I grew up on Eggo waffles which my family would buy in the frozen section of the grocery store. They were quick and easy you all you had to do was pop them in the toaster. It was great. I can understand why people would choose to buy frozen waffles, because not everyone has a waffle iron and those things can take up quite a bit of counter space. But frozen pancakes? Yes, they sell those too!
Of course once I saw this I had to set up a pancake taste test – frozen, vs. pancake mix vs. from scratch. I can see the merits of pancake mix because it does save you the time and effort of having to measure out the dry ingredients. And who has time in the morning to measure out dry ingredients anyways? But frozen pancakes? I doubt that they’d taste any good or be worth the money when it’s pretty easy to make them from a mix.
Today we will be taste testing three types of buttermilk pancakes as well as real maple syrup vs. pancake syrup.
- Aunt Jemima Frozen Buttermilk Pancakes
- Aunt Jemima Buttermilk Pancake Mix
- Buttermilk Pancakes made from scratch
Syrup taste test
- Real Maple Syrup
- Aunt Jemima’s Pancake Syrup
My thoughts:
I think the frozen pancakes will have the least amount of flavour out of all three. I think that the homemade pancakes will taste the best overall but the pancakes made from a mix will be a close second.
I think pancake syrup will be a lot sweeter than maple syrup and won’t have as complex a flavour. I think I will prefer the taste of maple syrup from a taste standpoint.
Taste testers:
Please try each type of pancakes and comment on the taste, texture and flavour. Which one do you like the most and why? Do you think it’s worth making buttermilk pancakes from scratch?
Please comment on the appearance, taste and texture of maple syrup vs. pancake syrup. Which one do you like more? Is there one that you prefer with your pancakes and why?
The results:
Although the frozen pancakes looked absolutely perfect and were the easiest to make, they tasted the worst out of the three. They were the least fluffy and had a strange cardboard-like after taste.
Surprisingly, there was very little taste differences between the homemade buttermilk pancakes and the ones made from the mix. But the ones made with a mix had a more fluffy texture than the ones made from scratch. What a huge upset! However, this could be due to the fact that we made the homemade pancakes the morning of and didn’t rest the batter for at least 3 hours which the recipe called for. I am usually a big fan of having homemade products win but in this case the pancake mix wins from a convenience standpoint.
As for the syrup, there was no consensus. Some people preferred the taste of Aunt Jemima’s pancake syrup because it’s what they grew up on and were familiar with whereas some people found the taste of the pancake syrup to be overly strong. It really came down to personal preference.
Bottom Line:
It’s totally worth buying pancake mix for the convenience as it makes a great product and is one less thing to worry about first thing in the morning. It does cost more but it saves you from having to measure out a bunch of dry ingredients (and letting the batter rest for at least 3 hours) for perfect pancakes. For people who don’t bake a lot or have all the dry ingredients on hand, Aunt Jemima pancake mix is a great choice. Sometimes it’s worth paying more for the convenience.
But if you happen to have the ingredients in your kitchen are the organized type who plans your breakfast the day before, by all means, make them from scratch! With the money you save (it’s about half the cost) it pays to be organized.
Frozen: wow, terrible! Perfect in shape and colour, but tasted like cardboard.
Scratch: texture was too doughy to my liking – I had high hopes for this! But it could just be this particular recipe. The taste was a bit bland.
Mix: loved the crispiness of the outside, thanks butter. Soft but not mushy nor doughy on the inside – noticeably more salty than scratch though. Taste is OK.
My pick: I'll have to say Aunt Jemima. Really, because the texture of the scratch let me down.
Maple syrup: thinner, lighter less sweet
Pancake syrup: thicker, darker, more sweet
My pick: I don't mind either. Overall, I prefer regular maple syrup, which is more richer in flavour and sweetness than the one we used today – this one was a light variety.
Frozen: gorgeous colour but after that, it was disappointing. texture was flat and tough, fork didn't break through easily. Taste was flat as well.
Scratch: too doughy, mushy. not a fan of the texture.
Mix: yummy. just how a pancake should taste. bubbled up nicely before cooking, fluffy when cooked.
Syrup: i prefer pancake syrup over maple syrup for pancakes. I think I'd rather use the maple syrup for cooking and baking in recipes.
conclusion: i heart aunt jemima, across the board.
Homemade: beautiful colour, slightly tangy, fluffy, soft and light. Retained a nice golden crisp along the edges, definitely my favorite of the three pancakes.
Frozen: hard to tear apart, tough, dense in texture and cardboard tastes better. Too perfect in appearance, not "rustic" like the others.
Auntie Jemima mix: fluffy, but had a peculiar eggy flavour. More yellow in color than the homemade pancakes.
Pancake syrup was too cloyingly sweet and took away the taste of the pancakes. Maple syrup is way better, lighter and compliments the pancakes.
Frozen: Looked the nicest as they were a perfect circle. Easiest to prepare (just have to heat up in the oven or toaster). However, it was also the toughest and most dense. Not fluffy and had a slight taste of cardboard.
Mix: These ones were the fluffiest and tasted great. Also very light.These ones were my favourite because they were the most fluffy and easier to prepare compared to from scratch.
From scratch: These ones also tasted good and very similar to the fix. But they were slightly lest fluffy. I think the mix wins overall because it is a lot easier to prepare and I thought it tasted slightly better than the homemade pancakes.