Handfelt Hotcake Showdown

This morning Ben and I embarked on a completely unscientific pancake taste test. Ben is the breakfast master of the house and vows to master his pancake making skills so that he can serve them up to our kiddos every weekend. Thus, today's voyage to find the best boxed pancake mix deemed worthy of special Sunday morning memories in our rugrat's lives...

The Sample
For the macho breakfast eater that wears red and black plaid shirts, drinks coffee straight-up black, and then meets Sarah Palin to go huntin', we had Hungry Jack Extra Light and Fluffy Pancake Mix:













Based on a recommendation from Real Simple magazine, and for the traditionalist in all of us, next up we went old school with Aunt Jemima's Original Pancake Mix:













And last but not least, we had the wild card - Trader Joe's Multigrain Baking & Pancake Mix. For all the khaki-loving, dog owning, SUV driving, granola-ish, organic, stroller-pushing families out there:










The Method
As Sunday tradition goes and I talked on the phone with my parents in another room, Ben prepared the three pancake mixes according to directions on the box and carefully calibrated their "doneness" (perfectly golden brown, not too thick, not too thin, juuuuust right). He used his new red, fancy-schmancy Celaphon non-stick skillet. Which, I might add, was purchased specifically for the purpose of making pancakes...and the occasional grilled cheese. One-by-one, Ben and I sampled each pancake (one bite with butter only, one bite with maple syrup, and one bite with five-fruit jam). We then wrote down our comments for each and ranked them on a scale of 1-5 stars. Ben knew which pancake was which mix, but I didn't. Oh, the suspense!

The Results
Hungry Jack Extra Light and Fluffy:
Ben's comments: 3 stars, "Okay, but not D.I.D.*"
Katy's comments: 2.5 stars, "Dense, bland, and pretty generic tasting. This doesn't excite me much."

Aunt Jemima's Original:
Ben's comments: 5 stars, "Great taste and texture! Gimme some of yours."
Katy's comments: 4.5 stars, "Less blah! A tad sweet and fluffy. Yummers!"

Trader Joe's Multigrain:
Ben's comments: 2 stars, "Tastes like uncooked pancake batter...ugh."
Katy's comments: 1 star, "It's initial cardboard texture fades to a more complex flavor profile - but not in a positive way!"

The Clear Winner
Sign us up for the club, Ms. J!

*If you don't know what D.I.D. stands for, then you probably haven't talked to Ben after he's had a few beers.