Untitled Document

We Southerners love breakfast, so it’s not surprising that a festive breakfast or brunch has become a holiday tradition for many families in our region.
“Our Southern heritage is steeped in the rural lifestyle where a hearty breakfast was necessary for a day of work on the farm. Times have changed, but our love for a big country breakfast hasn’t, so we often serve those once daily foods at times of celebration,” observes Linda Carman, baking expert at Martha White Foods.

Holiday traditions
In many families a holiday breakfast is a much-anticipated tradition passed down through generations – an almost reverent offering of special family recipes. Often highlighted by Southern favorites such as country ham and biscuits served with red-eye gravy, eggs, grits, assorted homemade fruit preserves and sorghum molasses, this hearty meal is meant to be lingered over with good conversation and to tide you over until dinnertime.
Others like to open up their homes to family and friends for a festive holiday brunch. Serving a casual buffet creates a relaxed setting for guests to visit and enjoy an array of delectable dishes. Some Southern delicacies one might find on a bountiful holiday buffet include delicate biscuits filled with thin slices of country ham, sausage pinwheels, sausage balls, cheese grits and egg casseroles, bowls of sparkling ambrosia and an assortment of coffeecakes, muffins and sweet rolls.
Throughout the holiday season, there are opportunities to relax around the kitchen table with overnight guests and family. No matter the occasion, a Southern breakfast is not complete without biscuits. Good biscuit makers are held in such high esteem, it is surprising that basic biscuits have only three ingredients – self-rising flour, shortening and milk – and are really not hard to make.
They may be served with sausage gravy, filled with country ham or slathered with butter and jam. Southern cooks have created many tasty variations: cheese biscuits, cinnamon biscuits or sweet potato biscuits.

Holiday biscuits
It’s hard to top a warm, old-fashioned homemade biscuit slathered with butter and jam or filled with country ham slices. But there are some delicious and fun variations that you might like to add to a holiday party menu or serve to guests around the kitchen table.
Sausage pinwheels have been a favorite party biscuit for generations in the South. For a biscuit with a different flair, try walnut blue cheese biscuit bites. Crisp and flavorful, these little biscuits will add a new dimension to your holiday brunch.
If you still feel a little insecure about baking biscuits from scratch, the glazed cranberry orange biscuit recipe here is delicious and easy to make with a convenient biscuit mix.

Breakfast breads
The busy holiday season sometimes leaves us with limited time for baking, so a few shortcuts can be a blessing. “Beginning a recipe with a convenient muffin mix saves the time usually devoted to measuring out dry ingredients, so it really streamlines the preparation process,” observes Carman. “And the result can be absolutely delicious like this Chocolate Chip Raspberry Coffeecake – a favorite of our test kitchen tasters.”
Baked in a 9-inch round cake pan, the cake is made with almond-flavored chocolate chip muffin mix, swirled with red raspberry jam and drizzled with a semisweet chocolate glaze. Elegant and delicious, Chocolate Chip Raspberry Coffeecake is just right for a holiday brunch or with afternoon coffee. Wrapped in clear cellophane and tied with a holiday ribbon, it is perfect for last minute gift giving.
For other Southern biscuit and holiday recipes, visit www.marthawhite.com.

Martha White “Hot Rize” biscuits

2 cups Martha White Self-Rising Flour
1/4 cup Crisco shortening
3/4 cup milk or 7/8 cup buttermilk

Place flour in a large bowl. With a pastry blender or fork, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk; stir with fork until a soft dough forms and the mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
On a lightly floured surface, knead dough just until smooth. Roll out dough to half-inch thickness. Cut with a floured two-inch round cutter. Place biscuits with sides touching on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake in a preheated, 450-degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Makes 14 biscuits.

Sausage pinwheels

1 recipe “Hot Rize” biscuits
1 lb. bulk pork sausage, room temperature

Prepare biscuit dough according to recipe directions. Roll out dough to a 14-by-10-inch rectangle, about an eighth of an inch thick.
On a sheet of waxed paper, spread sausage to a 13-by-9-inch rectangle. Invert onto dough; peel off waxed paper. Beginning with the long side, roll up jelly-roll fashion; pinch edge to seal. Cut into slices half an inch thick and place, cut-side down and an inch apart, on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake in a preheated, 350-degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and sausage is no longer pink. Serve warm. Makes 30 biscuits.

Walnut-blue cheese biscuit bites

2 cups Martha White self-rising flour
1/4 cup Crisco shortening
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Place flour in a large bowl. With a pastry blender or fork, cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in blue cheese and walnuts. Add milk; stir with fork until soft, moist dough forms. Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake in a preheated, 450-degree oven for 9-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Brush hot biscuit bites with melted butter. Makes 40 biscuit bites.

Glazed cranberry orange biscuits

Biscuits:
2 (7-oz.) pkgs. Martha White quick and easy, extra-rich buttermilk biscuit mix
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. grated orange peel
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
2/3 cup milk

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. orange juice

In a medium bowl, combine the biscuit mix, sugar, orange peel and cranberries. Add milk; stir until soft dough forms. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls on to a lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated, 400-degree oven for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on wire rack.
While the biscuits are baking, combine the powdered sugar and orange juice in a small bowl; stir until smooth. Spoon glaze over warm biscuits. Serve warm. Makes 24 biscuits.

Chocolate chip raspberry coffeecake

Cake:
2 (7-oz.) pkgs. Martha White chocolate chip muffin mix
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/3 cup Smucker’s red raspberry preserves

Chocolate glaze:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. sliced toasted almonds

Grease the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan or line with a round of parchment paper. In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the muffin mix with three-quarters of a cup of milk, butter and almond extract; stir just until blended. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Dollop preserves in small spoonfuls over batter. Gently swirl preserves into the batter.
Bake in a preheated, 350-degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out biscuits onto a rack to cool.
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and milk. Microwave 30-90 seconds, stirring occasionally until chips are melted. Drizzle glaze over cake; sprinkle with almonds.