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Baking Chrissy Teigen’s blueberry cream cheese pancakes from scratch is a process—one you’ve got to plan an hour or so for—but I love them so much, I’ll gladly put in the effort to dice cubes of cream cheese and freeze them. (I’m the type who wakes up hungry, so any breakfast recipe involving planning is a challenge for me.) So when I heard she was launching baking mixes, I was intrigued.
I had been sent a sampler pack (sold as the Cravings Baking Mix Bundle) as I tested her banana bread mix for PureWow, which included a Buttermilk Mochi Pancake mix and Salted White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies. Naturally, I had to try them all.
At $25 per three-pack, could these desserts possibly be worth $10 a pop, particularly when most baking mixes range from $2 to $7? The short answer: It depends on what you’re making, and how much you value convenience. The flavor is there, but could you recreate these from scratch? Yes. Could you do it as easily as whipping up a mix? Nah. Here’s my review of all three Cravings baking mixes, so you can decide for yourself:
Buttermilk Mochi Pancake & Waffle Mix
Pros: crisp edges and chewy center, easy to whip up
Cons: Pricey (as far as pancake mix goes), offers instructions for 18 pancakes, but a single box doesn’t have enough mix to make that much
Verdict: Mochi gives this a pillowier, slightly gummy texture that sets it apart from your typical pancakes. They whip up in seconds and are practically foolproof, but most days, I’d make ’em from scratch. (Note: I made them twice—once as classic pancakes and another time as Elf-inspired ones. I just forgot to take a pic of the classic ones. Womp womp.)
Chrissy’s Ultimate Banana Bread Mix
Pros: No need for bananas, ultra moist, great chocolate-to-bread ratio
Cons: Coconut haters will revolt
Verdict: OK, I see why Teigen took to Twitter and offered her husband’s boxers in exchange for overripe bananas. This mix is based on that recipe, and wow, it’s good. I was shocked at how great the banana flavor was—thanks to dried bananas in the mix—and it’s so convenient to not have to wait for bananas to brown to savor this treat. It was my favorite of the bunch, hands down.
Salted White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Mix
Pros: Easy to make, decadent flavors, feels upscale
Cons: Somewhat pricey for what you get (though I know macadamia nuts aren’t cheap!)
Verdict: These cookies feel fahhncy and will impress anyone you serve them to. While the mix calls for making a dozen cookies, I found you could easily get 16 palm-sized cookies out of it. The cookie has crisp edges and a chewy middle, with just enough snap to make them the perfect companion for a cold glass of milk. (As a chocoholic, did I add a handful—or two—of semisweet to half the batch? You bet. 10/10 would recommend.)
You can buy each mix individually or order a bundle of all three mixes for $25 at CravingsByChrissyTeigen.com.
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