B is for Biscuit Mix for Busy Parents

Do your children like biscuits (or cookies)?  I know mine do.  Biscuits are a great snack to include in lunchboxes or to have after school and always taste best fresh from the oven.  But what to do if you don't have time to whip up a fresh batch of biscuits?

In the past I have made a bulk batch of this recipe 120 biscuits for less than $5 with Bear and Bee and stored them in the freezer.  Sometimes we cooked the biscuits and then froze them and other times we froze logs of biscuit dough, then defrosted it and baked the biscuits.  Both ways work well.

If you don't want to commit to biscuit flavours in advance, this Best Biscuit Mix for Busy Mums is great to have in the fridge.  I altered the original recipe slightly and also tried out our own variations.

Biscuit Mix for Busy Parents
Download a free recipe card for this recipe here.
Makes 8 cups of biscuit mix

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups self raising flour
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
250 grams butter

Directions
For the biscuit mix
1. Sift flour into bowl.
2. Stir through brown sugar making sure there aren't any lumps.

Bee adding butter to dry ingredients in hand blender.

Bee using hand blender to rub in butter.

3. Rub in butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.  If you hate rubbing butter in like me use your food processor to do it.  We don't have a large processor so we just did it in two batches in the hand held blender.
4. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.

To make biscuits
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Measure 2 cups of the biscuit mix into a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix in 1/4 cup of milk and any extra ingredients to make a soft dough. (You may need to add slightly more or slightly less milk depending on soft or firm you want the dough)
4. Use a teaspoon to spoon small amounts of the dough onto prepared trays.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Cool on a wire rack.

Variations
Jam Drops
Add an extra tablespoon or two of self raising flour in Step 3.  Roll small pieces of the dough into balls and place on the prepared trays.  Make a small indent in the middle of the dough balls using your finger.  Spoon 1/2 teaspoon of your favourite jam in the indent.  Bake as above.

Shaped Biscuits
Add an extra 2 or 3 tablespoons of self raising flour in Step 3 and roll out dough on a flour surface.  Cut out biscuits using floured cookie cutters and place on prepared trays.  Bake as above. Cool and decorate with icing and sprinkles.

Double Chocolate Chip Biscuits
Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder in Step 3.  You may need to add an extra 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk if the dough is too dry. Spoon small amounts of the dough onto the prepared trays and bake as above.

Other variations
You could also try rolling small pieces of the biscuit dough in a cinnamon sugar mix, desiccated coconut or 100s and 1000s before baking.