A couple weeks back, with my folks in town for the weekend, I made coconut flour pancakes for breakfast. Look at me, trying to be a fancy caveman on a diet (down close to 30 lbs now!). They weren't
that hard to make - a little coconut flour, a banana or two, a henhouse worth of eggs in the blender - but to be honest, they weren't that great, in my opinion. There's a problem, I think, with trying to make one thing taste like something else while omitting a key ingredient or seven - if you know what it's "supposed" to taste like, chances are, you're not gonna be happy with an alternate outcome. Prime example:
these not-so-great English muffin wannabes. Granted, perhaps I'm speaking from a position of privilege (no major food issues or allergies or conditions), but to me, given no health restraints, if you wanna eat a pancake, just go make some real pancakes, even if you're on a paleo diet. You'll live. Cavemen would probably still be around if there were a prehistoric IHOP or two. Just sayin'.
With this in mind, when I saw Trader Joe's Toasted Coconut Pancake Mix, I figured it'd be worth a try and a small dietary cheat. Admittedly, at first I was a little enticed with the presumptive hope that they'd be paleo-friendly with the ease of "just add water", but a quick scan of the ingredients revealed otherwise pretty quick. Eh well.
Tell ya what: as a guy who's always been much more eggs-and-bacon than breakfast-carb-centric, I enjoyed these quite a bit. There's not much that's real special, per se, about these flapjacks, except they work in a very simple, straightforward, satisfying way. While the batter is typical hotcake matter, there's ample coconut flakes interspersed throughout that while cooking get a little crispy and add a lot of coconut flavor that stands out. And like a good pancake, the edges got a little crispied themselves (my favorite part) that, despite my very limited pancake-making prowess, turned out pretty well. Making them was a cinch - I've had other pancake mixes that turned into clumpy disasters when aquafied, but not these. A double batch made twelve decent sized pancakes, which were devoured easily by the wife, the toddler, the teenager, and me with a little maple syrup. I'd imagine with the coconut, some tropical fruits or powdered sugar would make a great accompaniment as well.
Sandy enjoyed them right around the same amount I did. "Yummmm....I just wish you were better at making pancakes," she said. Fine, rub it in that I slightly blackened or squished one or two. Not every one can make the fantastic crepes like you can, dear. You should try that with the remaining mix, by the way. Regardless, this mix is a hit - can't go wrong for the couple bucks it'll set you back.
Bottom line: Trader Joe's Toasted Coconut Pancake Mix: 8 out of 10 Golden Spoons
I make pancakes (generally regardless of batter content) with coconut oil in the pan. They get a little crisper on the outside and don't even need butter. This mix seems worth checking out, if only for the double-coconut when I make them.
ReplyDeleteI do the same as well. I love butter and I didn't miss it at all when I cooked my pancakes in coconut oil.
DeleteThese are damn good. I don't typically eat pancakes, or order them. These are likely to become a staple. Thanks for another dead on review!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. these are delicious. Such a surprise for "just add water" pancakes.
ReplyDeleteMost trash pancakes ever. Regret these so much. They smelled and tasted like old soap after the first bite threw the whole thing in the trash. DO NOT BUY THESE AWFUL PANCAKES.
ReplyDeleteGot this as a gift. Not only was it difficult to get them cooked without falling apart, but we could not stomach them and spent the rest of the morning trying to get the weird taste out of our mouths. They taste like fried Twinkies.
ReplyDeleteThey were runny (spread all over the griddle) and tasted like vomit.
ReplyDeleteSuch a strange taste and consistency, they fell apart and burned easily, I can't get the taste of soap out of my mouth.
ReplyDeleteMy husband made these just yesterday for breakfast. He did notice the batter seemed a little runny after following the box directions, so he just added a litttle extra mix. They were absolutely delicious!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of coconut, but I enjoyed the coconut flakes. We would buy this again.
I love coconut and I thought these were awful. I make pancakes with add water only mix all of the time and those pacakes taste great. I think I'll just add coconut to the other mix.
ReplyDeleteI like coconut and I like pancakes so I thought these would be great. I really wanted to like these but I couldn't get past the consistency: dry and strangely crumbly - and I tried with different amounts of water as well as the amount specified on the package.
ReplyDeleteJust bought this today. Mix in a mashed banana and these are excellent!I liked them better with the mashed banana.
ReplyDeleteHear they are discontinued. Makes sense to me. When I was mixing up the batter, it smelled like urine. I cooked them anyway and was surprised to find that the taste was more like vomit. Agree with people who then spent the morning trying to get rid of the lingering taste. Nasty!
ReplyDeleteCan you get this item anywhere? We haven’t been able to find it in Rochester or Minneapolis, Minnesota areas. My son and husband love them!!
ReplyDelete