For best results, stick with box mixes or made-from-scratch.
Shake and bake should be left to chicken, pork and Ricky Bobby. Leave brownies out of it.
A benefit of having a friend for a food writer is getting to test out new products, especially those that might be good for kids.
It was with great anticipation during the Labor Day weekend to try out the Betty Crocker Shake-N-Pour Brownie mix.
Oh, save yourself some headache on this one.
First, the container is not recyclable. I know it can be re-purposed for other uses, but I already have lots of old jars and containers holding my sewing kits, kitchen items, toys and other knick-knacks.
Second, and more importantly, the batter was impossible to get out.
The idea is to add water, shake and pour. The reality is add water, try to swish it around and struggle to get lumpy batter to plop out.
Chocolate covered my 8- and 5-year-old kids as they reached in to get it all out, which was impossible.
The brownie batter barely covered the pan, stayed flat and had a so-so taste.
There are two other shake-and-pour items, both cupcakes. Maybe those are better, but I can’t say.
For my house, we are going back to made-from-scratch, or at least the old-school, traditional box.
It will certainly taste better and not be as messy. But my kids will learn about cooking from start to finish and get some math skills in with measuring.
