Make it Gluten Free
Review by Diana Murphy - Co-Founder of the Gluten Free Centre.
Make it Gluten Free online shop was launched in 2015 introducing two gluten-free products to the UK market: “Simple Mills” and “1-2-3 Gluten Free”. Both products are from the USA and sold exclusively by Make it Gluten Free in the UK.
In this review I will focus on the Simple Mills range and I will write about 1-2-3 GF in another blog.
The Simple Mills products can be ordered here
The Simple Mills range is:
- Paleo friendly
- grain-free
- dairy-free
- soy-free
- low carb
- refined-sugar free
- Many of the ingredients are organic and the products are verified non-GMO. Instead of refined sugar or artificial sweeteners, they use organic coconut sugar to add sweetness. All the mixes are based on almond flour with other natural ingredients such as flax meal, arrowroot powder etc.
The Simple Mills range currently includes bread mix (you can make a variety of breads with the same mix), cookie mix, muffin mix, pizza dough and cake mix.
The mixes are so versatile and there are lots and lots of recipes online to give you some ideas what you can make. http://www.makeitglutenfree.co.uk/blogs/gluten-free-recipe-ideas
Simple Mills Pancake and Waffle Mix
We love pancakes for breakfast – they make a great change from eggs at weekends and adding lots of blueberries ticks off 1 of your 5 a day first thing in the morning!
This pancake mix is made from almond flour and sweetened with organic coconut sugar.
The box states that it will make 20 pancakes. The instructions give you the measurements to make 4, 8 or 12 pancakes so you don’t have to do any maths. As the product is made in the USA the measurements are given in cups so it’s handy to heave a cup measuring set. A cup is roughly 230 ml which is a size of a regular mug –but best measure it. You need to add eggs, milk and oil to the mix to make the pancake batter.
All you have to do is mix the ingredients and fry your pancake – the whole thing is ready in 5 minutes.
The mix makes a really delicious pancake, a little crispy on the outside, lovely and fluffy on the inside. Just like the ones you would have in the States! You need very little or no syrup on top as the pancakes are sweet. I served them with blueberries and a dollop of plain yoghurt – they were delicious!
Simple Mills Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
I have been experimenting with Paleo friendly baking but I must admit some of my bakes didn’t turn out very well. I was wondering if these cookies would turn out tasting like the real thing...
The cookie mix is great if you need a grain-free, dairy-free, low-carb treat. It’s so easy to make and it’s ready in about 15 minutes.
The mix is made from almond flour, coconut flour and arrowroot powder and sweetened with coconut sugar. It has dairy free chocolate chips added too!
All I had to do is add an egg, vanilla essence and oil (or butter) to the mix to make the cookie dough. They were ready in 10-12 minutes in the oven.
The box states that the mix will make 18-24 cookies but I only managed 10 – although they were rather large. I used 1 tbsp mix for each cookie as recommended, so use half of that to make about 20 cookies.
The cookies are so nice, crispy on the outside and really soft and light on the inside. I found 12 minutes was a bit too long for them in the oven so I left my second batch for 10 minutes only and they turned out perfect.
If you had some disasters with grain free cookies before, try this mix. You can’t tell that the cookies are gluten free let alone grain free! The kids loved them too!
