Lemon Cookies & Muffins from a Biscuit Mix

by Shelly Kneupper Tucker on January 16, 2007

It’s amazing what you can find when you start trying to get the house straightened for company. I was moving a few books on the shelf, and one of my old recipe cards fell out. I’ve been looking for that recipe for years! It’s been a bookmark in Organizing from the Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern, all this time. Is this the Universe telling me I should really read the book?

One look at the recipe card will tell you that it was one that I liked. It’s torn and stained and warped from getting wet when I left it on the counter. I’m a messy cook. The Basic Biscuit Mix recipe probably came from a Better Homes & Gardens recipe book from 30 years ago. I know I used it that long ago.

It can be used to replace commercial biscuit mix in any recipe. I could find several of the recipe cards that used this Biscuit Mix to make waffles and pancakes, various cookies and cobblers, and even pizza dough (which would have been great if I remembered how to make the mix!).

Maybe if I write it here I can find it next time. Feel free to use it, too.

Basic Biscuit Mix

10 Cups sifted all purpose flour

1/3 Cup baking powder

¼ Cup sugar

1 Tablespoon salt

2 Cups vegetable shortening (OK, Crisco, or any other brand that doesn’t need to be refrigerated)

Sift together all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
You can store this in a covered container for up to 6 weeks at room temperature. You can also freeze it. To measure it, spoon the mix into the measuring cup and level it with a spatula.
Makes 12 Cups

[I usually make a half-recipe, because we don’t eat it up quickly enough. You will have to figure your own equivalents. I wouldn’t trust my math if I were you In the old days, I cut the ingredients with a pastry cutter, but now use my handy dandy KitchenAid Artisan mixer from Williams-Sonoma.]

Basic Muffins

3 Cups of Basic Biscuit Mix

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 beaten egg

1 cup milk

Combine Biscuit Mix and sugar. Combine milk and beaten egg; add all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake in 400° oven for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12-15 muffins.

Lemon Pudding Cookies

1 Cup Basic Biscuit Mix

1 (3 3/4 –oz.) package of instant lemon pudding mix

¼ cup cooking oil

1 egg

Combine all ingredients in bowl. Stir until the dough forms a ball. Shape into 1 ¼ inch ball. Place on un-greased cookie sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a sugared glass. Bake in 350° oven for 8-10 minutes. Makes approximately 2 dozen.

I have more recipes that use this mix if anyone wants them. It was delightful to find it stuffed between the pages of a book, and I’m looking forward to using it again.

But, I’m remembering when one time when we moved when I was a kid. My momma made me gather my books for packing, and a $5 bill fell out of one of them. I had stuffed my allowance into a book I was reading! I frantically started shaking open all the books and found $25 before I was done. Money meant so little to me then, that I used bills as bookmarks.

I’ve got an upcoming plumbing bill. I think I’ll go shake out some books.