Product Review: SweetieBeans! Rise n’ Shine Pancake Mix

Product: SweetieBeans! Rise n’ Shine Pancake Mix – $7.49+

Sorry about not having a retail price for you on this product I am about to review.  I just guessed as the link on the actual Web site for the company itself leads to an error and I can’t find anywhere else to draw a price from.  I’m guessing here.  My apologies.***

**Updated with actual ordering price**

BUT…now let’s cut to the chase.

When it comes to breakfast foods, you can’t quite beat the perfect pancake, right?  Hell, I eat pancakes for dinner sometimes.  Done that since I was a kid.  We always loved when my mom made breakfast for dinner, and the tradition carries on still in my family.  We are a breakfast-loving bunch, let me tell you!

When it comes to mixes out there for gluten-free pancakes, I have hit on the entire spectrum.  I have had the amazing.  I’ve had the so-so.  And I’ve had the horrible.  I absolutely love pancakes (they are so versatile…with what you put in them and what you put on them), and I feel that pancakes should turn out perfectly…every freakin’ time.  So, why is it that some gluten-free products get that right, and some…just don’t come close.

Pancakes are all about texture.  You want them to be hearty, yet light and fluffy.  This is a very difficult balance to reach.  And I definitely have my go-to favorites when it comes to the gluten-free pancake mixes that are out on the market.  I thought I had covered them all (or at least the wide-spread ones) until my February (Happy V-Day) 2015 Cuisine Cube tossed another one my way.

So, first let me recap for you what Cuisine Cube is all about, shall I?  Cuisine Cube is a subscription service that delivers 5-6 gluten-free, full-size products to your door for as little as $34.99/month. Inside the cube, you will discover full-size products (not sample sizes) that are made by local and smaller, artisan companies, rather than those that you can find at the average grocery store.  It has introduced me to so many new and delightful products.  Each box contains a breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and dessert product…and then, sometimes, an extra bonus item.  Who doesn’t love a little something extra, right?   Keep in mind, however, that Cuisine Cube has gone through some changes as of May.  No longer do they strictly only offer gluten-free cubes.  In addition to their gluten-free option, they now also offer Artisan and Vegan cubes as well.  The Artisan cube means that you have no food allergies and foods that contain common food allergens will be included.  The Vegan cubes contain products that are dairy and animal free.  And, they still have the Gluten Free cubes, which will have products that contain no gluten or wheat.  So, if you’re really interested in being introduced to the smaller, lesser-known, artisan companies, give Cuisine Cube a try!  It’s like…Christmas…or your birthday…every month!  Who doesn’t love that?!

So, the February box arrives and I uncover this large pouch of SweetieBeans! Rise ‘n Shine Pancake Mix.  SCORE!!  Pancakes are amazing.  I was quite excited about them.  And after tucking all that month’s products away in their proper places, I had every intention of making pancakes with this mix.  And then…I got hurt.  And life got busy.  Very, very busy.  And it was left to sit on the pantry shelf with some random bread mixes and other baking/breakfast items that I have yet to delve into.

But, my good friend, Harry, brought me some amazing local, and freshly picked (by himself!) blueberries on Friday and I knew that blueberry pancakes had to be made.  I’d been craving them, but I keep eating all the blueberries like candy instead of baking/cooking/making things with them.  Hey, give me a fruit and I’ll devour it…even if I just pop them from the bag and nosh.  Seriously.  That’s how much I love fruit, particularly berries.

So, after my Monday morning spin class, I came home and retrieved the SweetieBeans! Rise ‘n Shine Pancake Mix from my pantry, mixed 2 cups of it with 1-3/4 cup water and stirred it up.  Added these amazing blueberries and it was time to make the pancakes.

Sweetie!Beans is a true labor of love.  Several years ago, through a series of health related unfortunate events, the creator’s family became aware that they had food allergies and were going to have to make a few dietary adjustments…which meant completely excluding wheat, gluten, eggs, dairy, casein, peanuts, walnuts, food dyes, pesticides, and yeast.  Because it was a health matter, the entire went cold-turkey on their allergy elimination and found that within a few months they were feeling much better.  The food, however, for people who were considered “foodies” was lacking now.  The items were lackluster, back in the day when cakes tasted like cardboard, fried foods were soggy, and cookies were incomprehensible.  The father of the family took matters into his own hands and got into the kitchen.  This didn’t happen overnight, but through years of trial and error, he found the perfect blend.  Word spread, and soon people were asking him to bake cakes for their special occasions, and all went over well, despite that they were vegan and gluten free.  Talk about winning!  And with that, SweetieBeans! was born…the company named after the nickname he gave the love of his life, his wife, back when they were 17 years old.

As for the SweetieBeans! Rise ‘n Shine Pancake Mix…the batter combined with all the ingredients to form this slightly thick, but smooth, consistency.  It was ideal.  I got out my 1/4 cup measure cup and dropped the batter onto the skillet to begin to cook.  So often, gluten-free pancakes don’t get that amazing golden crust on the outside, but these did.  And it didn’t take long for the batter to get there either.  I started to see the edges begin to bubble and firm up, so I went ahead and went to flip the first batch over.  Perfection.  So, this made me feel really good about the way these would taste when all was done.  And while these didn’t get overly fluffy in size, but they weren’t flat either.  These had the perfect amount of lift to them.  They weren’t heavy, nor were they particularly filling.  I ate mine while cooking up another round of them and ended up hoovering the two I had plated for myself.  Seriously.  They were gone almost as soon as I poured my Sohgave Blueberry Syrup over them.  I think, because of the name, my roommate thought these were made with bean flours, so she had said that she was surprised they didn’t taste like bean.  I told her it was just the name and nothing to do with the blend of flours that were used to create the pancake mix itself.  She, a lover of pancakes like me, also enjoyed these.  She said they cooked up well and had good volume to them.  So, since she isn’t a Celiac or gluten-free…this is a great endorsement.  Were they the best we’ve had?  Nope.  But they rank right up there!  I was pleasantly surprised, honestly.

With that in mind, let’s discuss what goes into the SweetieBeans! Rise ‘n Shine Pancake Mix, shall we?  This mix is a blend of sorghum flour, rice flour blend (rice flour, rice bran), white rice flour, sugar, tapioca starch, and contains less than 2% of each of the following: baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, corn starch, potato starch, potato flour, natural flavor, xanthan gum, sea salt, monocalcium phosphate, magnesium carbonate.  This mix is gluten-free (obviously), vegan, wheat-free, egg-free, dairy-free, casein-free, peanut-free, walnut-free, free of food dyes, free of pesticides, and yeast-free.  Loving it?  I know I am!!

As for nutrition, a serving size of SweetieBeans! Rise ‘n Shine Pancake Mix is 1/3 cup of the dry mix.  This serving will give you 170 calories (remember, unless you add some chocolate chips or berries or peanut butter…all you put into this mix is water…so this amount remains the same!), 1 gram fat, 0 grams saturated fat, 0 grams trans-fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 410 mg sodium, 2 grams fiber, 8 grams sugar, and 3 grams of protein.  So, it will fill you up, but it won’t make you feel ridiculously full.

For me, I loved this mix at first bite.  To say that I was surprised is an understatement.  After being burned with pancake mixes promising me the best gluten-free pancakes and ending up with anything but that, it was nice to have a product actually deliver.  In fact, I look forward to reheating the other batch I made while devouring mine like they were going out of style this morning.  Some foods I just can’t savor.  Not when it had been so long since I had something taste that amazing.  Pancakes should be simple and delicious.  SweetieBeans! gives you this and more.

I’m a fan!  Trust me…you will be too.  But first, we need to figure out how to order more!

(Thanks to Tim’s comment below, you can order this mix and the other SweetieBeans! mixes at this link: https://gourmetfoodland.com/products/mixes/gluten-free/