How to Set Up Yields for Base and Prep Recipes

What Is a Base or Prep Recipe? 

A base recipe (sometimes called a prep recipe) is a recipe that you don't sell directly to customers. Instead, you use it as a building block inside other recipes. Think of it as a component or sub-recipe.

Common examples include cookie doughs, sauces, marinades, spice blends, broths, and cake batters. You make a batch of the base, and then you use portions of it in the recipes you actually sell.

The Key Rule: Set Up Yields the Way You Use Them

When setting up a base recipe, your yield should reflect how you measure it when you use it in other recipes — not how many finished products it makes.

In almost every case, this means your base recipe yield should be set up as a weight (like ounces, grams, or kilos) or a volume (like milliliters or cups).

Why? Because when you pull from a batch of dough or sauce, you measure out a weight or volume — not a number of finished cookies or servings.

Why Product Yields Don't Work for Base Recipes

Let's say you have a Vanilla Cookie Dough recipe that produces about 40 ounces of dough. You might be tempted to set the yield as something like:

  • Yield Count: 20

  • Yield Units: cookies

But here's the problem: this dough isn't cookies yet. It's just dough. You haven't shaped it, you haven't added inclusions, and you haven't baked it. When you go to use this dough in a finished cookie recipe, you need to say "I'm using 6 ounces of dough" — not "I'm using 0.3 cookies worth of dough."

Setting the yield as a product count makes it very difficult to use this recipe as a sub-recipe accurately.

How to Set Up a Base Recipe Correctly

Instead, set your Vanilla Cookie Dough recipe up like this:

  • Yield Count: 40

  • Yield Units: oz

That's it. The yield reflects the total weight of the batch. Now your base recipe is ready to be used as a sub-recipe.

Using Your Base Recipe in a Finished Product Recipe

Once your base recipe has a weight-based yield, you can create your finished product recipes and add the base as a sub-recipe using the exact amount you need.

For example, create a new recipe called "Vanilla Cookie with Oreo Inclusions":

  • Yield Count: 1

  • Yield Units: each

  • Sell Price: $4.99

Then add your ingredients:

  • Vanilla Cookie Dough — 6 oz

  • Oreo cookies — 2 each

Save it, and your recipe cost calculator will pull the correct cost for 6 ounces of dough from your base recipe. Everything just works.

What If Your Base Recipe Is Also a Finished Product?

Sometimes a base recipe does double duty. Maybe you sell plain vanilla cookies and use the same dough in other recipes with add-ins. 

In that case, keep your base recipe set up with the weight-based yield (like 40 oz). Then create a separate finished product recipe for the plain vanilla cookies: 

  • Yield Count: 20

  • Yield Units: cookies

Add your Vanilla Cookie Dough base recipe as the only sub-recipe in the desired quantity. Now you have a sellable product recipe with a per-cookie cost, and your base recipe stays flexible for use in other recipes too.

Quick Summary

  • Base and prep recipes should have yields set up as a total weight or volume of the batch.

  • Don't use product counts (like "20 cookies") as the yield for a base recipe — use the actual batch weight or volume instead.

  • Finished product recipes are where you set up your sellable yields (like 1 each, 20 cookies, etc.) and add your base recipes as sub-recipes in the quantities you need.

  • This approach gives you accurate costing and maximum flexibility when building recipes from your bases.

As always, if you have any questions, let us know!

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