Blog: News, Tips and Cooking Ideas

Kodiak Cakes 1/2 Year Supply Giveaway!!!

Written by Cameron Smith Tuesday, 02 March 2010 16:17

4 Lucky people will be the winners of this 1/2 Year Supply Giveaway!

We are giving away four 1/2 year supplies of our Flapjack and Waffle mix.

To win this contest all you have to do is post a comment here on our blog about how you first discovered Kodiak Cakes. (If you don't first comment here you will not be eligible to win) Also be sure to include your name and email address so we can have a way to contact you if you win.

On top of this great Giveaway we will be offering a one time discount of 25% off any 3 Pack order! The Coupon Code to use for this discount is 3PACK 

You also have a chance to gain more entries into the contest and here is how you can do it...

1. Post an article on your blog about this contest and Kodiak Cakes (4 Extra Entries) Make another comment here with the link or URL to your blog. 

2. Follow us on twitter (801COOKIES) (1 Extra Entry). Make a comment on our blog with your username so we can see you're following us on Facebook.

3. Follow us on Facebook. (1 Extra Entry) Post here on our blog your name so we can check your following of us on Facebook. 

4. Write a comment on our Facebook wall, mention us in a tweet or link to us from your blog (1 Extra Entry). Make another comment here on our blog with the link to the wall post, tweet or blog.

5. Post a recipe that you have made using Kodiak Cakes mixes (4 Extra Entries). Enter the full recipe here on our blog.

6. Purchase a 6 Pack of any of our mixes or syrups (4 Extra Entries). Make yet another comment with your order number here on our blog.

7. Purchase a 12 Pack of any of our mixes or syrups (8 Extra Entires). Make another comment with your order number here on our blog.

8. Purchase 7 Fresh Cookies (3 Extra Entries). Make another comment with your order number here on our blog.

9. Purchase 16 Fresh Cookies (6 Extra Entries). Make another comment with your order number here on our blog.

So if you do all the bonus entries you will end up making a total of 10 comments here on our blog! This contest will run for the whole month of March! As you enter each comment we will keep a running track of all your entries on an Excel Spreadsheet.

We will select the winners randomly on April 1st using Random Line Picker.

If you have any question about the contest please feel free to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We would also like to provide all of you with a one time 25% off discount! This coupon can only be applied to 3 pack orders. The coupon code to use for this discount is 3PACK and we will run it from now until March 15th.

 

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10 Tips to Make the Perfect Cookies

Written by Joel Clark Friday, 19 February 2010 12:42

We recently opened our new retail store at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City called Bear Country Cookies.  We named after our new cookie mix. In fact, did you know that this cookie mix was based on a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe we created 9 years ago that you make with our Kodiak flapjack mix?  The recipe is still on our web-site so if you only have the flapjack mix but want to make Bear Country Cookies, click here.  People loved the cookies so much that we decided to create a mix out of it.  So with that introduction, let’s get down to business and get your cookie baking skills up to star quality.
 
1. Eighty-six the bad chocolate
In restaurant lingo, this means to take an item off of the menu.  Ok it’s pretty self-evident, so why are we even discussing this?  Because I’ve had way too many bad chocolate chip cookies made with terrible chocolate, and oh what a let-down it is.  Using good quality chocolate can make an average chocolate chip cookie taste a whole lot better.  In our Bear Country Cookie mix, and at our retail store, we use the best quality baking chocolate we can get our paws on.  

2. Don’t sweeten the pot  
Just a couple of days ago I bit into a cookie that was so sweet I couldn’t take another bite.  Most chocolate chip cookie recipes are too sweet.  Taking a little sugar out of the recipe (about 1/4 cup from the average recipe) can tone down the sweetness of the dough and draw more attention to the chocolate, which is what you want to do assuming you followed tip one.  Plus, a little less sugar helps the cookie stay puffy rather than spreading too much.
  
3. Butter them up
Especially cookies…use all butter for the best flavor.  Some argue that some shortening (or margarine) will give you a more consistent cookie that won’t spread as much but it is not necessary (and who cares about consistency when what we really care about is taste??). Plus hydrogenated fats aren’t good for you, are not all natural, and usually have trans fats and preservatives.  I can always tell when a cookie isn’t made with butter – not worth the calories.  Some all-butter cookie recipes ask you to refrigerate the dough.  We have a recipe with perfect proportions that doesn’t require refrigeration. Click here for the recipe.

4. Cold or hot – it’s not!
Make sure your butter is room temperature.  This is tricky because if it’s too cold, you may end up with chunks of butter in the dough that can cause your cookie to spread.  Leaving it out the night before is best.  If you are in a crunch and must soften it in the microwave, be careful not to melt it or soften it too much, which can cause your cookies to look like pancakes.  If this happens, you’ll need to refrigerate the dough for an hour.

5. Just beat it 
The butter, sugar, and eggs need to get creamed!  Don’t be afraid to really beat them up for two reasons: 1) if your butter is slightly too cold and you didn’t follow tip 4 very well, this will help get rid of any remaining butter chunks.  2) When the egg whites get whipped they start trapping air and this is where you get much of your leavening for the cookie.  

6. Lighten up
Ok so you beat it up, now lighten up.  Once you add the flour, stop mixing after it all looks combined.  Over mixing causes the gluten in the flour to turn sticky, changing the texture of the cookie, making them tougher.  

7. Crispy or crunchy?
There is a difference, and we like crispy not crunchy.  Crispy means you can still have a soft center, not a dried out hockey puck.  To accomplish crispy not crunchy, cook at a higher temperature for a shorter time. Some cookie recipes bake at 300 for 18-20 minutes – this will result in crunchy.  350 degrees for 8-10 is much better but 375 for 7-9 minutes is best.  You want a golden brown cookies that may seem a little underdone in the middle.  Don’t worry, they’ll set up.

8. Convection not convention
Ok we could have added this to tip 7 but we needed 10 tips. Bottom line: use convection if your oven has it.  Convection heat bakes the best cookies because it intensifies the crispy crunchy thing we were talking about in tip 7 by speeding the crisping process (because it bakes faster) but leaves the inside soft and gooey.  

9. Ban the bad pans!
Thicker cookie sheets bake better cookies because they allow for even and consistent heat.   Cheap thin cookie sheets can cause the cookie to burn or not bake evenly.  

10. Get out your grains
Guess what?  Keeping in line with Bear Country Cookies, many cookies are fantastic with whole grains.  Cookies such as pumpkin chocolate chip, apple spice, oatmeal, anything cinnamon, and molasses cookies are all great flavors that are fantastic made with whole grains while adding nutrition to a yummy treat.  

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Where you can find us...

Written by Cameron Smith Monday, 08 February 2010 15:21

We have many requests to make a link on our website that has locations of where our mixes can be found. We have answered your question in part by supplying you with this list that contains many of the grocery stores we are in...

If you don't see your store or state please comment to us and let us know what stores you would like us to be in...

We are working with Hy-Vee, Giant Food Stores, Winco Foods and Harris Teeter to name a few. If any of these stores are ones that you go to constantly we would love for you to either talk to the buyers or management about why they need Kodiak Cakes in their stores.

So without any further wait here is a basic list...

Northwest: Fred Meyer, QFC (Seattle Mainly), Safeway

Northern California: Safeway, Raley's, Nob Hill, Soon in Save Mart

Southern Californa: Von's, Pavillions, Ralph's, Albertson's

Utah/Idaho/Montana and some Wyoming: Dan's, Macey's Ream's Harmon's, Smith's, Albertson's  

Texas: Randall's, Tom Thumb, United Supermarkets, some Kroger Stores

Southeast: Some Publix stores in Flordia

East Coast: Shop-rite (New Jersey and some in New York)

Mid West (mainly Minnesota/Wisconsin): Coburns, Several Cub Foods, Rainbow Markets, Kawalski's 

Mid West: Minnesota/Wisconsin:  Coburns, several Cub Foods, Rainbow Markets, Kawalski’s

Chicago: Dominick's 

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What is your Favorite Type of Cookie

Written by Cameron Smith Friday, 05 February 2010 13:26

We have found from many people that visit our Retail store the Milk Chocolate Chip Cookie

is one of the top, but we want to know from you what your favorite type of Cookie is?

Mine was always chocolate chip until I tried a snickerdoodle at our retail store,

now I am not sure what my favorite is. So tell us what salivates your mouth

and makes you forget about your diet for that delicious cookie that nothing compares with.

This clip below is Joel making a Chocolate Chip Cookie.... MMMM Delicious! 

 

 

 

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In The News

Written by Cameron Smith Friday, 29 January 2010 09:59

Learn with Joel, how to make Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies with Kodiak Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix.

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What is in your Fridge?

Written by Cameron Smith Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:57

We love to look at the blogs out there and expecially see what people have to say about our mixes.

As we were looking at various blogs we came across one of our favorite bloggers. She took this picture of her fridge a few weeks ago. As we were looking at the picture we noticed that she had our syrup!

She has also taken many great pictures of our pancakes and made them look even more delicious than they already are. One of the toppings she loves to put on them is Almond Butter, which sounds absolutly amazing. I have to admit I have never put Almond Butter on my pancakes, instead I always cake on the peanut butter, which is a personal favorite.

What do you have in your fridge?

Send us your pictures with our mixes or syrups in your fridge.

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Introducing...

Written by Cameron Smith Tuesday, 26 January 2010 16:08

After the weekend wait we have some very exciting news here at Baker Mills.

I know I said you would find out the surprise yesterday, but we needed to fix a few possible problems,

so without any further wait... We are proud to announce to all of you that we will be selling our Bear Country Cookies online!

We have had so many people in Salt Lake City tell us how much they love these cookies and we didn't want

to leave anyone out. These cookies are made at our retail store in Salt Lake City at the Gateway Mall. We will be offering

11 different flavors including our popular Bear Country Cookie Mix. This is also a left over picture of Joel in San Fransico at

the Fancy Foods Show.

 

 

 

You can see the new packaging we will have on our boxes soon...

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Fancy Food Show & Cookies

Written by Cameron Smith Friday, 22 January 2010 15:14

We just got back from the Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco. It was a lot of fun and we were able to meet many companies. The weather in San Francisco was so nice especially compared to the forcasted snow here in Utah. I might have to go over to our cookie store and grab some cookies and hot chocolate to stay warm from the Snow.

While at the food show, a few food bloggers were very impressed with our mixes, which we always love to hear.

If you haven't tried our Bear Country Cookies yet, according to this food mix writer, you need to soon.

We love to hear from you and how you are enjoying our mixes. Thank you to everyone who commented on places to find our mixes. We will be creating a button soon that will have a page full of stores where you will be able to find our mixes.

Have you posted an article about some of our mixes?

We would love to see your posting wether it is on Facebook, Twitter or your own blog.

Also be prepared because we have some good news coming Monday... I think this new thing that we will start doing will make many people very happy. Hope everyone has a safe, fun weekend.

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Top Ten Ways to Top your Pancakes

Written by Cameron Smith Friday, 22 January 2010 11:22

We asked people to submit their favorite pancake toppings.

We had more than 1,700 toppings named by readers, so rather than

breaking down the whole list we have compiled it to just 10.

The top of the list begins with a household favorite… Classic Maple Syrup

Here is the complete Top 10!

1. Maple Syrup……………. 387 or 22.2%
2. Bananas………………….. 373 or 21.4%
3. Peanut Butter…………… 172 or 9.8%
4. Yogurt/Greek Yogurt… 165 or 9.4%
5. BlueBerries………………. 144 or 8.2%
6. Strawberries…………….. 123 or 7%
7. Chocolate Chips………… 114 or 6.5% 
8. Almond Butter…………. 100 or 5.7%
9. Cinnamon………………… 87 or 4.9 %
10. Whipped Cream………… 82 or 4.6%

This list is making me hungry! What do you like on your pancakes?

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Are you having a hard time finding our Mixes?

Written by Cameron Smith Wednesday, 09 December 2009 13:26

Kodiak Cakes mixes are found in more than 2,000 stores nation wide, however

we at Baker Mills have found that many

of our customers don't know where to find us in their local stores...

This is something we would like to fix and we need your help to do so.

If you will leave a comment, with the stores close to you that you would

like to find Kodiak Cakes mixes with the state you live in.

This will help us to speed up the process of bringing our mixes to you.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies

Written by Cameron Smith Wednesday, 25 November 2009 15:05

Do you need ideas for the perfect treat on Thanksgiving?

Try Kodiak Cakes Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies.

Joel went on a local T.V. station and made these delicious cookies.

If you follow this link you will learn how to make these yourself...

For other Kodiak Cakes Holiday recipes click here.

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Making the Perfect Brownie

Written by Cameron Smith Friday, 20 November 2009 03:59

1. Always hand stir brownies

This keeps from over-mixing, and reduces air in the batter which will result in a cake-like brownie.  We want fudgey chewey, not cakey.

2. Don’t over-beat the batter

This will activate the gluten in the wheat, which results in a tough brownie.  We want melt-in- your-mouth texture, not tough!

3. Don’t over-bake

Over-baking will dry the brownie out – better to under-bake and let them set up.  Brownies are done with an inserted toothpick comes out slightly moist.

4. Use convection if you have it

Convection cooks faster, and crisps the outside while leaving the middle soft and a bit gooey – reduce baking time by 10-12 minutes.

5. Cool completely

If you don't cool completely it will stick to individual sized pans, or will stick to knife, but if you want a hot gooey brownie, go for it

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Ten Tips for Making a Flawless Flapjack

Written by Cameron Smith Friday, 13 November 2009 12:30

Don’t flatten the flippin’ flapjack!
Ten Tips for Making a Flawless Flapjack

Do you have a love-hate relationship with pancakes? Do you want to say goodbye to goo, rubber Frisbies and ocean sponges? Pancakes are good when made with the right ingredients and cooked the right way. We think the best pancakes are made with whole grains, which have more substance, more flavor, and better texture than refined flour pancakes. Whole- grain pancakes feel good in your stomach, and you won’t need to take a nap after breakfast. Assuming you’ve got a great mix or are using the right ingredients, here are ten tips that will help you turn your flapjack-flipping into celebrity status…and no more paincakes. 

Tip One: Never batter the batter. Batter should only be mixed enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Then stop battering – even if you still have lumps. This is because flour contains gluten – a gluey-like substance that activates when it gets wet and mixed. If over-mixed, it becomes tough and rubbery. Don’t worry about the lumps - they’ll disappear when cooked. 

Tip Two: Lay it on thick (or thin). Thinner batter gives the pancake a lighter texture, while thicker batter makes it more dense and heavy.

Tip Three: What’s in it for me? Stir-ins are always a fun surprise for pancake eaters. Some ideas are blueberries, bananas, cinnamon and vanilla, raspberries, chocolate chips, or even sausage and bacon.

Tip Four: Wait ‘till I say, “Go!” Be patient, and let the griddle heat up for about five minutes. If the pan is too cool, your pancakes will turn out tough from cooking too long. If the pan’s too hot, you’ll end up with doughy centers. A few drops of water should dance around the griddle – 375 degrees is usually about right.

Tip Five: Got rhythm? To look like a pro and make consistently shaped flapjacks, use a 1/3 or 1/4 cup measuring cup for each pancake.

Tip Six: Don’t muddle your puddle. Make a small puddle of oil on the griddle and pour the batter directly into the middle of the puddle. The oil will surround the edges and make them crispy and tasty. Butter can burn on the pan and cause bitter specs of burnt butter to get on your pancake. Cooking spray is good if you’re trying to keep it lean, but it doesn’t add flavor or make the edges crispy.

Tip Seven: No double flipping! Flipping the pancake more than once causes a dry pancake. Flipping the pancake at the right time will help you avoid this temptation. Pancakes are ready to turn when the top is full of air holes, and the sides start looking a bit dry. Peaking underneath a lifted edge will help you determine the proper flipping-time – look for a nice golden brown color.

Tip Eight: Don’t flatten the flippin’ flapjack! This is the cardinal sin of the art of flapjack flipping and must be avoided! These are not burgers guys! A big misconception is that smashing the flapjack will help it cook faster or eliminate the possibility of a doughy center. Not true. The hot air inside the flapjack helps it cook better. Smashing it merely pushes the air out of it and undoes all of the work you did to create a perfectly light and fluffy pancake.

Tip Nine: Some like it hot! Actually, everyone does. Who wants a cold flapjack? If you are cooking for a large group and can’t serve them hot off the griddle, the best way to keep pancakes warm is to place them, single-layered, on a cookie sheet in a warm oven. Do not stack them or cover them or they’ll become soggy.

Tip Ten: Don’t short the stack. This means to never skimp on the toppings. Real butter, warmed pure maple syrup, fresh berries, apple sauce, peanut butter, bananas, or all of the above.

 

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