For the Media
Holiday Breakfasts Celebrate Southern Traditions
Nashville, Tenn. (Holidays 2005) - Southerners love breakfast, so it's not surprising that a festive breakfast or brunch has become a holiday tradition in many families.
"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, the Martha White® Southern baking expert.
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 and assorted homemade fruit preserves or sorghum molasses, this great 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. Trays of delicate little 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 are only a few of the Southern delicacies that may be found on a bountiful holiday buffet.
And all during the holiday season, there are opportunities to relax around the kitchen table with overnight guests and family. Serving a simple breakfast of bacon, eggs and a pan of hot biscuits is an enormous pleasure when shared with those we love.
But no matter the occasion, a Southern breakfast is just not complete without biscuits. They may be served with sausage gravy, filled with country ham or slathered with butter and jam. Or they may be one of many variations created by good Southern cooks like cheese biscuits, cinnamon biscuits or sweet potato biscuits.
Biscuit Tips
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. With just a few tips, you can be a great biscuit maker, too.
Tip 1 - Cut solid shortening into the flour with a pastry blender, two knives or a fork forming little bits of shortening in the dough. When baked, the shortening melts and forms flaky layers in the biscuit. It is easier to cut the shortening into the flour if it is cold, rather than room temperature.
Tip 2 - Stir dough gently so that the little bits of shortening remain in the dough. After adding milk to the flour and shortening, stir with a fork just until the dough forms a ball. If you have stirred about 20 strokes and still have dry flour, add a little more milk. You shouldn't have to stir hard and the dough should be slightly sticky.
Tip 3 - Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. A pastry cloth that you can rub flour into works well because you don't want to add much more flour. Knead very gently only 10 to 12 strokes - remember you want to maintain those little bits of shortening in the dough.
Holiday Biscuits
There is no way to top an old-fashioned homemade biscuit for serving with a traditional breakfast 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. Nothing looks more appealing or tastes better than a good biscuit swirled with savory sausage.
For a biscuit with a little different flair, Walnut Blue Cheese Biscuit Bites will add a new dimension to your holiday brunch. Simply dropped onto to the baking sheet, these little biscuits are crisp and flavorful.
If you still feel a little insecure about baking biscuits from scratch, Glazed Cranberry Orange Biscuits are delicious and easy to make with a convenient biscuit mix.
For more delicious Southern biscuit and other holiday recipes, visit the Martha White website at www.marthawhite.com
"Hot Rize®" Biscuits
2 cups Martha White® Self-Rising Flour
1/4 cup Crisco® shortening
3/4 cup milk or 7/8 cup buttermilk
Heat oven to 450° F. Lightly grease cookie sheet. Place flour in large bowl. With pastry blender or fork, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk; stir with fork until soft dough forms and mixture begins to pull away from sides of bowl.
On lightly floured surface, knead dough just until smooth. Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with floured 2-inch round cutter. Place biscuits with sides touching on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 450° F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown Serve warm.
14 biscuits
Sausage Pinwheels
1 recipe "Hot Rize®" Biscuits
1 lb. bulk pork sausage, room temperature
Heat oven to 350® F. Lightly grease cookie sheet. Prepare biscuit dough according to recipe directions. Roll out dough to a 14x10-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick.
On sheet of waxed paper, spread sausage to 13x9-inch rectangle. Invert onto dough; peel off waxed paper. Beginning with long side, roll up jelly-roll fashion; pinch edge to seal. Cut into 1/2-inch thick slices. Place slices cut side down and 1 inch apart on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350° F. for 30 to 35 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and sausage is no longer pink. Serve warm.
30 biscuits
Walnut Blue Cheese Biscuit Bites
2 cups Martha White® Self-Rising Flour
1/4 cup Crisco® shortening
4 oz. (1 cup) crumbled blue cheese
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Heat oven to 450° F. Lightly grease large cookie sheet. Place flour in large bowl. With pastry blender or fork, cut in shortening until 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 at 450° F. for 9 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Brush hot biscuit bites with melted butter.
40 biscuit bites
Crisco is a registered trademark of The J.M. Smucker Company
Glazed Cranberry Orange Biscuits
Biscuits
2 (7-oz.) pkg. Martha White® Quick and Easy Extra Rich Buttermilk Biscuit Mix
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, halved
2/3 cup milk
Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
Heat oven to 400° F. Lightly grease cookie sheet.
In medium bowl, combine biscuit mix, sugar, orange peel and cranberries. Add milk; stir until soft dough forms. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls on to cookie sheet.
Bake at 400° F. for 9 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on wire rack.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine powdered sugar and orange juice; stir until smooth. Spoon glaze over warm biscuits. Serve warm.
24 biscuits