Tuesday Tip: Making Mixes, Part 1: Bread, Breakfast, & Other Mixes

One of my favorite shortcuts in the kitchen is to make mixes. Often, the dry ingredients in a recipe are mixed entirely separately. So, if you do that prep work ahead of time, when it comes time to bake, all you have to do is add the wet ingredients and bake. It may not always be a huge time-saver, but sometimes just feeling like you’ve got a recipe started is enough to get you going. Plus, you can make up multiple batches in no time!

I’ve included a lot of links to recipes that are designed as mixes below. If you’re new to making mixes, I’d start with those. But if you’ve tried some other mix recipes and really just want to have mixes of your own recipes, I’ll walk you through what to do.

First, look carefully at your recipe. Are all of the dry ingredients mixed separately? If the answer is no, stop. Don’t try to make a mix out of this recipe. If the answer is yes, verify that all the dry ingredients are shelf-stable. Then get out your preferred container. I like to use Mason jars to make mixes, but freezer bags work, as well. Add up the total number of cups of dry ingredients to determine the size of container you need. (8 oz. Mason jars hold up to 1 cup, pint jars up to 2 cups, and quart jars and bags up to four cups.)

Get out your containers – I like to make several containers of the same mix at a time, so I set the containers and my ingredients out, assembly line-style. Check to see what measuring implements you need and set those out, as well. Then, all you need to do is go ingredient-by-ingredient, making sure each container gets each ingredient before moving on to the next.

Here’s the part that may seem tricky, but is vital to the whole enterprise: label your containers. No, seriously. You may think you know what’s in that jar, but when you set it next to all your other jars of mixes, you’d be surprised how easy it is to forget. And if you have no idea what’s in that jar, you’ve just wasted your time and ingredients. Use a sharpie to write on Mason jar lids and the outside of freezer bags. Or use a label-maker to make a printed label.

If your recipe is super simple, you can write it on the lid or bag, as well. If it’s a bit more complicated, you could attach a tag with the instructions for baking. Or you can simply note where the recipe came from, so you can find it again easily at baking time.

Happy mix-making!

~Katie

Muffin, Quick Bread, and Scone Mixes:

Cranberry-Pecan Jumbo Muffins

Cranberry-Pecan Jumbo Muffins

Bread Mixes:

Maple Corn Muffins

Maple Corn Muffins

Pancake & Waffle Mixes:

Pancake Mix

Pancake Mix

Drink Mixes:

hot cocoa mix

hot cocoa mix

Other Mixes:

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