Review: Pancake Mix in a bottle. How does Aunt Bessie's rate?

The last time I spoke to my Grandma she complained that she didn't get a pancake for the whole of 2013. I was absolutely appalled at this oversight and it was something I was determined to remedy in 2014.

A friendly cat from our walk - what a great poser!

The solution was clear. M and I would journey to the Midlands and make her pancakes.
However, Grandma isn't a big cook these days and we didn't want to stress her out having to buy ingredients for the pancakes, so we instead offered to bring them up ourselves from London.

I didn't fancy broken eggs and spilling flour all over the car, and I certainly didn't want to bring them pre-made, so we did something that I would never usually do, we bought *mumbles* ready made pancake mix that you just add water to.

From a convenience point of view, these Aunt Bessie pancakes are ideal. You simply add water to a set line and then shake the hell out of it to remove lumps.

Instructions so simple that even I can follow them

I didn't shake it well enough the first time so the first pancake was a little lumpy and anaemic as you can see from the photos. I also didn't get the frying pan hot enough so the first pancake broke up a little.

After a couple of attempts, I realised that the frying pan needs to be super hot with a smearing of vegetable oil to stop sticking.

The pancakes aren't a patch on homemade for obvious reasons, but I was pleasantly surprised with them. Their flavour was excellent - very homemade tasting with no synthetic after taste.

The packet made 6 full sized pancakes.

In conclusion, no I won't be using Aunt Bessie's every year, but to provide pancakes impromptu with no equipment or ingredients then I think that they're a fantastic option. And this little lady certainly wasn't complaining! Love you Grandma!

After pancakes it was time for a wander to visit Granddad and burn off some of that stodge.

We came across these snowdrops and an exceptionally friendly cat. By the way, how much do I love snowdrops? They're such simple, unassuming flowers which provide a welcome blanket of white post Christmas.