I haven’t fired up the oven enough recently, and so I was at the supermarket with my sis and we decided to buy this instant muffin mix as a joint activity with the little niece. The Betty Crocker Pouch series has smaller portions, and we chose the Triple Berry muffin which just requires us to add water. Other instant mixes require eggs, oil and water, and some even milk, which can get a little messing, particularly for children. Hence we chose this.
Frankly, I have never baked anything out of a box. Not even the first time I baked. I always do things from scratch. Therefore, baking muffins out of a pouch this time is a whole new experience for me. True to the claim, from pouch to oven, it takes only a couple of minutes.
The flour mix. There are distinct pieces of dessicated berries FAKE BERRIES in the flour. It looks pretty promising.
After adding water. Those are my sis’ hands rendered with the magical touch of Pentax K-x. And Picasa. Since Betty Crocker is an American brand, the recipe is in American baking lingo that deals with Fahrenheit and cups, instead of metric systems. This calls for half a cup of water – not just any ol’ cup but a measuring cup.
An oven shot. The flour mix, being laden with lots of stabilisers, enabled the muffin to rise quite prettily. I won’t expect any less of a Betty Crocker product though; they must have, in their laboratory, tweaked each ingredient to perfection. I got 12 mini muffins out of the pouch. I think it can make perhaps 4 full size muffins.
An interior shot. My sis added more chocolate chips on the surface of the muffins, but the interior is all from the packet. There seems to be a mix of FAKE blueberries and raspberries. There is quite a generous dose of FAKE berries, so it’s quite a pretty muffin to make. However, it’s all looks and no taste. It has the requisite bounce and is surprisingly light (like chiffon cakes), but they tastes flat. Maybe it could use a little vanilla essence. And milk. And … forget it. I’m better off making my own from scratch. Now that I’ve tried box mixes, I can truly say mine are better. Way better.
The twelve mini muffins in their full pretty glory.
Nonetheless, this Betty Crocker mix is very convenient, particularly if you want to impress people with pretty confectioneries (read: do not tell them it’s from a mix), or allow young children to participate in the process. It tastes barely passable, nothing nasty, but certainly a waste of calories if you asked me. Life’s too short for muffins like these. If you can afford time to wash it down with strong tea, you can afford time to mix your own batter.
Will I buy this again? No. I’m better off making my own. Although I won’t mind trying this other box, or rather, bowl mix — Betty Crocker Warm Delights. These are brownie mixes meant to be put in the provided bowl and chucked into the microwave. Much more convenient (and sinful) but I think it’d be great for people who don’t have an oven and often suffer late night cake cravings.
EDIT: I was alerted to the imitation berries on packaging by a netizen. The berries are FAKE. Naive me thought that they found a way to dessicate berries. Rubbish. As with most American processed food, everything is made with corn and soy and whatever cheap ingredients. Feh.
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