“Is this gluten free?” Loaded question? You betcha, especially when posed by the smallest and most finicky person sitting at my breakfast table.

My second gluten free product review is going to get a pretty high scoring from me again, but don’t start thinking that I hand out spoons too easily.  I am just eager to share with the world when I have found another affordable gluten free product my whole family enjoys!

I heard one of my gluten free friends complain that she was forced to eat gluten free pancakes that tasted like cardboard. My response of course was that she isn’t buying the right gluten free mix.  This is a product I happened upon one day while in the regular shopping aisle looking for some syrup. It was sitting on the shelf right next to the regular boxes of pancake mix. I was familiar with the Maple Grove Farm® brand, so priced at only $2.99 there was no way I wasn’t going to pick it up & give it a try (translation: have my husband make it for breakfast, because let’s face it-breakfast is just not my strong suit!)

I enjoyed the mix prepared by my husband multiple times as pancakes. I even successfully froze some leftovers for a quick weekday breakfast. This is a product I was telling my friends about!

For the review I purchased a new box and decided to give it a shot myself.  I was in charge of breakfast for the whole family one Sunday morning & gluten free waffles were on the menu. I followed the directions on the box for the 2 cup recipe (there are 3 cups mix total in the box).  In hindsight I should’ve added extra water to thin the mix. It didn’t quite yield the 11-12 pancakes as stated on the box and they were slightly more dense than I would’ve preferred. They were, however, a nice golden brown and they tasted quite the opposite of cardboard! My husband thought they were a little lacking in the sweetness department, but I saw that as a positive, since I prefer to add sweetness in the form of butter and a little too much syrup.

Fast forward a couple weeks to a very welcomed snow day in February and it seemed the perfect morning to celebrate by making pancakes with the third cup of mix waiting for me in my pantry. I wasn’t sure the single recipe was going to be enough for everyone, so my hubby made a non gluten free mix for the rest of the family. I carefully whisked my egg with 1 tablespoon of oil, added the mix, milk, & some extra milk. I wasn’t about to make the same mistake again! After letting the mix rest while the griddle heated, it thickened up perfectly. They fluffed even higher while on the griddle and cooked to a great golden color. I learned not to wait for the traditional bubbling, but to peak underneath after impressive puffing. Side by side on the platter, you could not tell any difference between the gluten free and regular pancakes! They were fluffy, light and tasted amazing both with and without chocolate chips.

Maple Grove Farms® is a Vermont company with over 90 years experience in producing pancake, waffle, and syrup products. Visit www.maplegrove.com to learn more, find additional GF recipes using the GF pancake & waffle mix & even get a $1.00 off coupon! There is a store locator to help you find the product locally, but if you can’t I would absolutely pay $3.65 a box to order from their online store.

The packaging states that this product is made in a dedicated GF room on dedicated GF equipment. For those families dealing with multiple food allergies, this mix contain rice, soy, and corn ingredients. It currently appears to be peanut and tree nut free.

My second gluten free product review gets another 5 SPOONS polished all shiny and new!

Article written by Staff Writer, Michelle Armstrong

Michelle is a mother of two from Webster, New York.  After years of living with intense gastrointestinal pain, she went gluten-free and has never looked back.  Michelle has learned how to cook for her children, who have a laundry list of allergies.  She enjoys helping other “gluties” find tasty and reasonably priced gluten free foods that the whole family will enjoy.