I tried out Aldi's new Gluten Free Baking Mix in two different recipes last week. First, I used it to make some cheddar garlic drop buscuits. Then I used it to make a buttermilk pie.
Let's start with the biscuits. The biscuits were very tasty, but I think it was because of the massive amounts of cheese, butter, and garlic that I used on them. I think that if I had used the mix for plain biscuits, they would have been very bland. Rather than using a blend of various gluten-free flours for the mix, it only contains white rice flour. White rice flour just doesn't have much flavor. My second issue with the biscuits was the fact that the next day they were gummy. I'm not a food scientist, so I don't know why this happened. But it definitely was not a good texture for a biscuit.
Now let's talk about the pie. If you've never tried buttermilk pie, you should. It may not sound like much, but it is delicious. The filling becomes almost custard after baking, and it is divine. The main problem that I had using the baking mix for the pie was the texture. It was a little bit gritty the first day and very gritty the next day. I think this can be attributed to the white rice flour again. It is grittier than brown rice flour and many other gluten-free flours that you can use.
The other problem I had was with browning, but I'm not sure if this was the baking mix, my oven, or user error. The biscuits didn't seem to brown very well, and the pie turned out too brown by the time the filling was completely cooked.
Overall, this baking mix is very similar to gluten-free Bisquick. It's main ingredient is white rice flour as well. Basically, if you like GF Bisquick, you will like Baker's Corner Gluten Free Baking Mix from Aldi. If that is the case, you might as well buy the Aldi kind. I paid $2.99 at my local Aldi, and the Bisquick goes for about twice as much around here. I believe the boxes are the same size too.
Like I said earlier, I usually make most things from scratch and don't buy many gluten free mixes anymore. But if you really want to know what I think, forget Bisquick. Buy Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix. It actually has flavor and tastes good. It isn't gritty either.
P.S. I will post the biscuit and pie recipes soon.
P.P.S. I wasn't compensated by any party for this post. All opinions are my own.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post about the Baker's Corner Baking Mix. It's always nice to see reviews on this kind of stuff! I'm GF too, and my boyfriend bought me a box of their brownie mix. Made it today and it was pretty decent. I plan to review it in my blog (literaryfeast.blogspot.com) later today.
If you want to make chocolate chip cookies, you can use this as a base. I added a smidgen of baking soda, full teaspoon of salt, 1/2 cup of shortening, drop of vanilla (1 cup of the baking mix, btw), one egg and a cup of Aldi's lunch cups of pears! Most of the pears blended up in the mixer, but I thought it would add the moisture that I feel this baking mix lacks. They tasted amazing out of the oven, but even better...they were still moist the day after. I agree that the mix has a gritty texture. The pears helped a tiny bit with that. It was a whim...I have used applesauce to replace fats a bunch in baking, and I thought it wouldn't hurt the recipe to give it a try.
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