No prep pancakes - too good to be true?

Last night we had BREAKFAST for dinner - one of my all time favorite meals growing up as a kid - so I thought this post would be fitting for today. How appropriate after I just ranted about eating healthy in my previous post right?

I grew up on Australian Toaster Biscuits, Eggo Waffles and Fruit Loops. I'll be the first to admit that I'm intimidated at the thought of cooking gourmet breakfasts. Gourmet meaning anything fancier than sliced fruit and oatmeal. As I grabbed for our staple Egg Beaters and Spray Butter at our local Vons, I was lured by the novelty of this pancake batter dispenser (a la Reddi Whip) staring back at me. My first reaction - GROSS. This has taken processed to a whole new level. I'll admit the garish mustard and ketchup colored graphics on the container (nevermind the unfortunate name itself) only served to heighten the Blaster’s aura of indecency. So I walked on. Paused, walked some more, doubled back, picked a can up and read the label. Surprisingly, initial shock aside, the ingredients in the Blaster didn’t seem to be more processed or frightening than any I’d put in homemade batter. Actually they are probably better considering I never buy Organic dry ingredients. But I still wasn't convinced so I slipped it back on the shelf, walked a few steps away, paused for a second, before finally doubling back and taking a can once and for all.

Fast forward to last night - I was scrambling the eggs with the Blaster displayed on the counter waiting its turn, when Dave walks into the kitchen skeptical as can be. His reaction; "How lazy can we get? Amazing they can take something already so easy to make, and make it easier." A valid point BUT I'm all about quick and easy especially in the kitchen.

With my spatula in hand, I was ready to "blast and serve." I was definitely a novice blaster and it showed but wow, this was EASY. I had dinner on the table in minutes. And no mess to clean up. Despite the visual imperfections, they were decent. A little sweeter than other mixes, lightly textured, tender - not spongy. For Chase (my 2 year old) to wolf down 4 of them, I knew I hit the jackpot...for one meal at least.
Would I buy them again? Maybe. They were edible. But definitely will never be as good as grandma's famous pancakes. But as a busy mom, I do like the ease of them. No clean-up and you don't need to stress about having all the ingredients on the fly. Plus if Whole Foods is endorsing the Batter Blaster, you know the ingredients are legit. They were a little harder to flip and didn't look as pretty as I would have liked but like with anything, practice makes perfect.

If you too are intrigued and want to try them out, here are some helpful hints on perfecting the Blaster pancake:

1) Once the batter settles in the pan, it will spread about an inch. Start out with less batter than you think.

2) For a sturdier pancake, pipe the batter into 3 in. mounds instead of flat, tight spirals.

3) Flipping the batter was harder than those made of conventional batters hence making the look of my pancakes anything less than desirable. When large bubbles began to rise and pop out of the slightly puffed batter, the pancake was invariably not set enough to flip or even check for flipping without some carnage.

4) Let the pancake sit for a few seconds longer than you think. This will involved tinkering with your stove top temperature. I never did find the sweet spot. Consequently burning a few.

5) It says it makes 28 - 4" pancakes. I would say realistically more like 20.

Ingredients: Filtered Water, Organic Wheat Flour (unbleached), Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Eggs, Organic Soybean Powder, Leavening, Sea Salt, Organic Rice Bean Extract, Propellant.

Contains - Wheat, Eggs, Soy Ingredients.

Nutrition Facts: Serving Size = 1/4 cup (2 pancakes)

Calories: 80

Fat: 0.5 grams (0 trans or Saturated)

Cholesterol: 15 mg

Sodium: 300 mg

Carbohydrates: 17 grams

Dietary Fiber: Less than 1 gram

Sugar: 5 grams

Protein: 2 grams