Dolly Parton's line of Duncan Hines box mixes returns in 2023 with four new items, including a recipe for buttermilk biscuits that has a special connection to the singer's childhood in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

The singer elaborated on the family connection behind the food during a recent video chat sit-down with Taste of Country, saying that buttermilk biscuits — and sweet cornbread, another box mix featured in the line — were staples for her family when she was growing up.

"I mean, how can you not have biscuits and cornbread?!" the star says with a peal of laughter. "Because buttermilk was one of the things my mom often cooked with."

Throughout her career, Parton has used her music to memorialize her family, particularly how her mother made do for the children with very little money, in songs like "Coat of Many Colors." Now, her Duncan Hines collaboration shares a special connection to the foods that were staples in her household.

"Back in the early days, we didn't have a lot of refrigerators and stuff. We would churn our milk and make butter, and we often had more buttermilk than we had actual milk," the singer explains. "Because it saved better."

Buttermilk also happened to be the perfect ingredient for light, fluffy biscuits.

"You could make great cornbread and great biscuits out of buttermilk, which always had a wonderful taste, and people preferred that a lot, also," the singer notes. "It just seemed like that was a good country-sounding thing, and a good Southern tasting thing."

Parton — who first launched her Duncan Hines partnership in early 2022 with Southern Style Coconut Flavored and Southern Style Banana Flavored cake mixes — decided to add to her line after fans requested more Southern recipes.

"It was just kind of by request, pretty much, from the people that were excited about the first batch of stuff," she explains. "So it was a good follow-up. And we'll be doing different things, down through time. This is our second rollout and we're excited about it. Just more good Southern food. I think it's about people wanting more of the Southern-tasting food."

In addition to her Buttermilk Biscuit Mix and Sweet Cornbread and Muffin Mix, Parton's new line of goodies includes two separate brownie recipes: Fabulously Fudgy Brownie Mix and Caramel Turtle Brownie Mix. Starting Feb. 8, fans can grab all four — plus a special tea towel and spatula, recipe cards and a note from Parton herself — in limited-edition online bundle kits.

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