Gluten-free Pancake Mix Review: Cherrybrook Kitchen

Hey guys, what’s going on?

I hope that you are having a great weekend and are enjoying some R and R.

I wasn’t planning on posting today, however, inspiration hit me hard and I couldn’t resist sharing this review with you.

If you know me in real 3-D life, you may know that Saturday has become my pancake day.

To help keep my metabolism up, not only have I recently starting practicing intermittent fasting, I have also began to implement what’s known as a “cheat” day.

This is a day in which I allow myself to indulge in sweet and yummy goodies.

And for me.

That means pancakes.

Gluten-free of course.

If you are not familiar with the practice of intermittent fasting, I’ll leave a few great resources at the end of this post for you to read on your own, to spare me from going off on a tangent.

But to give you just a little insight, intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting (usually meaning consumption of water only) and non-fasting (according to Wikipedia).

Be on the lookout, because IF is fast becoming one of the most popular trends in dieting and fitness.

The new trendy Dukan Diet, popularized by Kate Middleton, even has a modified version of IF:

Dieters can eat whatever they want as long as they return to eating only pure protein for one day a week. – ABCNews Health

Mark my words, IF will be the next “IT” thing.

And without even giving you a definition, you probably already know what a cheat day is.

(My fasting days are followed right after my cheat days.)

Ok, so enough about IF and cheat days, let’s get back to pancakes.

Yum.

Aside from fitness, if there’s one thing I know a lot about it’s breakfast foods.

So it’s no wonder why Ron Swanson is one of my heroes.

We have a lot in common; 2 out of the 3 below.

And seeing how I’m not a man, I’m sure you can figure out which two.

Over the last 19 years of cooking pancakes, I’ve come pretty close to pancake perfection.

Not only can I mix the batter without looking at the directions, but I also know the trick to manipulate the heat so that you don’t scorch your pancakes, a rookie mistake I see all the time in the kitchen.

So after a week of super-clean eating, I was stoked for my pancakes.

I went to Whole Foods in Brighton and surveyed the gluten-free pancake mix and decided on Cherrybrook Gluten Free Pancake and Waffle Mix.

I had yet to try this particular brand, but was very excited to since it seemed pretty promising.

There were very few ingredients, and it was free of most allergens: gluten, dairy, nut, and egg.

Plus, there was a really cute bunny on the cover.

However, it wasn’t until I got home that I realized it was actually a little girl in pigtails.

Ooops.

Although the recipe called for rice or almond milk, I decided to use light coconut milk, a better substitution I’ve found IMHO.

With most things in my life, I like to add a little extra to the mix to make it a’ la “Sirena”.

And with my pancakes, I like to add cinammon, vanilla extract, organic blueberries, organic bananas and raw pecans.

(I believe this was meant to say “Vietnamese” Cinnamon.)

From Christina’s Spice and Speciality Store in Inman Sq. in Cambridge, MA)

I turned on my stovetop to medium, mixed the batter, oiled my cast iron pan with coconut oil and waited for the pan to heat.

I poured my first pancake, and then added my blueberries, bananas and pecans.

So far so good.

The edges were cooking up nicely and the bubbles were popping.

Everything was going without a hitch until it was time to flip.

The first pancake stuck to the pan, and so on the second flapjack I decided to add a little more coconut oil.

Perhaps I didn’t use enough in the first one.

Nope.

2nd pancake stuck too.

And the third.

I did my best to salvage the gooey mess in my pan and ended up with a soggy and lame looking stack of pancakes (see below).

After further soaking the pancakes in far too much maple syrup, I quickly inhaled the mushy pile on my plate to get rid of the evidence.

Now, if you follow my blog, you know that I’m all about creating positive posts.

So it breaks my heart to say that…Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Pancake and Waffle Mix was a fail.

I even took this silly photo and used my free editing software to show how sad I was.

Even though this is probably the most unflattering photo of me on the web, I sucked it up and posted it anyway because I wanted you to really feel how disappointed I was.

And just in case you were wondering, here’s proof that I’m more attractive in person:

Although Pancake Saturday was a fail, I did manage to cook up some yummy bacon which made up for 82% of the pancake failure.

That’s how good it was.

Was I disappointed?

Yes.

Will I stop making gluten-free pancakes?

No.

In fact, I’m even more inspired to test out more products for you guys to make sure you don’t have the same experience like I did today.

So check back next Saturday when I test another gluten-free pancake mix.

Any suggestions as to which one?

If so, let me know in the comments below.

Here’s to fluffy pancakes!

Your friend,

Sirena

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Oh and I didn’t forget. Here are some resources for you to read about IF (intermittent fasting):

Intermittent Fasting:

Is Intermittent Fasting Healthy? http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting/

How To Intermittent Fast. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-intermittent-fasting/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting