

The suggested first rise time for this loaf is an hour.  Then, it is shaped and placed in a 9×5 bread pan and rises again until it has crowned the pan by an inch.  The bread bakes for 35-40 minutes in a 375 degree oven.  I split the difference and baked my for 40 minutes and it is perfect!  And, not dry.

If I can get past my thought that baking from a box is somehow cheating, I will keep a box of the Dark Pumpernickel Bread Mix in the pantry for when we need something a little different for our lunchtime sandwiches.  I think I can justify this boxed mix by saying that I don’t have any room in my pantry for another bin of specialty flour.  Rye is not one that I routinely keep on hand.

Don’t tell anyone, but I might have to try a few more of King Arthur Flour’s bread mixes.  Sshhh….

Mix It Up Friday – Holiday Flavors

25 Saturday Nov 2017

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As we approach the hectic holiday season, mix it up takes on a whole new meaning! Decorating, holiday events, shopping, on top of all of the “regular” life’s stuff make for crazy times. Though we enjoy holiday baking from scratch, sometimes you need a “lifeline” in the form of a mix when it comes to an unexpected gift or a need for a last minute gift. With King Arthur Flour mixes, we are here to help!

This week, I am baking with King Arthur Flour’s Traditional Gingerbread Cake and Cookie Mix. What a versatile mix! Notice the cake or cookies in the name. It can be used to make either, or both.  And, as an added bonus, if you choose to make cookies, you have a choice between rolled and cut shapes, or drop cookies. This is almost certainly a “must have” mix to keep in your pantry just in case!

I probably should have ordered two boxes and tried both the cake and the cookies, but at the time I was ordering, I was in a cookie mood. Based on their delicious taste though, I do feel confident in saying that the cake would not disappoint!

It doesn’t get any easier than dumping butter, egg, water, and the package of mix in the mixer bowl and turning it on! If you make the cake, the recipe uses vegetable oil instead of butter.

As I said, I made the sugar topped drop cookies. I used a cookie scoop (approximately 2 TBS…it didn’t have a measure on it) and dipped the balls in King Arthur Flour Sparkling White Sugar. They are then placed on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet, flattened a bit, and baked for 12-14 minutes. I got two dozen cookies.  Mine were bigger than the box suggests.

Really, it doesn’t get any easier!

King Arthur Flour’s Traditional Gingerbread Cake and Cookie Mix

King Arthur Flour’s Traditional Gingerbread Cake and Cookie Mix – 6 pack

 

from Tracey G

I had bought this King Arthur Flour Cranberry Orange Scone Mix so I could compare it with the homemade version of Cranberry Orange Scones I’d made back in September. I wanted to see if a mix could be as yummy as a homemade version of the same item, and I am happy to report that yes, this mix performs admirably! It’s every bit as good as the homemade version – I have been thoroughly enjoying them! And, as per suggestion on the box, I made up a quick icing/glaze to gild the lily with and it just ups the “yum” factor in my opinion!

It’s a very, and I mean VERY simple mix to make. It requires a few ingredients from you, such as salt, butter, milk and an egg. The salt gets mixed into the mix, the butter then gets cut into it (I used my pastry cutter for that) and then you combine the 1/2 cup of milk with the egg, and add it to the dry ingredients in the bowl, and mix until just combined. At this point, you have two options, you can either use a scoop/spoon/measuring cup and make “drop” scones, or you can pat into an 8-inch circle and cut into wedges, 8 to be exact. I chose to pat mine into a circle, purely for the aesthetic reason – I like my scones shaped into triangles!

Now, you bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Cool for at least 5 before eating or glazing then eating. I chose to mix up some glaze, and, I then “glazed as needed”. Their glaze recipe on the box calls for powdered sugar, orange juice and orange zest. I chose to just go with simple glaze from powdered sugar, milk and a smidge of vanilla extract. And let me say it was pretty darn yummy with that, lol.

That about sums up my experience with the KAF mix for Cranberry Orange Scones. There’s really not much to report on the taste/texture other than they are easy to make, quick to bake and delicious to eat – I don’t think any more needs to be said!

King Arthur Flour Cranberry Orange Scone Mix

You can also check out the page they have for using any scone mix of your choosing to make some other yummy treats as well! Soc check out: “Scone Mix Magic”

I’d also like to add a little note here that in honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Kris and I have decided to add an extra little “goody” to our Sift Magazine Giveaway – have a peek at the post to find out!! We think you’ll like it! 😉

Mix It Up Friday – Just Treats and No Tricks!

27 Friday Oct 2017

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Before I get going on this week’s mix, Apple Cinnamon Doughnut Mix from King Arthur Flour, I have to get something off of my chest.  As delicious as these things are, by definition, they are not doughnuts.  “Real” doughnuts are deep-fried.  These are baked, not deep-fried, which is a good thing because I don’t deep fry anything at home.  I don’t each much fried food, but when I do, I want it to be worth the fat and calories and cooked properly.  I save the occasional order of sweet potato fries or chicken tenders for a meal out.

Since King Arthur Flour’s Apple Doughnut Mix does not really make doughnuts, the nerd in me tried to figure out a better name for them.  The best that I could come up with is  torus muffins.  The word torus comes from geometry.  It is a “surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle.  If the axis does not touch the circle, the surface has a ring shape and is called a torus of revolution.  A bagel is also an example of a baked torus.

Now that we have that clear, there is not too much to this week’s mix. To the mix, eggs, milk, and butter or vegetable oil are added.  The ingredients are mixed, poured into a doughnut pan, and baked for 8-10 minutes.  I found that baking for eight minutes yielded a more moist “doughnut,” which is my preference.

Each boxed mix comes with two individual pouches that each makes a half-dozen doughnuts or twenty-four mini doughnuts.  The one potential stumbling block with this mix is that you do need a doughnut pan.

Once baked you can add your own toppings to your doughnuts torus muffins.  The recipes for various options are included on the box as well as on the King Arthur Flour website.  I made the Easy Vanilla Glaze to which I added some cinnamon.  My glaze did not run and make a pretty topping, but it tasted good! 🙂  Other options include a cider glaze or just topping sugar or cinnamon sugar.

For those of you whose nerdiness tends toward etymology rather than geometry, I have something for you too.  Torus is the Latin word for cushion.  Now this all makes sense!  All of these torus baked goods – bagels, torus muffins, and real doughnuts – provide a torus for my clunis!!!

 

from Tracey G.

First, I’d like to say that this was the perfect week for our Mix Food Friday to land – it’s been hectic! I had Harry’s class Halloween party to make treats for by this Friday, and help out at the party too. So, trying to make sure that everything was accomplished in a timely manner was important all the way around – especially to my sanity! And a mix always (well, most always!) fits the bill for get-it-done-quick.

I chose the Coconut Cupcakes + Frosting Mix from the King Arthur Flour Essential Goodness line. That’s the line where they donate a bit of the proceeds from the sale of the mix, to donate a meal to Feeding America.

Since I was making cupcakes this week for the mix offering and I was in the Halloween spirit  – I transformed them into fun treats for home or for a party! These cupcakes with their yummy white vanilla and coconut milk frosting are wonderful blank canvases for any way you want to go! Change up sprinkles and cupcake wrappers and you could do any holiday or celebration you wanted, quickly and easily. Sky is the limit with these lovelies!

The mixes are super simple to prepare, and involved ingredients I always have on hand anyway – butter, milk and an egg. Butter, milk and the egg for the batter, and butter and a couple teaspoons of milk for the frosting mix. That’s it. The cupcakes are easy to prepare and bake, and the frosting mix is a snap to put together. Let me say here too about the frosting mix – not only is it yummy, but it makes a generous amount as well. I didn’t even use all of it in the frosting of mine, and I wasn’t shy about piping it on!

If you want to try something a little different – these coconut cupcakes are wonderful. I could’ve eaten the cake plain, it was nice and moist, and, I could’ve eaten  the frosting out of the bowl with a spoon and been happy. But combine the two together and it’s fabulously scrumptious happiness!

P.S. If you visit the Coconut Cupcakes + Frosting Mix product page, they have some fun twists on other things you cam make using it!

 

Mix It Up Friday – Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

29 Friday Sep 2017

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from Tracey G.

Nearing the end of September, I’m still thinking apples, but also starting to think pumpkin! So, when I saw the King Arthur Flour mix for Pumpkindoodle Cookies, I decided I needed to try them! I love Snickerdoodles, and in my opinion the addition of pumpkin and spices could only add to them – and I was correct!

This mix was super easy to pull together, all it required of me, by way of ingredients, was a stick of butter and one egg. That’s it! The cinnamon-sugar to roll them in before baking is provided for you, which was a really nice inclusion.

You blend the mix along with the butter and egg, and it does come together quickly. Once you have a smooth dough, you scoop by the tablespoonful and roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mix. I used my cookie dough scoop to make them, and it was super easy to get them from the bowl, to the cinnamon-sugar and onto the baking sheet – and lastly, into a 350° F oven for about 13-15 minutes. When the cookies come out of the oven, they cool on the cookie sheets for 15 minutes. I then transferred mine to a rack to finish cooling.

We all enjoyed these immensely – both Harry and Jeremy have pretty much demolished the whole batch between the two of them, I think I’ve had maybe at the very most, 3 out of the 22 I got out of it. It says it makes 20, so I was pretty close –  I guess I got a couple bonus cookies, lol. They are reminiscent of a molasses cookie  with the addition of pumpkin, plus pumpkin pie spices, and then the coating they received of cinnamon-sugar gave them the Snickerdoodle trait. They were not dry at all, but moist and chewy and have kept their chewy texture. I absolutely loved this Pumpkindoodle Cookie Mix – it’s simple, easy to prepare and yummy to eat, what’s not to love?

 

from Kris B.

I am not one of those people who is beating down the door at Starbcucks when the Pumpkin Spice Lattes return each fall.  Yes, I do like pumpkin spice…a lot, but I much prefer it in baked goods rather than coffee.  Cinnamon, cloves, allspice…those are the flavors of fall to me.  Admittedly, my favorite baked pumpkin spice recipe is one for pumpkin bread given to me by my mom, but I was willing to give King Arthur Flour’s Pumpkin and Spice Muffin Mix a try.

Despite that this mix says right on the box “Do not eat raw mix, dough, or batter,” I ate a spoonful of the batter as I scraped the bowl.  I was surprised by a heavy molasses taste.  It wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t what I was expecting.  The flavor is somewhere between traditional pumpkin bread flavors and gingerbread, leaning more towards the gingerbread.  In very small, faint, vertical text, King Arthur does say next to the name on the box that molasses is a signature ingredient in these muffins.  Once you know to expect molasses rather than cinnamon and allspice, the muffins tasty.

Requiring only the addition of three eggs, a cup of water, and 1/3 of a cup of oil, to the contents of mix, the batter for the muffins comes together quickly.  It can either be made into a loaf or muffins.  The instructions say that the box makes a dozen muffins. I got fourteen standard muffins.  As with Tracey and her cookies, this was bonus week!

These muffins are great with coffee and fruit for breakfast, as a sweet treat after lunch, or as a snack any time of day.  Like the traditional “pumpkin pie” spices, molasses too is one of those flavors that, to me, says fall.  Being that fall is my favorite season of the year, I am for anything that reminds me of cooler temperatures and the colors of the changing leaves.

Happy fall, everyone!

Pumpkin and Spice Muffin Mix

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