Thursday Recipes - Beware Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Mixes

Hello, friendly friends.

So, no recipe today. I'm 40 pages into my 70 pages of research-paper writing (and no, that's not one long paper - it'd be easier if it was), so blogging is not high on the ol' priority list.

Instead, a word of advice:

I went to the grocery store a few weeks ago and was thrilled to find Gluten-Free Betty Crocker baking mixes! Right by the regular cake and cookie mixes! They're pricey ($3.99 apiece here in Jersey, for mixes that make 12 cupcakes, a small pan of brownies, or 18 cookies), but I thought it'd be worth it to try them for convenience sake (as well as sanity's sake, as I bake like a madwoman when as I get stressed during school).

Results? Blech. My basic criteria for gluten-free baking is: Does it taste better than a Snickers? Snickers and Butterfinger bars are gluten-free, cheap, tasty, and satisfy my sweet tooth. No sense in baking if I'd rather just gnaw on a fun-size candy bar...

As for Betty's new line, I've tried the following three mixes:

Yellow cake. Just tried this one tonight. Even bought chocolate frosting to go with it (all Pillsbury frostings except the German Chocolate one are gluten-free!). This was by FAR the worst of the bunch. I didn't even finish one cupcake before I threw out the whole lot. They taste chemical-y (despite containing no chemicals) and like potato starch gone bad. Ick. Ick, ick, ick.

Brownies. These were pretty good when warm, though they had kind of a weird aftertaste. Unfortunately, they quickly turned into cute little brownie-rocks after they cooled. I had to chip them out of the pan to throw them out a couple of days later. The taste wasn't awful, but the texture could ruin all your fillings... Pamela's Brownie mix makes the best GF brownies I've had so far. These didn't compare.

Chocolate chip cookies. I have yet to find a good chocolate chip cookie recipe where the cookies don't A) fall apart, or B) taste like bad potato starch. These held together pretty well, and were quite tasty when fresh from the oven (I think I ate about four right away... they turned me into the gluten-free cookie monster). But as soon as they cooled, they tasted stale. And icky. And like bad potato starch.

So if you're really desperate and don't want to buy all the crazy gluten-free flours needed for baking (white rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, potato flour, xantham gum, etc., etc., etc.), the chocolate chip cookies will do, but eat them FAST. The brownies will do, too, but you have to eat the entire pan right away, which may not be a good use of resources (or waistline treatment...). Or make 1/4 of the batter at a time, and refrigerate or freeze the rest.

Don't say I didn't warn you.