Chocolate Chip Biscuits: Reading and Cooking 

Anyone that knows me will sigh and shake their head at this post. I have a reputation for obsessively labelling everything in my house, particularly my freezer and pantry items.. I am a librarian – labelling is in my blood.  My dreadful Pam once wrapped a rock in my freezer wrap and foil,  neatly labelled it ‘Cane Toad’ and popped it into my freezer for me to find. She’s lucky I still talk to her.

Toads aside, my freezer is a vision of labels and rolls of frozen biscuit dough…I can’t exist without frozen biscuit dough for school lunches and late night biscuit needs. They are biscuits BTW…crunchy and biscuity…not cookies…see here if you want to get into that debate! I use the basic recipe below and in this book here and change the ingredients – coconut and cranberry, raisins and chocolate, hundreds and thousands (mixed through), cinnamon and sultanas.

I’ve talked before about cooking being a perfect reading activity, and guest blogger Claire Howden has talked about cooking and mathematics development. Easy biscuits are a great cooking, reading, and mathematics activity.

I make two or three batches of dough at a time, roll it into logs in baking paper and then once or twice a week I slice and bake some for school lunches and for me to eat late at night. Dan eats it frozen – hardcore.

This chocolate chip biscuit recipe is from the good old Woman’s Weekly favourite…’Beautiful Biscuits’. I have so many gorgeous chef cookbook’s, and I do use them but I think my all-time favourite recipe books are ‘my’ (stolen from mum) old WW books…they make me smile, and the recipes are failsafe. I love that the pages are falling out of this one. I also do not believe you should be allowed to be a parent until you own this WW book here. 

I’ve simplified the text of the recipe to make it suitable for young children learning to read; click on the title to print the recipe for Lunchbox Chocolate Chip Biscuits

Note: to freeze dough, divide prepared dough into four and place on greaseproof paper. Roll into  logs and wrap in greaseproof paper. Freeze. When wanting to bake remove from freezer and sit for ten minutes. Slice into 2cm thick slices, place on tray and bake as normal. See photo below.