I guess I just don't understand why people buy mixes. How hard or time consuming is it to measure some flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder? That's about all you get with a cake mix, aside from preservatives, emulsifiers, artificial flavoring, and other additives.
As for the specific recipe, if you like it then that's all that matters. I think that I would like an egg or two and some fat in my cookies. Here is what others thought of the recipe:
There are people who don't usually bake. They may be quite capable of doing so, they just don't do it often enough to justify having the ingredients in the pantry all the time.
F'rex -- my aunt. She used to bake a lot, and is quite good at it. However, she now lives alone, and only has occasion to bake a couple of times a year. When she does bake, she uses a mix, as it's much more convenient and *less expensive* than buying flour/sugar/baking powder/baking soda *every time* she wants to bake.
I use Jiffy mix for pancakes on school mornings. I don't have the time or energy to fuss with 'proper' pancake batter while I'm getting two kids off to the bus, and my husband is in the kitchen getting
*his* breakfast and lunch. Does that make me a failure?
I remain unconvinced. You need flour for a lot of non-baking endeavors. It is used to dredge meat and vegetable before frying and to thicken sauces. Sugar goes into drink and over cereal. Salt - who doesn't use salt at the table? Sugar and salt don't go bad. Flour will keep for an extended time in the refrigerator or freezer. Salt costs about 40 cents for a container. Sugar sells for about 30 cents a pound around here - less on sale. Baking power is also very inexpensive and while it does go bad after a year, that is in incentive to use it. The cost of mixes will far exceed the price of the raw ingredients you would have to buy, even taking into consideration that you will toss the tin of baking power each year and start over. That bag of flour for $1.70, the sugar for $1.50, the salt for $.049., and the baking powder for $1.89 all adds up to less than $6.
Convenience is the only reason that I can see for using a mix.
Turn on griddle. Melt about three tablespoons butter in large-enough plastic bowl in the microwave, mix in 3T of sugar, 1 egg, 1C of milk, 1/2t of salt. Position sifter over bowl. If you thought ahead, the mouth of the bowl is small enough to hold up the base of the sifter (helps if sifter has big handle). Throw 1c flour and 2t baking powder in the sifter. Sift. Stir. Pour on griddle. Flip. Serve.
You can use a glass bowl if you wanna, but you have to wait for it to cool off some before you throw the egg in. I use a 2qt plastic measuring implement. Or you can use oil instead of butter if you think that'll taste ok, my dad does, I think his pancakes went downhill when he switched from corn oil to canola.
Personally, I'm going to try the above mentioned recipe, because there are like five cheap cake mixes in my cupboard from about 18 months ago when my sister was living with me and she was taking a cake decorating class, and I've been wondering what the heck I'm going to do with them. One of them is a spice cake mix. The other five may end up at the food bank in a couple weeks. I'm not sure if they take boxed dry goods, they only seem to ask for cans.
1 cake mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup fun stuff (chocolate chips, nuts, toffee bits, etc.), optional Frosting, optional
Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; stir with spoon until thoroughly moistened. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. With bottom of glass dipped in flour, flatten to 1/4-inch thickness. 2. Bake at 375°F. for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. 3. Spread frosting over warm cookies. Let frosting set before storing. Store in tightly covered container.
I make some pretty good biscotti, using a cake mix as a base. Sure, I could make up the mix from scratch, but it *is* convenient!
Personally, I'm allergic to wheat, so either bake from scratch with spelt, or look for wheat-free, gluten-free mixes. I buy a Lemon Cake mix from Silven Border Farms, and use the following recipe, gleaned from the net. Works well with walnuts or pecans, and added lemon peel.
Biscotti
3/4 cup oil or melted and cooled butter * 2 tbsp Gluten Free extracts * 2 cup toasted nuts, optional * 1 cup dried fruits, optional * 1 package GF cake mix * 5 eggs
almond extract with chocolate cake mix * 2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 cup finely chopped candied ginger with yellow cake mix
STEP BY STEP:
Reheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with lip on all sides 2. Combine all ingredients. Pour into jelly roll pan and cake for 20 to 30 min until tests done 3. Remove from oven, but keep oven on. Slice cookies into thirds and across in 1/2 inch slices 4. Remove half and spread out on another jelly roll pan [un-greased] and put back in oven for 3 to 10 min, until golden 5. Cool and store in air-right container.
I find it doesn't need the jelly roll pan, as the batter is pretty stiff to start with. I pat it into a long, flat log, maybe 5-6" wide. I slice all the way across the resulting "cookie".
Oddly enough, I always have baking ingredients around, but not for the reasons above.
I don't fry often, and tend to use matzoh meal when I do (I made fish cakes last week); I also don't like flour-thickened sauces.* I don't add sugar to drinks or to cereal, and I never add salt at the table.
Then again, I *always* have this stuff on hand for baking purposes or candymaking. I feel no pride in workmanship if I make something from a mix. Over the last week and a half, I've made coffee brittle, chocolate-peanut brittle, butternut squash-walnut bread, and skillet apple cake. I don't recall the last time I purchased cake mix--certainly not within the last decade.
the way I learned things growing up, *the* turkey gravy consisted of roasting a turkey with carrots, onions, and a little celery, along with some stock or broth. When the turkey was ready to be sliced, the vegetables were removed with some broth, and the vegetables put through a food mill (or blender). Cook down in a saucepan with the broth until thickened (1/2 hour or so on low heat, stirring occasionally) . For me, nothing else tastes right for gravy.
Yep, seen most of that. But I have not been diagnosed with celiac sprue. Actually, I am more allergic (if that's precisely the situation) to corn, which is often more hidden in ingredients... Put it this way: I get symptoms from wheat, but not from white spelt. The whoe grain *does* affect me, but still to a lesser extent than wheat.
The texture is quite poor. They have a leathery surface and a dense, cakey interior.
The flavor is quite rich, and cloyingly sweet.
Can you explain the amazing and/or fantastic part? For the money spent on mix and pumpkin pack I could have bought similar cookies from the grocery store.
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