Baking hacks: How to make your own homemade pre-mix

There’s a reason why the baking aisle is loaded with premixes – they’re one of the easiest and least intimidating ways to bake! There’s no weighing out, no leftover ingredients that you’ll probably never use, no excess mess, and probably the least amount of fuss humanly possible.

While premixes are pricey, they are actually super easy to make yourself – and are a really great gift! Especially if you have one of those winning recipes that everyone wants to get their hands on. Making your own premix is a great way for others to enjoy your home-baked goodness without giving away the full recipe – clever, right?

Here’s how to turn a recipe into a premix (and don’t worry if you don’t have your own, we’ve got a few you can use!)

1. Choose a recipe: Ideally, the recipe should be a quick-mix method. Generally, pancakes, brownies, muffins, one-bowl cakes and cookies work well.

2. Weight out the dry ingredients: Remember to concentrate and not have any distractions when doing this – you don’t want any flops!

3. To mix or to layer: Layering the ingredients in the jar is an attractive way to show off interesting colours and textures. Cookie ingredients with oats, flour, sugar, chocolate chips and cocoa powder work well for this.

4. Prepare your storage containers. Make sure they’re spotlessly clean and dry before adding the ingredients. Get creative with the kind of storage containers, too. You could buy beautiful storage jars that can be used afterwards, or even place the ingredients in a brown bag then wrap it up with a mixing bowl and wooden spoon!

5. Add the instructions. A handwritten note with the name of the recipe and which wet ingredients to add (butter, oil, eggs, milk etc) is a must.

6. Store the jar in a cool dry place until you’re ready to gift it to a lucky friend or family member.