Bulk biscuits

(From page 176 of the book)

Where can you get over 120 delicious biscuits for just $4? With this fantastic bulk recipe! Simple Savings members have been making these biscuits for years thanks to member Kristy Frahm. Make up the basic biscuit recipe below and enjoy them plain or adapt them to use up all sorts of odds and ends from your pantry – chocolate chips, nuts, cinnamon, the options are endless (see below). The raw mixture can also be frozen in balls; just thaw slightly before baking and pull out when needed during your $21 Challenge week!

Basic biscuit mixture:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 500g margarine
  • 1 tin condensed milk
  • 5 cups self raising flour

Preheat your oven on to 180°C and grease a large baking tray. Put your margarine and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until it is pale and creamy. Add your condensed milk and flour to the bowl and mix together well. You can add any of your own extra ingredients too at this point, if using. Stir until well combined.

Roll your mixture into teaspoon-sized balls and place on your greased baking tray. Press down gently on the biscuits with a fork to flatten slightly. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

That’s all there is to it. We challenge you to find a more economical recipe anywhere! However, the real beauty of the bulk biscuit recipe is its flexibility.

The ever-growing list of variations:

For a variation to the biscuit recipe try one of the following.

  1. Almond essence and flaked almonds
  2. Almond essence, oatmeal jam thumbprints
  3. Almond meal, honey and mixed spices
  4. Apricot and macadamia ( I might add white chocolate)
  5. Baileys
  6. Bake plain, dredge with coloured castor sugar while still warm,
  7. Banana and cocoa. 1 mashed ripe banana and 3 tbs cocoa 1/2 cup of coconut

  8. Biscotti:

    • Make recipe and mix in nuts or whatever biscotti ingredients you like. (I used chopped and toasted almonds)
    • Roll into a long roll and bake a little longer until the roll is lightly browned all over
    • Let cool completely. Now for the tricky bit: cut briskly in diagonals with a very sharp knife
    • Lay carefully on tray again and bake for 10 more minutes or until browned
    • *warning* these are so crumbly it takes a couple of tries but they turned out beautifully for me. Speed seems to help, rather than going slowly. and the crumbs are fun to eat! or you can save them for pie crusts or toppings.
  9. Brown sugar instead of white sugar in the original mix.
    1. Buy a bag of "el cheap o" smarties & give them a bash with the rolling pin till they in bits, then mix them in..
    2. Caramel milk shake mix
    3. Carob
    4. Cherries and nuts. 1 tblspn chopped red / green maraschino cherries & 1 tbsp of nuts
    5. Cherry ripe- rice bubbles, coconut, quartered glace cherries and dark choc chips
    6. Choc chip and Walnut
    7. Choc choc chip biscuits – choc chips and three big spoonfuls of cocoa powder, and a little less flour to the mix
    8. Choc mint, add 1tsp peppermint essence & 1 tbsp melted choc chips OR Cocoa and peppermint essence
    9. Chocolate and white chips melted and marbelled through the mixture
    10. Chocolate chips / chunks
    11. Chocolate chips and glace cherries (chopped)
    12. Chocolate chips and nuts
    13. Chocolate chips and sweet rice-bubbly-cereal
    14. Chocolate Freckle lolly on top
    15. Chocolate melt in them and folded the mix over it and made a ball
    16. Chopped dried apricots, white choc & almond
    17. Chopped peanuts, peanut butter and dark choc bits
    18. Christmas I have chocolate chip Stars
    19. Cocoa. A teaspoon of cocoa to some dough
    20. Coconut
    21. Coconut, oats and milo
    22. Coconut, oats and white choc chips,
    23. Coconut, rolled oats and cinnamon
    24. Cornflake and sultana's
    25. Craisens, pepitas and oats
    26. Crushed cornflakes and honey
    27. Crushed peanuts & peanut butter
    28. Crushed peanuts & peanut butter & cocoa powder
    29. Crushed pecan and walnut
    30. Currants, a sprinkle of mixed spice, a sprinkle of ginger and then a very light sprinkle of cinnamon and caster sugar
    31. Dates (finely chopped) with crystalised ginger (also finely chopped)
    32. Dates chopped with rolled oats
    33. Dates. 1/3 of a date in the middle of the ball of mix
    34. Dried apricots (finely chopped) with white choc chips
    35. Dried fruit
    36. Dusting the plain mixture with castor sugar and five spice.
    37. Dutch chocolate sprinkles
    38. Glace Cherries (just red or mixed) Christmas Ornaments
    39. Glace cherries, glace pineapple, almond essence & almond meal
    40. Golden syrup
    41. Golden syrup, oats and coconut
    42. Ground almond & cinnamon
    43. Hazelnut spread (Nutella)
    44. Hazelnuts chopped
    45. Honey & oats
    46. Honey and rice bubbles
    47. Honey drops
    48. Hundreds and Thousands
    49. Iced with melted chocolate
    50. Jam drops
    51. Jelly bean on top
    52. Lemon Butter
    53. Lemon butter drops
    54. Lemon Coconut - add 1/2 tsp lemon essence & 1 tsp coconut
    55. Lemon rind and all spice
    56. Lemon zest and coconut
    57. Light n Tasty (similar to Just Right) cereal
    58. M&Ms
    59. Macadamia nuts
    60. Marshmallow and sprinkles
    61. Marsmallow on top
    62. Milo
    63. Milo and choc chips
    64. Milo and coconut
    65. Mini coloured choc chips
    66. Mixed spice (just 1/2 teaspoon) and mixed fruit in a round biscuit.
    67. Muesli
    68. Oatmeal and Sprinkles
    69. Orange and cardamon ones as well for something a little different.
    70. Orange marmalade
    71. Orange zest and choc chip
    72. Peanut & rice bubbles
    73. Peanut butter
    74. Peanut butter + broken up white and dark choc melts (left over from christmas cooking - still!)
    75. Pistacio & cranberry
    76. Plain ones sandwiched with left over coffee butter cream from a cake a few weeks ago
    77. Raisins
    78. Rocky road- peanuts, marshmallows and choc chips
    79. Rolled in choc sprinkles and flattened = "bugs"
    80. Rolled in cinnamon & sugar
    81. Sandwiched to make Melting Moments – iced with 1 tbsp butter , add about 6 tbspns icing sugar & 1 tbspn custard powder.
    82. Smarties
    83. Sprinkles
    84. Squeeze of orange juice and some finely grated zest
    85. Sticky date (Golden Syrup & chopped dates)
    86. Sultana & cornflakes
    87. Sultana & rice bubbles
    88. Sultana and rice bubbles (for kids!)
    89. Sultana bran
    90. Sultanas
    91. Sweet rice-bubbley cereal
    92. Vanilla essence
    93. Vanilla essence and cinnamon sugar and almonds
    94. Vanilla with sprinkles
    95. Vanilla, dipped in sugar.
    96. White choc chip and coconut
    97. White choc chip and macadamia
    98. White choc chip and strawberry essence
    99. White choc chips