Bisquick Day Morphs to Biscuit Baking Mix Day

Cold as it is in Wisconsin now, I found the responses to my "Bisquick Day” idea heart warming.

Most bloggers who commented following my Feb. 7 post seemed to think it would be fun, and many remembered Bisquick from their childhoods.

Some expressed concern about trans fats, something I did not think about because I used the low-fat formula, Bisquick Heart Smart.

There are lot of other ready-made mixes out there, all designed for pancakes, waffles and biscuits.

Use whichever you prefer. I plan to try several recipes, using low-fat Bisquick and at least one other mix.

You can even mix your own.

So, with these adjustments, we’ll call the event Biscuit Mix Day. How does that sound?

This really isn’t about Bisquick anyway. It’s about being kind and open and tenderhearted, like being the first one to post a comment on a new food blog to encourage the new blogger.

The food world, I’ve learned, is as brutal as advertising, maybe worse. There is real snobbery here. People who won’t let certain ingredients pass their lips. People who ridicule someone for using a store-bought ingredient.

Well, not here, not on this blog. People who post comments here on a regular basis are very, very warm and kind people. There have only been a few times that I found comments to be a bit rude and, thankfully, those people commented once and then did not return.

It bothers me when I see meanness and pettiness in the food blog world, because I know there is so much goodness here. (Silly me, always the idealist.)

What Biscuit Mix Day is really about is keeping the warm spirit going.

For one thing, it’s fun. Who can resist the idea of making some sort of chi-chi dessert with a workhorse ingredient?

Secondly, it’s about taking something that was part of our childhoods and using it again. Have you ever opened a box that was packed away and found an old sweater, dog-eared book or stuffed animal? Of course you have, so you know what I mean.

Finally, it’s a way of preventing “He/She uses Bisquick, for gosh sake” from becoming the “Your mother wears army boots” epithet of the food world.

Well, OK, maybe we can’t prevent that one. But everyone should be made to feel welcome here.

Biscuit Mix Day is March 15. If you would like to be listed here, let me know by March 10 and I will provide a list of links. If the timing is bad for you, please feel free to post your recipe and photo earlier. Or, we can make some other arrangement.

Will your recipe be up-market or down-home?

Here's how to make your own mix:

9 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups shortening, a brand that does not need refrigeration
1/3 cups double-action baking powder
1 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

Blend ingredients by sifting. Cut in shortening until the mix looks like corn meal. Mix can be stored in a covered container at room temperature for up to six weeks.