Bisquick Is The Secret To Nostalgic Chocolate Chip Cookies In A Pinch

Most people know Bisquick as a pancake and waffle mix, but the truth is it had an entirely different baking application when it was first invented in 1930. According to the company that distributes the product, General Mills, Bisquick was released as an instant biscuit mix, hence its name. With Bisquick, rather than all the kneading and mixing you'd normally have to do, you could make biscuits that took "90 seconds from package to oven" with only the addition of milk or water.

But it wasn't until much later that people began to use Bisquick for baked goods other than biscuits. In 1956, Betty Crocker — another General Mills brand — published the "Bisquick Cook Book" (via Google Books), featuring 157 different baked goods all made with Bisquick. While pancakes and waffles ended up becoming the most popular Bisquick recipes to come out of Betty Crocker's cookbook, there's also one just 19 pages in that promises foolproof chocolate chip cookies.

Making a chocolate chip cookie dough with Bisquick is similar to making cake mix cookies. If you've never made them before, it simply entails ignoring the instructions on the back of the box and instead adding two eggs and a half cup of oil to the mix (via Cookies and Cups). Because the mix already consists of flour and leavening, it takes the place of both ingredients. The same principle applies to cookie dough made with Bisquick.

As per the recipe shared in the 1956 Betty Crocker book, you'll need all the usual chocolate chip cookie ingredients except for flour, baking soda, and vanilla extract (via Google Books and Gutenberg). Start by creaming a half stick of butter with a 3/4 cup of sugar, whisk in an egg, and finally add one and a half cups of Bisquick as well as a 6-ounce package of chocolate chips. Scoop onto a lined cookie tray and bake, and in 10 minutes you'll have the perfect batch of chocolate chip cookies. You can also follow the cookie recipe on the Bisquick website, which specifies using brown sugar and adding the vanilla extract back into the mix.

Bisquick's biggest selling point is that it's convenient, and while it's true that you don't have to measure out baking powder, there's another additive in the mix that makes all the difference when it comes to cookies. In the original Bisquick, that additive was lard, General Mills reveals, but the modern formula has since changed, and now instead of lard it's vegetable oil (via Betty Crocker).

In cookies, margarine, shortening, and butter function as a tenderizer, Science of Cooking explains. The higher the fat content, the softer your cookies will be. Therefore by using Bisquick in place of flour, your cookies get tenderized by both the vegetable oil included in the mix as well as the butter you normally add.

Bisquick also contains sugar, which is what makes cookies sweet but also facilitates caramelization (via Biscuit People). The added flavor could explain why Betty Crocker's Bisquick cookie recipes don't call for vanilla extract, but even if you decide to include it, you're sure to end up with a delicious upgrade of a classic.