gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

As regular readers would know by now, I love a shortcut. That’s why I was so chuffed to stumble upon these gluten free crepes lurking quietly in the frozen dessert section at Woolies.

What’s more they are really nice! In my excitement, I contacted the company, Creative Gourmet, (the ones that make those boxes of frozen berries). I asked them what had inspired them to add not just crepes, but gluten free ones, to their predominantly frozen berry range.

Instead of taking up this very loaded offer to brag about their commitment to those with food sensitivities etc etc, a company rep just said its crepes had always been gluten free but the product had recently been repackaged to make this more obvious.

This almost makes up for the mysterious disappearance of my favourite single-serve soft pavlova bases once found in that same section.

I loved these. They were sooo yummy but more significantly, they were the only gluten free item with any substantial calorie content. Everything else in that corner of the shop, the fruit pies, the cheese cakes, the lemon merringues and the chocolate bavarians, harbour a biscuit base or some pastry.

The only exception are those boxes of frozen berries, and though fruit definitely has a place in the indulgent dessert stakes, sometimes you just want some good old fashioned stodge.

Gluten free pancakes are great but the mix made by Vitarium is the only one that inspires me and is not yet being sold anywhere in my neighborhood.

With the Creative Gourmet product, you get eight crepes per pack at a cost of around $4.84. We heat them up and then add blueberries, thickened creme and maple syrup. Yum.

MB

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[2/12/09] Vitarium reps recently told us that they spent a good few months tinkering with their gluten free pancake mix in order to make it yummy.

So confident were they in the product that they were handing out free samples at last month’s Gluten Free Expo in Sydney. I rolled my eyes (when they weren’t looking) based on my previous experiences with gluten free pancake mixes.

The results usually involved a heavy, rubbery pancake edible only in the first five minutes and only then when smothered in various syrups and creams.

This is why it has taken this long for me to muster up the enthusiasm to try Vitarium’s new offering.

But last night, after a lovely Monday roast, I whipped out the 100g packet, added 150ml of milk as instructed on the back of the pack and stirred. (I also tasted it and got a hint of that gluten free pancake fishy taste that I have encountered before).

The early result was a very gluggy mixture that would obviously have no spreading power in the pan. So I added another good slosh of milk and stirred.

Although still decidedly stiff, I decided to proceed so as to remain as true to Vitarium’s instructions as possible. Once in the pan, the mixture required a bit of encouragement to settle into a flat shape but cooked nicely into a small, fat but satisfyingly fluffy pancake. Not only was the texture great, but the pancake also tasted nice (happily not a hint of fish). One child even demanded seconds.

Well they were rather small pancakes and also the quantity made from a 100g pack was not enormous, but I managed to stash one away in the fridge to see if it passed the cold pancake in the playground test. Alas no. It was too heavy and the flavour too bland to be added to my lunchbox arsenal

However a quick refresh in the microwave and it was just as yummy as the night before. So now I just have to figure out how to get my hands on more.

MB

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