The holidays are a perfect time to bake your favorite treats and try some new ones that may become favorites. The latter has been my experience this December, as I have tried some new recipes from Chef Tess. Each of these recipes has different Mix-A-Meal powdered flavorings in it, which enhanced the deliciousness and variety in the treats. All recipes mentioned in this blog can be found under the “Recipes” section of the website.
The first recipe I tried was “Salted Caramel Christmas Almonds.” First, I heated my tablespoon of butter and teaspoon of brown sugar until the mixture was liquid. Then I added my cup of almonds and swirled the pot around to make sure all of the almonds were covered in the mixture.
The first sugar mixture I made was the original, which features Mix-A-Meal butterscotch and vanilla powdered flavorings. The mixture also contained 2 tablespoons of sugar and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
After whisking this mixture, I poured my buttery almonds into it and moved the bowl around to make sure all of the almonds received a proper coating.
I repeated the process of heating butter and brown sugar so that I could try one of the flavor variations mentioned in the recipe from Chef Tess. This time, I made a dry sugar mixture that included Mix-A-Meal butterscotch, pineapple and coconut powdered flavorings (the variation is called “Christmas in Paradise;” it usually calls for Macadamia nuts instead of almonds, but I decided to stick with almonds this time through).
Both of these holiday nuts were fantastic! I especially enjoyed the “Christmas in Paradise” almonds. I loved that only a small amount of the Mix-A-Meal powdered flavorings needed to be used in each recipe in order to receive a powerful, pleasant flavor.
The other recipe I tried was also from Chef Tess and it, too, included Mix-A-Meal powdered flavorings. Chef Tess has come up with a variety of “popcorn sprinkles,” which are powdery mixtures that are spread over hot buttered popcorn. I made the “Chocolate Coconut Bar Sprinkles,” which includes powdered butter, sugar and Mix-A-Meal chocolate cream and coconut powdered flavorings.
After popping a bag of light microwave popcorn, I sprinkled the “Chocolate Coconut Bar Sprinkles” on the popcorn. To make sure the sprinkles got on all of the popcorn pieces, I placed a lid on the popcorn bowl and shook it well. Upon tasting the popcorn, I realized that some pieces were entirely without sprinkles. The sprinkles were having a hard time sticking to the popcorn because I used light, non-buttery popcorn. If you want the sprinkles to stick, you have to be a butter lover.
Besides that problem, the sprinkles were delicious! I ended up melting some stick butter and pouring it over my popcorn, then pouring on more sprinkles. With this extra step, the sprinkles stuck and the popcorn was perfect.
Based on my experiences with these two recipes, I give both a thumbs up. They were tasty and gave me a better idea of how I could use my Mix-A-Meal Powdered Flavorings.
Until next time,
Patty Prepared
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