Gluten-free Blueberry Pancakes

Since there are only two of us in the house, it never made sense to by multiple flours and make my own baking mix. Shortly after my celiac diagnosis, I purchased a gluten-free cookie mix and I’ve been using various mixes since then. Baking with gluten-free mixes for several people in a household – or an entire family – can get quite expensive. One of our readers inquired about gluten-free recipes for pancakes, white and chocolate cakes.

Below are some offerings I found from various websites and gluten-free blogs. For those who also like using mixes, I’m including some some products that make tasty gluten-free food. The product list is not conclusive and only includes mixes that I’ve personally tried and can vouch for. Obviously, I can not taste test every mix from every product line available.

Gluten-free Pancake Recipes:

• Buckwheat Pancakes from The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Gluten-free Pancakes from Elana’s Pantry
• Gluten-free Vegan Pancakes from Go Dairy Free
• Gluten-free Quinoa Pancakes from Gluten-Free Gourmand

Gluten-free Pancakes Mixes:

Gluten-Free Naturals, Pamela’s Products, Namaste, 123 Gluten Free,  Orgran

Gluten-free Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

Gluten-free White Cake Recipes:

• Gluten-free White Cake Recipe from Elana’s Pantry
• Gluten-free White Cake Recipe from Associated Content
• Gluten-free Pineapple Upsidedown Cake Recipe from the Baking Beauties

Gluten-free White (or yellow) Cake Mixes:

Gluten-free Naturals, Pamela’s Products, Gluten-free Pantry, Sylvan Border Farms (lemon pound cake), 123 Gluten Free, Betty Crocker

5 Minute Chocolate Cake

Gluten-free Chocolate Cake Recipes:

• Gluten-free Chocolate Cake from All Recipes
• Flourless Chocolate Cake from Gluten-Free Goddess
• Gluten-free 5 Minute Chocolate Cake from Recipe Zaar (I use Pamela’s baking mix for this and three heaping tablespoons of cocoa)

Gluten-free Chocolate Cake Mixes:

Pamela’s Products (sour cream version), Betty Crocker, Namaste (also makes excellent spice cake mix), Cherrybrook Kitchen, Bob’s Red Mill (we use chocolate milk and margarine for this mix)

Many gluten-free flours don’t have a very long shelf life and some go rancid much faster than wheat flour. For that reason, it’s important to contact the manufacturer of the products to find out how best to store them for longest shelf life. It’s fairly common for people to purchase too many gluten-free flours only to throw them out before using them up. Snapware containers are the best I’ve found to store flours and gluten-free snacks like crackers, pretzels and cookies. The largest size (sold at my Target) will store the entire 5 lb. bag of Jules Gluten Free flour. It took me just over three months to use that much flour and it never went rancid being stored in that container, in the pantry.

Since all gluten-free flours are not created equal, it’s smart to do some research to find  out which products are the best suited to your tastes. Some flours are grittier than others and some products will say “finely ground” right on the package. Some people don’t care for bean flours in dessert recipes. For instance, the bean flour flavor in a chocolate cake  tends to give way to the chocolate flavor. The same is usually not true of a white cake mix that contains bean flour. Everyone is different and has different taste. Check out this helpful information about gluten-free flours to learn more about the many types of flours out there. Or use the Grocery Guide to find sixteen brands that sell gluten-free flour.