Review: Betty Crocker...Gluten Free?

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Yup, you heard it. Betty Crocker now has a line of Gluten Free baking mixes sitting pretty on most shelves in your local grocery store. Finally. Apparently, they figured out there's a market for it! Now, let me be frank and tell you that out of any of the independent, expensive GF baking mixes you can buy at health foods, they don't taste that great. They taste...different. And different is not what you want when you want comfort food...like chocolate cake.

I'll also get out of the way the fact that every single gluten free bread (from a mix, or from scratch) and most cookies & muffins I've made gluten-free from scratch have also tasted weird. A bit too egg-y. Too dry. Too crumbly. Too...whatever.
Betty, you've outdone yourself. This cake was so good, no one else knew it was gluten free until I told them!

Now, keep in mind, I am not a box eater, I'm a from-scratch eater. I do not like eating from boxes, mixes, bags, and trays of premade, then frozen or boxed food. I make all of our meals and about 90% of our snacks from scratch. The reasons I don't like eating out of boxes are 1) it's actually more expensive in the long run (buy the same things in the store, and I guarantee you'll have double, if not triple the amount, for a portion of the price), and it's just not good for you.

But....and this is a big BUT...to have something like this for special occasions is a deal-breaker. I don't want to spend an hour and a half in the kitchen for someone's birthday and have it taste like junk. I'd rather spend the $2.50 for the box that will give me somewhat of instant gratification. I know, I'm a bit ashamed. It's all your fault, Betty.

Crocker...you've got two months. I will test again your strength as it holds up to Gluten Free Girl & The Chef's cookbook, which I've been pining for since last year. Her recipies are THE recipes in the celiac world, and although she has a bit of a cheat-sheet (her husband is a professional chef), her food tastes normal. I'm most looking forward to her pizza dough, but if she has cake in her new book, as I'm sure she will, we may have this conversation again. :)
In the meantime, Gluten-freers....blow out your candles!

Comments

Beck said…

The chocolate chip cookies are SO SO good too! The dough is hard to work with and the butter has to be VERY soft, but I hand roll them into little balls about the size of a TBS and they come out PERFECT! They don't last more than a day with my family around, all of whom are non-GFers. LOVE Betty Crocker!

July 18, 2010 at 11:08 PM

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