Homemade Baking Mixes {From Your Own Recipes}

Homemade Baking Mixes - here's the simple method I use to make your own baking mixes from recipes that are already your favoritesIf someone had come along while I was making today’s project and asked what I was making, I probably would have answered . . .

“I’m making a mess!”

But that’s OK because a little bit of mess and a small amount of effort will save me time and money in the days ahead.

What I was actually making was some homemade baking mixes.  And my homemade baking mixes are really nothing more than mixing together the dry ingredients for some of my favorite recipes ahead of time.

Because that’s really all that store bought baking mixes are!  Somebody else mixed together the flour and sugar and baking soda and then charged you for that small convenience. (See my previous article When Convenience Isn’t Convenient on this subject too).

Of course even though mixing together flour, sugar, and baking soda isn’t anything that’s complicated to do, there are times when the thought of getting out the ingredients and the measuring cups and spoons might feel like more than we have time for.  That’s why every so often when I feel like I DO have the time, I mix up the dry ingredients for a few of my favorite baking recipes ahead of time.  Then when I want to bake them, it’s just a matter of adding some eggs, or oil, or vanilla, etc., and then popping it in the oven.

So really, any of your baking recipes can be a homemade baking mix!

The Method

How to make homemade baking mixes from your favorite recipes

To make my homemade baking mixes, I gather up all the likely ingredients such as flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder, as well as possible additions like chocolate chips or nuts. Then I get out my recipes, measuring cups and spoons.  And then I start making a mess. 🙂

How to make homemade baking mixes from your favorite recipes

I’ve done this using different containers and I’ve also done this pouring the ingredients directly into the containers.  But my current favorite method is to mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl first, then transfer the mixed ingredients into a wide mouth quart canning jar.  I like to use these plastic storage lids on my canning jars to finish things off.

And my new favorite way to label is to use a Post-it Full Adhesive Roll.  It’s just like Post-It notes, except in a roll like tape instead.  What a great idea!  I was always cutting off the bottom of my post-it notes so I could use them better as labels anyway, so this is a perfect solution.

Labeling homemade baking mixes with Post-It Note Roll Tape

My current preference is also to just write the name of the recipe on the label, rather than write the rest of the ingredients and the baking instructions.  It’s just as easy for me to get out my recipe card  for the instructions when it comes time to actually make the recipe.

The Recipes

As mentioned above, you can use any of your favorite baking recipes and turn them into a make-ahead homemade baking mix. These are the four I recently did so you can see a few examples of how this works (three of which are recipes I’ve shared here on the blog before.)

Homemade Baking Mixes - here's the simple method I use to make your own baking mixes from recipes that are already your favorites

1 – Brownies 

(Read more here – – >  Brownies From Scratch)

For this make-ahead mix I mixed together the ¾ cup sugar, 2/3 cup flour, ¼ tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp salt.  I then put the 1 cup of chocolate chips needed for this recipe in a small baggie and laid it on top of the dry ingredients in the jar.  When it comes time to bake this recipe, I’ll just melt the chocolate chips in a bowl with 4 tablespoons of butter.  To that I’ll add the dry ingredients in my jar, 2 eggs, and a ½ tsp of vanilla.  This recipes bakes in an 8×8 pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

2 – Banana Bread

(Read more here – – > Homemade Banana Bread)

With the ingredients mixed together ahead of time for my homemade banana bread, I’m much more likely to actually make bread when those bananas I have around seem to suddenly be over-ripe.  To make this ahead I mixed 1-3/4 cups flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp baking soda, and a ½ tsp salt.  I also chopped up about a 1/4 cup of walnuts and put them in a small baggie with about a ½ cup of mini chocolate chips and laid them on top of the dry ingredients in the jar. {Both those ingredients are yummy additions to banana bread. } When it comes time to make this recipe I’ll add 2 or 3 mashed bananas, 2 eggs, and 1 /3 cup of oil to the contents in the jar.  It bakes for 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

3 – Topsy Turvy Cupcakes

(Read more here – – > Topsy Turvy Cupcakes)

This recipe is a favorite at our house.  Because it has two steps – the cake portion and the filling portion – it can be nice to have this recipe mixed together ahead of time too.  I mixed together 1-1/2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt and ¼ cup cocoa.  Then for the filling ingredients I mixed 1/3 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, and a 1 cup of chocolate chips, put them in a baggie, and laid them on top of the dry ingredients.  When it’s time to make this recipe I’ll mix the dry ingredients with 1 cup water, 1/3 cup oil, 1 tbl of vinegar, and 1 tsp of vanilla.  I’ll take the items from the baggie and mix it with a softened 8 oz cream cheese and 1 egg.  These cupcakes bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

4 – Blueberry Bread

The next time I have both blueberries and orange juice in the house, I’ll be ready with my make-ahead blueberry bread mix!  I mixed together 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, and a ½ tsp salt.  When it’s time to make the bread I’ll add to the dry ingredients 1 egg, 1 cup of orange juice, and then stir in 1 cup of blueberries.  This bread bakes at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.  If making the recipe as muffins, bake for 30 minutes.

Make Your Own Homemade Baking Mixes

 

So that’s how the method works.  Simply take a look at some of your favorite recipes for baking and see if you can just mix the dry ingredients together ahead of time.  It’s nothing fancy, but it can save both time and money, which is always an incentive for me!

 

 

 

 

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33 Comments

  1. Do you have any suggestions for healthier sugar substitutes? I have heard that erythritol is not good at all but my family have sugar issues and your recipes sound great.

    1. A couple sweeteners you could try in homemade dry mixes would be either Monk Fruit sugar, or Coconut sugar, both of which come in granulated form but are considered a healthier option than ordinary white sugar.

    1. You should be able to keep these mixes for several months and even up to a year if they are in a container with a well-fitting lid.

  2. I am aware that most people don’t have the freeze dried ingredients I have in storage. But I found a recipe for bread with 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour and oats and honey which we really like so I decided to convert the ingredients called for into freeze dried ingredients plus the water called for to rehydrate them. That means that in addition to regular ingredients like salt and yeast, etc. I used freeze dried butter and freeze dried honey and powdered milk plus a gluten enhancer. I mixed all the ingredients together in a ziplock bag except for the liquid and the flours. I mixed the flours together and put them into another ziplock bag. I printed out the directions and added that to one of the bags. Because I use fresh ground whole wheat flour I freeze the labeled mix. I usually make about a half dozen mixes at a time. I figure that if I am going to the trouble to make one mix it’s not that much harder to make 6 of them. Now when I want to make bread I grab a bag of flours and a bag of all the freeze dried ingredients (which includes my rolled oats) and I’m set to go in no time. I don’t even have to knead it by hand because I have a mixer which is strong enough to handle that for me. YUM

    1. If your bread machine recipes have dry ingredients that you can mix together ahead of time, then I would say Yes, this strategy could work for those bread machine recipes too.

  3. could you let me know how long these mixes can be kept on the shelf thanks this will give me a good idea of how many to fill my pantry with

    1. These should last for several months. I would use six months as a guideline, but honestly I think they would keep longer than that too.

  4. great ideas when i have a lot of these dry ingredients in my panty i am doing this and use these mixes during the winter thanks for sharing

  5. Hi,
    I’m Pre-Diabetic, is there a way to use substitute sweeteners, like granular Stevia? When we use it we use 1/2 or less of the amount of the sugar listed. I’m not sure if it would be the same measurement ratio or right texture in some mixes.
    Also, do you have a substitute for molasses. My husband loves to cook and bake.
    I enjoyed your article and the mixes look like my husband already has his hands in the ingredients. Thanks.

    1. If you would like to try a powdered creamer, you can combine 1 cup of powdered milk, and then depending on how sweet you want the creamer, add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Then add 1 tablespoon of melted coconut oil which helps add frothiness to the DIY creamer. And I don’t ever think it’s stupid to stop and ask “can I make this myself” 🙂 I do it all the time.

      1. You can buy whole milk powder now at some stores which greatly improves the taste of your homemade dry creamer. I purchased some and can hardly wait to try it out even though it was more money.

    1. Yes, I grease the pans for these recipes, usually just using a light coat of non-stick cooking spray.

  6. Thank you for the recipes and info for how to do this ! I am 60 and we have no kids left at home… I am too busy working to cook a lot of times…this will help greatly…

  7. That’s a great idea to make .I never thought of that. My daughter makes cooies in a jar for gifts at xmas. This way you would have them on hand all the time. Thank you .

  8. I have been doing this for years. It saves so much time and money. And the bonus is others in the household can easily make them too! I put them in heavy duty freezer bags and write the mix name along with the liquid ingredient measurements and instructions on the outside of the bag. I have a stock of cornbread, cookie, muffin, quick bread, and even sauce and pudding mixes ready to whip up.

  9. I love doing this. When in mood to bake just make two batches. I like to suck the air out with my food sealed. Great for taking treats on vacation to OBX where we do most of our own cooking.

    1. That’s so true Kelly! If you’ve got the stuff out and are baking, combine the ingredients for a second batch and save it for later!

    1. They are the quart size mason jars. There are 4 cups in a quart which is enough room for the dry ingredients in most baking recipes.

  10. I really enjoyed reading your post today. I agree with you, sometimes it just seems to be too much work to get out the measuring cups and ingredient containers. I was contemplating how difficult it would be to spoon the ingredients into the jars, but you solved that problem with the mixing bowl idea! I also didn’t know you could get plastic lids for mason jars!

    1. Glad you enjoyed the post Christine! I really love those plastic lids for mason jars. It’s an easy way to turn your canning jars into multi-purpose storage jars.