Yoji and the Foodies

Okay, so it’s not exactly waffles from scratch, but hotcake left in the waffle maker to cook (which makes it a waffle, doesn’t it?) Believe me when I say that my real intention was to make hotcakes using two ready mix brands and wolf them down. Then I remembered I have a food blog so I had to make a comparison first before I wolf them waffles down. One look at my hotcake would convince you that the waffle maker is the way to go.

If you have not cooked hotcakes in your life, let me tell you that the first three hotcakes would look awful. Irregularly-shaped, flat, and burnt. Don’t ask questions. It’s just how it is. The 4th, 5th, and sixth hotcakes would look ok, but they will be subjected to taste tests by yourself, the kids, and the dogs. This leaves you with only 3 presentable hotcakes. Because each small pack makes 9 hotcakes, if you’re lucky. With a waffle maker, if the end product looks awful, you blame the machine.

There is a reason why White King is called a king in the hotcake circles. They make really good hotcake mixes. But the readymix (or premix) landscape has changed over the years with many brands joining the hotcake fray. I’ve tried a lot of them and the more I eat them, the more they start to taste the same. It would only vary in texture, which is also affected by the preparation process.

To simplify the mechanics of the Waffle Wars, I chose Pillsbury One-Step Hotcakes and Maya Complete Hotcake Mix. Other mixes require the addition of eggs and butter or oil. I figured that if I use the regular mix, there will be many factors that would affect the taste (e.g. the kind of egg, the brand or butter, use of margarine instead of butter, etc.). With the chosen ready mix brands, all I needed to do was add 3/4 cup of water. No fuss, no muss.

HOTCAKE MIX #1: PILLSBURY ONE-STEP HOTCAKE

HOTCAKE MIX #2 MAYA COMPLETE HOTCAKE MIX

Don’t they look pretty? Pretty awful. Please don’t judge the cook by her waffles.  Judge the waffle maker

 FLUFFINESS  

Pillsbury is  light and fluffy while Maya is a little dense. Pillsbury wins this category.

TEXTURE 

Pillsbury is soft to taste while Maya has the chewy and crunchy combo.

Waffles differ from hotcake because of texture. It should be the right balance of chewiness, fluffiness, and crunchiness. MAYA wins this round.

**Pillsbury’s texture is perfect for Hotcake.

TASTE

Pillsbury’s hotcake has vanilla and boy, it shines through.  Maya has the classic  taste. It’s also sweeter than Pillsbury’s.  Pillsbury wins by a vanilla.

COST

Pillsbury is more expensive by P1 peso (this would vary depending on where you buy them). MAYA is more affordable.

It’s 2-2. 

With syrup and strawberry jam, they both taste so good to me.