Published by: Gourmet Sleuth Last Updated: 03/20/2018
I always read ingredient labels and in fact it's almost a hobby of mine. In many cases it's such a fun challenge to even pronounce some of the words. This is no problem with the Birch Benders Paleo Pancake and Waffle Mix. Here are the simple ingredients:
Cassava Flour, Organic Coconut Flour, Almond Flour, Eggs, Leavening (Monocalcium Phosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Salt, Monk Fruit, Spice.
See, nothing you can't pronounce!
If you are making pancakes you just add water to the mix, stir, pour, cook, that's it. The chart on the package shows you how much water and mix you need per the amount of servings you wish to make. If you are making waffles you do need to add a little bit of oil and they recommend using coconut oil.
I made a small batch of waffles for two of us to test. I used 1 cup of mix and 3/4 cup of water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I was out of coconut oil). I just measured out the mix, water and oil, dumped it in a bowl and stirred it with my blending fork .
I had my waffle iron preheated and ready to go so I poured a small amount of batter on the iron and closed it. I waited until the light on the iron went out and checked the waffle. OK, not enough batter so the waffle looked a bit like a snowflake. That said it was nicely browned and fluffy looking.
Not wanting to waste anything, we added a little butter to the sample and poured on a little syrup and gave it a taste. Pretty darn good!. Then I tried tasting just the batter. It has a slightly granular texture and that's from the almond flour. If you are a Paleo eater then you're probably familiar with this texture. The other thing I noticed is that the pancake was pretty sweet which is typical of a product sweetened with Monk fruit. It's not an unpleasant sweetness but it is very sweet.
I proceed to make a couple more waffles. Clearly this is not a testimony of my waffle making skills because they did not come out "perfect" looking. This is mostly because of my reluctance to getting the batter too close to the edge of the waffle maker. I hate when batter oozes out along the edges because the waffle maker becomes a beast to clean.
I let the last two waffles bake longer because I like my waffles crisp not doughy. I gave my husband the first waffle. He said if I'd not told him it was something "different" he would not have known (or cared). He though it tasted great.
When I sat down and really gave my waffle a good taste I did notice the flavor of the almond flour which for me was a good thing. Depending on how you top your waffle you may or may not notice the almond flavor.