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The $21 Challenge
by Fiona Lippey & Jackie Gower

paperback, 288 pages, 22 x 17cm

ISBN: 978-0-9806533-0-4 (Aust)
978-0-9806533-1-1 (NZ)

Sample chapter

Corrections

We have a one-page sheet of corrections here to download and print (120Kb PDF)

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:

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