Turning uh-ohs into celebrations

Unrelated frugal shopping note: ASDA sell passata for 25p, which is cheaper than tinned tomatoes and works better in most sauces.  I didn't realise until today that Aldi do too, though at 29p (still cheaper than tinned toms!), so brilliants if you don't have an ASDA close by.

Even though I blogged yesterday about not needing an accompaniment to my leek & potato soup, I decided to quickly whip up some biscuits (American-style…basically big & fluffy savoury scones) as we were low on bread and I didn’t want G leaving no bread for lunches.

I mixed all my dry ingredients together and then discovered there was no milk – oops!  I debated for a minute what to do and then made a quick decision to use water instead.  Scared they would be utterly tasteless with no milk, I threw in a bit of dried herbs to compensate.  Then as soon as they came out of the oven, I put a knob of buttery spread on top to help with flavour.  They were perfect!  You couldn’t even tell they were made with water instead of milk.  A great discovery, as although these are already pretty cheap to make, this just makes them even cheaper!

Quick Herby Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder (probably not strictly necessary but I like my biscuits really airy)

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs

Mix together your dry ingredients, then add:

5 tablespoons vegetable oil.

Mix again until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Then add:

¾ cup water (6 fl oz).

Mix until all is incorporated.  Dollop large blobs onto a greased baking tray (I made about 9, but they were rather large!).  Bake at 220C/200c (fan) for 10-12 minutes or until golden on top.  Optional: after baking, immediately put some buttery spread on top so it can melt into the cooked biscuits.