Low-Sodium Scratch Biscuits

A few weeks ago, i made scratch biscuits. Afterward, I calculated the amount of calories and sodium. (I used salted butter for the fat option and did not reduce the added salt.) I was surprised by the amount of sodium. The amount of sodium in the batch of 14 cut biscuits was 4600 mg (329/biscuit). The FDA provides information about salt consumption and methods for lowering it. Note: "The amount of salt in a food is listed as “sodium” on the Nutrition Facts label that appears on food packaging."

Sodium
I found some ways to reduce sodium in a future recipe.

• Reduce or eliminate sodium in baking powder.
• Reduce added salt when taking salted butter into account.
• Use the finer granularity popcorn salt—thinking that it might dissolve more quickly and completely in dough than table salt—more flavor bang.

Common in many scratch biscuit recipes is using three teaspoons of baking powder. Almost all baking powders have 60 mg sodium per 1/8 teaspoon—1440 per biscuit batch, about 100 mg per biscuit. Hain Pure Foods Featherweight Baking Powder uses potassium instead of sodium. This product is more expensive and not as readily available as regular baking soda. Amazon reviews are helpful for product satisfaction, quantity substitutions, and availability at Whole Foods.
Salt info websites:

• Salt (lots of pictures and explanations)
• Salt Varieties and Types (another good reference, but fewer pictures)

Fats
Fats called for in biscuits include salted butter, unsalted butter, margarine, shortening, and lard. Various recipes list a choice of salted and unsalted fats without addressing sodium adjustments. By personally perusing nutrition tables, I noticed that most salted butters and spreads would add about 720 mg of sodium to the recipe (~51 mg/biscuit) without regard to additional salt.

Various websites state that unsalted butter tends to have fresher ingredients than salted butter. In any case, if you choose to use salted butter in recipes, you should reduce the amount of added salt. For the biscuit recipe, I called for a conservative 1/2 teaspoon of popcorn salt. If you use salted butter, maybe use only 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Shortening and margarines have trans fats, in case you want to avoid them. Some margarines list 0 grams of trans fats. Note that all these fats list 1 tablespoon is one serving, and that if the amount of trans fats is less than .4 gram, companies can round off and show 0 to be the amount.

If you are a vegetarian (not a vegan), you can, in good conscience, consume butter. Related article: "12 Seemingly Vegan & Vegetarian Foods That Really Aren't"

Near the bottom of this article, look for calorie and sodium stats for ingredients.
My pixstrip shows five main image areas:

1. Implements
2. Ingredients
3. Start of the process that is common to both drop and cut biscuits (milk excluded)
4. Process continuation—1/2 amount recipe, drop biscuits
5. Process continuation—1/2 amount recipe, cut biscuits

Implements

• Group 1
  • Cups to measure with
  • Medium mixing bowl
  • Plate (optional for grating butter onto)
  • Forks for tossing grated butter into the dry ingredients
  • Pastry blender
  • Measuring spoons (various sizes as needed)
• Group 2 (Item to cut or grate butter with—I used my salad shooter. Using a cheese grater is OK.)
• Group 3 (bowls for separate drop and cut biscuit doughs—unnecessary if making only one kind)
• Group 4 (baking pans)

Ingredients

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 4 t no-sodium baking powder
• 1/2 t popcorn salt
• 1/2 C unsalted butter
• Milk (1 C if drop biscuits, 3/4 C if cut biscuits)

Instructions, Initial

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. Measure and pour the dry ingredients into the main mixing bowl, stirring them together with a pastry blender.
3. Grate the butter into the dry ingredients (plateful of grated butter shown in pixtrip).
4. Use two forks to toss the items together thoroughly, avoiding warming the butter.
5. Use the pastry blender to fine-blend the mixture.

Instructions, Drop and Cut Recipe Differentiation

1. Divide the dough evenly from the previous step into two bowls.

Note: The pixstrip shows separate sections for 1/2 recipe each for drop and cut biscuits. If making only one type, don't bother dividing the dough.

2. Use pastry blender to blend in milk.
•  
• □ Half-recipe drop biscuits, 1/2 C
• □ Half-recipe cut biscuits, 3/8 C
•  
• □ Full-recipe drop biscuits, 1 C
• □ Full-recipe cut biscuits, 3/4 C
•  
3. Continue steps for biscuit shapes as desired.

Shaping, Drop Biscuits

1. Use the forks to collect and shape dough balls onto the pan(s).
2. Bake for about 10-14 minutes.

Shaping, Cut Biscuits

1. Place dough into lightly floured pan(s). Sprinkle flour on top, press to ~1/2 inch thick, fold; repeat at least three times. (I encountered some recipes that called for up to 10 times of similar kneading.)
2. Cut shapes with biscuit cutter, cooky spatula, drinking glass, or other means and arrange on the pan. (Some recipes called for cutter diameters from 2" to 3". A plastic shape I used had once held icing from a tube of Pillsbury refrigerated cinnamon rolls.)
3. Bake for about 10-14 minutes.

Post-Recipe Thoughts
The biscuits came out paler that I expected. Maybe the next time, I'll raise the temperature or bake longer. (I didn't want to overbake and dry by adding 4 minutes.) And although not as salty as I might have wanted, I could always spread salted butter.

I'm not sure that using popcorn salt, with its finer granularity, is more effective than ordinary table salt. Sure, it's more expensive, as is the potassium baking powder. The table shows, however, that the butter is the costliest ingredient. In the big picture, homemade biscuits are way cheaper than refrigerated biscuits or getting them from a bakery or eatery.

Contrasting Costs of Biscuits Using Regular and Specialty Baking Powders and Salts

		low-sodium $	reg ingred $
Flour		.20	.20
Potassium baking powder		.51
Regular baking powder			.08
Popcorn salt		.03
Table salt			.01
Unsalted butter		.75	.75
Nonfat milk (1 C, drop)		.25	.25
Nonfat milk (3/4 C, cut)		.19	.19
Full batch of 14	drop	1.74	1.29
	cut	1.68	1.23
Individual	drop	.12	.09
	cut	.12	.09

The drop biscuits are way easier and require less effort and time to make than the cut ones. The difference in calories between drop and cut biscuits is negligible, about 2 or 3 calories each biscuit.

Regarding sodium, using a recipe that calls for 3 teaspoons of regular baking soda and a teaspoon of salt instead of my recipe adds 2640 mg sodium per batch, about 189 mg extra per biscuit. And who eats only one biscuit per sitting? :-)


Stats for Calories and Sodium

Ingredients		Calories	Sodium (mg)
flour (2 C)		800	0
potassium baking powder (4 tsp), Hain Featherweight		0	0
popcorn salt (1/2 tsp), Kernel Season's		0	940
unsalted butter (1/2 C)		800	0
milk	1 C, for drop biscuits	80	107
	3/4 C, for cut biscuits	60	80

Biscuit Quantity	Shape	Calories	Sodium (mg)
Full batch of 14	drop	1680	1047
	cut	1660	1020
Individual	drop	120	75
	cut	119	73

Further Considerations
Potassium and sodium balance: "The trade-off for no sodium is every teaspoon of this baking powder has 500-600 milligrams potassium. That could be a problem for people with kidney disease whose potassium is running high, or someone taking blood pressure medicines that save potassium in the body."

Grating butter: Most biscuit recipes call for cutting the fat into the dry ingredients. I saw two recipes that called for grating cold butter—one for drop, and one for cut biscuits. Grating makes sense to me for easier and more thorough blending of ingredients. My salad shooter did a decent job of grating and also preventing butter warming from hand contact.

Frequently Used Electrical Long-time Kitchen Items

Do you have kitchen gadgets or appliances that you you've had for a long time and still frequently use? I previously wrote about non-electrical kitchen items. This time, I talk mostly about electrical appliances, such as my popcorn air popper and salad shooter.

Wearever Popcorn Pumper 72000

This hot-air popcorn popper is listed as vintage, and having come out around late 70s, before microwave popcorn. This model has the butter warmer at the base rather than at the chute (73000). Looking at a webpage of poppers for sale, some people state usability for roasting coffee beans.

Works great still, and I use it several times a month. Instead of the included butter warmer, I microwave butter in a glass cup with a piece of wax paper covering the top. Yeah, more work, but I prefer to not put the aluminum warmer in the dishwasher.

Presto Salad Shooter

This appliance works like a portable food processor with a lot less bulk. I use it pretty much weekly, since the early 90s. It's great for slicing carrots for salads and multiple veggies for making veggie pasta.

Although the shooter has multiple cutting and grating cones, I use the slicing one the most often. Over the years, I'd put various cracks in the original slicing cone, Read my article for details of finding and buying the replacement cone (good purchase experience).

GE Hand Mixer

I've had a few mixers over the years. This one is maybe 10 years old; the previous one had a plastic free-rotation stand. This appliance gets the job done. It has only two speeds, and the beater blades sometimes don't lock easily. (I've never felt the urge to get a high-end muscly machine.)

Osterizer Blender

Hooboy! It's been in my household since the 70s! Over the years, I've used it weekly, but sometimes I've neglected it for long periods of time (years?). I used to use it frequently for pureeing chunky salsas. (I'm not wild about chunky salsas or similarly chunky pico de gallo. I've used it for chopping up ice and also blending hot butter into egg yolks for hollandaise sauce.

Maybe 15 years ago, the blades wouldn't rotate. Maybe I didn't fully dry the blade unit after handwashing it. I reluctantly bought a replacement, not thinking it sensible to buy an entire new blender.

GE 700-watt MIcrowave Oven

Yes! Only 700 watts! I've had this oven for about 25 years. It's so low- powered that most microwave meals list instructions for 1000 to 1100-watt ovens. Pretty much, if I'm doing a frozen meal, I add about 50% more time. A couple of the rack brackets are gone or broken, so I don't use the rack anymore. The lack of a full set of brackets don't seem to affect heating performance or make the oven unsafe to use.

Do you have appliances that you've had a loooong time that you still use regularly? How about sporadically? Eh, I have some electrical and non-electrical items that I use very infrequently or still haven't tried, but I'm not going there. :-).

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Frequently Used Non-electrical Long-time Kitchen Items (June 2015)
Frequently Used Electrical Long-time Kitchen Items (July 2015)
Frequently Used Kitchen Items--Vintage, Newer (article, video)

Frequently Used Non-electrical Long-time Kitchen Items

Do you have kitchen gadgets or appliances that you you've had for a long time and still frequently use? These non-electrical kitchen items are so old that some are practically considered classics—many not available off the shelf anymore. I've had them sometime between about 15 years and, uh, a few decades. And I use them several times a week—maybe occasionally skipping only a week.

Tupperware Measuring Pitcher

This pitcher with spout and handle can hold up to 8 cups or 2 liters, with room to spare. The lid has a hinged overhang for storing excess liquid or batter. I use it often for mixing up pancake batter and easily pouring it onto a pan. In case you get nostalgic, maybe even want to buy any, some of these pitchers (and similar) are available on EBay.

Glass Food Jar with Measuring Marks
When was the last time you saw glass peanut butter jars with measure marks? Seems all these jars are now plastic. The one I use has a capacity of two cups, not counting the threaded area. One side of the jar shows 1/4-cup increments, and the other side shows 1/3-cup increments.

I use my jar often for making French toast batter (1/2 C milk, 2 eggs, 1 T sugar, 1 t cinnamon), which wets about 4 or 5 slices of bread. My recipe is based on a Betty Crocker paperback recipe, but not easy to find online. A similar and easy recipe is at food.com.
11/6/16--Alas, I broke the jar. It slid off a small appliance and rolled onto the floor.

Braun Kitchen Scale
This Swiss-made scale is strictly mechanical—no digital readouts for weight or units. It had come with a surface-aligned bowl, but it broke within the first year, I think. The weight labelings display either up to 4 pounds or 2 kilograms. I'm shocked that it's available now for $60.

I recently bought some scales for gifts, picking Taylor 3842-21 at a bricks-n-mortar store. The digital features are nice, and weighs up to 11 pounds (or 5 kg). Good thing about the Braun, though, is not needing to replace batteries.

Crank Can Opener
The opener I use is so old that our household doesn't remember who acquired it or when. I'm surprised that it's available on Amazon. I'd used an electrical opener a long time ago, but the edge didn't cut the can lids so well after a decade or so.

Coincidentally, more and more cans now come with poptop rings for easy lid removal.

Glassware (Mixing Bowls, Baking Pans)
Although I have multiples and similar items of glassware, I took a group pic to represent my faves. I use the wide-diameter, shallow Pyrex dish for making up and microwaving TV-dinner-type plates. This dish itself has served as a lid that mates with a deeper Pyrex casserole dish. Seems my most frequent casseroles are my veggie pasta, which I use the oblong glass pan for.

The mixing bowls have moved with me for several decades and numerous recipes. I omitted the largest bowl from the pic; it's still cradling the remainder of the watermelon I'm still working on consuming.

Kodak DC 3400 Digital Camera

Admittedly, a digital camera is not a kitchen item, I use it as often, maybe more often, than kitchen appliances or gadgets. When I first got it, the camera used to be the cat's meow. Contrasted with today's smartphones, it's now oversized, hefty, and feature-limited. Not planning to abandon it anytime soon. It serves my purposes and is easy to use.

7/8/2016: Sadly, the battery door broke a few months later. Used the camera, temporarily taping and untaping the door to deal with batteries, acquired a Fuji JX665. The Fuji has taken a bit of getting used to, but the additional features and video capability have helped wean me away from the Kodak.

8/28/2023: It looks like the Fuji lasted till end of Oct 2018, noticing filename extension changeovers just before Halloween. Since then, I've been using my Canon IXUS 180 camera for stills and vidoe clips.

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Frequently Used Non-electrical Long-time Kitchen Items (June 2015)
Frequently Used Electrical Long-time Kitchen Items (July 2015)
Frequently Used Kitchen Items--Vintage, Newer (article, video)

Watermelon Pick N Cut

It's a good time of the year to have your pick of watermelons for quality, quantity, and price. My picking method is the one that a cousin told me about her father using—"Pick the ugly one." My method of cutting chunks and storing unused the unused portion for later cuts helps prevent mushiness, thus, extending the refrigerator life of the melon.

The upper pixstrip shows the pick and preparation process. (The melon was from late last season) The lower pixstrip shows circled areas of "ugly" areas for a watermelon I bought a couple of weeks ago, some of which is still in the fridge. BTW, I highly recommend seedless ones for great taste while avoiding the seed hassle for eaters.

Picking a Watermelon
The National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB) advises a short list for picking a watermelon (lightly edited for punctuation and spelling):

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Look the watermelon over.
   You are looking for a firm, symmetrical watermelon that is free from bruises, cuts or dents.
2. Lift it up.
   The watermelon should be heavy for its size. Watermelon is 92% water, most of the weight is water.
3. Turn it over.
   The underside of the watermelon should have a creamy yellow spot from where it sat on the ground and ripened in the sun.

View the association's YouTube video. After viewing, you can click links to videos from others about picking watermelons. (It's nice that YouTube displays similar-theme links at current URLs.) Having viewed a few other videos, I'd say a common method is to look for the yellow patch, which pickers say indicates the melon was ripened on the vine—a good thing.

A little elaboration about the "pick the ugly" advice. Per the relative, a melon that has lots of (surface) scars and strafe-like markings indicate bugs' past attempts to get at the sweetness. So, I infer that if melons have smooth complexions, they're not so sweet, and bugs don't bother. Look again at my pixstrip with the circled defects. Ain't the melon an ugly beaut!

Cutting a Watermelon
The National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB) has advice about carving a watermelon—decorative cutting besides merely for consumption. If you prefer more direct cutting instructions, visit the following YouTube links for cutting chunks and spears:

• How to cut a watermelon into cubes ?
• The Easiest Way to Cut and Cube a Watermelon
• Watermelon Ninja shows the fastest, easiest way to cut the fruit

My own cutting method differs from the methods that of the videos because I cut only a few rings worth at a time, refrigerating the remainder. A large mixing bowl cradles the rounded end, and food wrap covers the cut end.

When I'm ready to cut another serving bowl's worth, I pull out the mixing bowl, lift the wrap, slice and chunk another ring or two of melon, and re-cover and re-refrigerate the bowl. Using the mixing bowl method of storage, the melon can stay fresh (sweet, not deteriorated, not mushy) for WEEKS!

Image descriptions of the upper pixstrip, which shows the pick, wash, cut, and store process:

1. Dashed outline showing two images of a melon
   1. Yellow spot with "attack" markings
   2. Another attack marking on another side of the melon
2. Melon in sink with nail brush under running water
3. Large plate with knife, and the whole melon inside a large glass mixing bowl
4. Dashed outline showing two cutting-process images
   1. Some melon rings and small-cut end, and the remainder of the melon in the mixing bowl with food wrap on it
   2. Rinds, and chunked watermelon in serving bowl
5. Dashed outline showing subsequent cutting-process images
   1. Remainder watermelon tipped onto plate with knife inserted for cutting a ring
   2. Ring, rind, and chunked watermelon in serving bowl (rewrapped melon not shown)

An idea I might adopt for future watermelon cutting might be to slice some rings onto a plate, make all the cuts while leaving the rinds in place, remove the rinds, then shove the fruit into a serving bowl.

Confetti Cupcake Bites

My recipe makes half-size cupcakes, using nonpareils and jimmies in two half batches during one baking session. Contrast the results of the sprinkle types, and decide on your own single or duo sprinkle-type morsels. I've been dancing around using both kinds of sprinkles for cake mix cookies in a couple of previous recipe articles. This time, I'm talking about using cake mix for actual cake.

In case you're unfamiliar with differences between nonpareils and jimmies, "Sprinkles, Demystified: An Explanation of All Types" explains a main difference as shape—round for nonpareils and cylindrical for jimmies.

Round Sprinkles: These can more specifically be referred to as nonpareils. These are those teeny-tiny round balls that can come in a single color or in rainbow.

Cylinder Sprinkles: Sprinkles with a cylinder shape are made by mixing up a paste ...a little slower to “bleed” color than the nonpareil type of sprinkle. ....In some parts of the United States, particularly Pennsylvania and the Northeast, this type of sprinkle (the chocolate type in particular, it seems) are referred to as “Jimmies”.

Caution: Nonpareils "bleed" rather readily in moisture, even more so with cake batter than with cooky dough as in my "Rainbow Nonpareil Cake Mix Cookies" recipe. Thus, minimize time and effort when stirring nonpareils into batter.

My pixstrip shows the following image areas:

1. Implements
2. Ingredients
3. Mixed cake mix batter
4. Batter divided into two Pyrex bowls—with nonpareils in the left bowl and jimmies in the right bowl
5. Each batter type in separate cupcake pans
6. Baked cupcakes
7. Cut sample cupcakes for visual contrast
8. Some cupcake bites arranged in a tin

Implements

• Mixing bowl
• Electric mixer
• Cup for eggs
• Measuring cup(s) for dispensing batter
• Tablespoon measuring spoon for measuring sprinkles
• Spatula for scraping batter
• Same-size bowls if making separate batches of nonpareil and jimmies batter (If making only one kind of cupcake, skip using these two bowls.)
• Cupcake pans

Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Golden Vanilla.)
• Eggs (as listed on box)
• Cooking oil (as listed on box)
• Water (as listed on box)
• Sprinkles as follows (option a, b, or c—pixtrip shows option "a".):
  1. 2 T nonpareils for 1/2 recipe, 4 T jimmies for the other 1/2 recipe
  2. 4 T nonpareils for a whole recipe
  3. 8 T jimmies for a whole recipe
• Spray oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Spray pans with oil.
3. Follow box instructions for mixing powder, eggs, oil, and water together.
4. If making separate nonpareil and jimmies recipes, divide the cake batter equally into two bowls. (I used two Pyrex bowls and evened out the weights.) If making a batch with only one type of sprinkles, skip this step.
5. Add the sprinkles.
• When using nonpareils, measure and very lightly stir them into the batter to minimize color "bleed".
• When using jimmies, measure and stir them into the batter, but don't worry about color "bleed".
6. Scoop the batter into the pan wells, each about 3/4 full. (For more crunch in the nonpareil version, sprinkle an additional pinchful over each well after dispensing the batter.)
7. Bake for about 17-20 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick.
8. Remove the baked cupcakes. Tilt them in the wells or place them onto a cooling rack to cool.
9. Frost if desired. Beware of extra effort required and added calories in gilding the lily.

Post-Recipe Thoughts
Interestingly, the heat seemed to cause the jimmies to diffuse. That is, after baking, the jimmies looked wavy instead of retaining their rod shapes. But the jimmies morsels didn't bleed and change the cake color like the nonpareil morsels did.

When working with nonpareils, remember that they're itty bitty spheres. When I first opened the jar, I tilted it. Out came several orbs, rolling freely on the table, a challenge to easily stop their willy-nilly, runaway movements.

Cake mixes that already contain jimmies are available. When I made the jimmies version of cake mix cookies, using Betty Crocker's Party Rainbow Chip mix, I didn't think to sift it to measure the amount of jimmies. Maybe some day I'll break down and buy another box, remembering to check out the amount of jimmies before baking something.

Rainbow Nonpareil Cake Mix Cookies

Multicolor sprinkle decorations for packaged cookies, cakes, and cake mixes tend to more often be jimmies than nonpareils. These cookies vary from the ones I made when I used the Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip cake mix. Instead of using cake mix that already includes multicolor jimmies, I used basic cake mix and added rainbow nonpareils. (Wilton's product name is Rainbow Nonpareils.)

"Sprinkles, Demystified: An Explanation of All Types" explains a main difference as shape—round for nonpareils and cylindrical for jimmies.

Round Sprinkles: These can more specifically be referred to as nonpareils. These are those teeny-tiny round balls that can come in a single color or in rainbow.

Cylinder Sprinkles: Sprinkles with a cylinder shape are made by mixing up a paste ...a little slower to “bleed” color than the nonpareil type of sprinkle. ....In some parts of the United States, particularly Pennsylvania and the Northeast, this type of sprinkle (the chocolate type in particular, it seems) are referred to as “Jimmies”.

My pixstrip shows the following image areas:

1. Implements
2. Ingredients
3. Stirred cake mix and nonpareils (dry ingredients)
4. Stirred eggs and oil (wet ingredients)
5. Blended dry and wet ingredients in the larger bowl
6. Raw dough in pan
7. Baked cookies in pan
8. Cookies on a cooling rack (some flipped back to right side up)

Implements

• Cooky pan(s)
• Pastry blender
• Mixing bowls (one medium-large, one small)
• Measuring cup (optional for cracking eggs individually before pouring them into bowl)
• Tablespoon for measuring out cooky dough
• Spatula for scraping dough onto pan
• Cooky spatula for lifting and transferring baked cookies
• Cooling rack for baked cookies

Ingredients

• 1 box vanilla cake mix (I used Betty Crocker French Vanilla.)
• 4 Tablespoons Wilton Rainbow Nonpareils
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup cooking oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Use the pastry blender to stir the cake mix powder and nonpareils together in a medium-large bowl.
3. Use the pastry blender to stir the eggs and oil together in a small bowl.
4. Pour the eggs and oil mixture into the larger bowl and combine the ingredients.
5. Use a round tablespoon to scoop the dough. Shape to rounded, level, or concave height.
6. Drop the spoon's dough onto the cooky sheet, using the rubber spatula to ease out each lump.
7. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.
8. Use the cooky spatula to lift and transfer the done cookies onto cooling rack.

The batch made 38 cookies, ~65 calories each.

Post-Recipe Thoughts
Those nonpareils in these cookies "bled" slightly into the dough during mixing, turning the dough a light bluish gray. Interestingly, enough of the nonpareils' texture remained so that after baking, the cookies still had some crunchiness within the soft texture. Eh, at some time, I should try another cooky batch with jimmies in an egg-oil-powder dough to see if the jimmies bleed.

A few months ago, I actually did bake a jimmies version, using Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip cake mix, but I used butter instead of oil. Looking at pix I had taken of the process for "EZ Buttery Confetti Cake Mix Cookies", the jimmies did not bleed and tint the egg-oil-powder dough.

The nonpareils came free with a supermarket promotion. Normal price would run about $1.75 for the 3-ounce jar. The four tablespoons amounted to over half the jar, thus, about a dollar's worth. Cake mix tends to run slightly more than a dollar for a 15.25-ounce box. The oil cost about 30¢, and the eggs cost about 34¢.

If I calculate the cookies as having free nonpareils, each cooky comes to a little over 4¢. If I include nonpareil price, each cooky comes to about 9¢. Sure, a big price difference. OTOH, you make them fresh instead of buying them from a store or bakery. Yum—freshness and lower cost!

For a quick reference to price of eggs and oil, scroll to the bottom table at "Whataburger Pancakes, Mix, or Scratch". (I calculated costs of scratch pancake ingredients, an egg and oil being two of the items.)

Instant Pancake Mix, Info Table, Etc., for 12 Brands

Previously, I wrote Whataburger pancakes, Whataburger pancake mix, and scratch pancakes. Recently, a relative told me that she used to cook pancakes from scratch for her kids when they were growing up. At that time, no companies made convenient pancake powder, the "complete" kind that required only water.

Shortly after the discussion, I went to a supermarket and looked at the pancake/waffle mix aisle. Was I surprised to see so many brands! Initially, they all seemed to be 32-oz boxes, about six brands.

Upon a return trip for a closer look-see, I found 12 brands and took more detailed notes. All but two "complete" mixes are 32-ounce boxes. One anomalous brand is Krusteaz' Heart Healthy Light & Fluffy Buttermilk Complete Pancake Mix—28 ounces. The other anomalous brand is Betty Crocker Bisquick Buttermilk Pancake Mix Shake 'n Pour, which comes in two shaker-bottle sizes—5.1 and 10.6 ounces.

I googled the 12 brands and many of the ingredients. (Many of the chemical-sounding names seemed confusingly similar.) My compilation table, which I based on my previous article, includes compilation of ingredients for my scratch recipe ("0") and the 12 brands. I listed the general order of ingredient types as follows:

flours, sugars, milks, fats, eggs and non-egg emulsifiers, leavenings, salt, thickeners, and other additives (some groupings based on various Google researches on chemical names and purposes).

Note: In the table, each number in the heading row points to the URL of the pancake mix brand. Hover your pointer to see the brand name. Click to find details of the brands, including lists of ingredients and nutrition tables.

The total number of ingredients is near the bottom of the list. The scratch recipe ("0") ingredients—from Pillsbury's Simply From Scratch Volume 2 book—requires only eight items. Of course, this recipe requires getting and putting the ingredients together, as opposed to the convenience of using only powdered mix and water.

Ingredient, etc.	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Flour	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
Whole wheat flour	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n
Wheat gluten	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n
Soy flour (defatted for brand #12)	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	y	y	y
Yellow corn flour	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n
Sugar	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
Dextrose	n	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
Corn syrup solids	n	y	y	y	y	n	y	n	y	n	n	n	n
Whey	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n
Buttermilk or milk/vinegar rplcmt	y	n	y	n	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
Nonfat milk	n	n	y	y	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n
Lactic acid	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	y	n
Cooking oil (whatever's handy)	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Palm oil	n	y	y	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Soybean oil	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Canola oil	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n
Canola or soybean oil	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	y	n
Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n
Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Soybean and Cottonseed Oils)	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	y
Partially hydrogenated soybean oil	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n
Monoglycerides	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Mono & diglycerides	n	n	n	y	n	n	y	y	y	n	n	n	n
Mono diglycerides	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n
Egg white	n	y	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	y	y
Egg	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	y	n	n	n
Egg yolk	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Sodium caseinate	n	y	n	y	n	n	y	n	y	n	n	n	n
Lecithin (soy lecithin for brand #12)	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y
Sodium stearoyl lactylate	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n
Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
Baking powder	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Monocalcium phosphate	n	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	n	y	y	y
Calcium acid pyrophosphate	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	y
Calcium phosphate	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n
Sodium acid pyrophosphate	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Sodium aluminum phosphate	n	n	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	n	n
Salt	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y	y
Modified food starch	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n
Modified wheat starch	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n
Corm starch	n	n	y	n	y	y	n	n	n	y*	n	n	n
Guar gum	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n
Potassium bicarbonate	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n
Calcium carbonate	n	n	y	y	y	n	n	y	y	y	n	n	n
Dipotassium phosphate	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Tricalcium Phosphate	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y
Soy Protein Isolate	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n
Natural flavors	n	n	y	n	y	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	n
Natural and artificial flavor	n	n	n	n	n	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n
Caramel color	n	n	y	n	y	n	n	y	n	n	n	n	n
Total ingredients/option (0-12)	8	15	15	14	14	12	13	18	15	13	12	16	13
Water (C) for each 1 C of mix (3 svgs)	NA	2/3	2/3	3/4	2/3	2/3	3/4	3/4	3/4	3/4	2/3	3/4	**
One serving of mix (C)	NA	1/3	1/3	1/3	1/3	1/2	1/3	1/3	1/3	1/2	1/2	1/2
Total servings/container	NA	18	23	20	23	15	23	18	20	17	18	14
Price/32-ounce box	NA	2.78	1.85	2.37	1.85	1.47	1.78	2.11	2.37	1.98	***	***	***

* Hungry Jack corn starch ingredient—"colored with yellow 5 and red 40, iron, niacin, vitamin b6, riboflavin, thiamin mononitrate, folic acid, vitamin b12"

In preparation instructions, about half the brands call for a ratio of 2/3 cup of water to 1 cup of powder, and the rest of the brands call for 3/4 cup of water. (** Bisquick Shake 'n Pour's water requirement depends on the shaker-bottle size.)

The ranges for yields of 4" pancakes run as follows when using the 1 cup powder and 2/3 or 3/4 cup water: 5-6, 6-7, 6-8, 6-9, 7-8, 8-9, considered to be three servings. The total estimated servings for 32-ounce pages vary widely: from a low of 15 to high of 23. The Krusteaz Heart Healthy and Bisquick brands are special cases because their box weights are not 32 ounces.

Note: In brands' nutrition tables, most of the brands consider 1/3 cup of mix as one serving.

The prices for the powders range from $1.47 (Hill Country) to $2.78 (Whataburger).
*** Pricing for anomalies:
Krusteaz Heart Healthy mix, $2.08 for 28 oz
Bisquick Shake 'n Pour, $1.54 for 5.1 oz and $2.24 for 10.6 oz

Giving a backward glance to the compilation, my following thoughts:

• Most of the brands use buttermilk.
• Dextrose, another form of sugar, is listed as a separate item. And all the brands use both.
• The brands vary in the numerous fats they use.
• Sodium amounts per serving are high, and from more than just salt.
• Many listed chemicals names and their inclusions as ingredients are mind-boggling. Many are leavenings, emulsifiers, and thickeners. Some seem to have obscure, niche purposes.

For an entertaining purpose for "complete" pancake mix, visit Game of Thrones ...pancakes? The YouTube page states "Ingredients: off-the-shelf mix + water. Make sure you mix it thoroughly and use a nonstick pan." Be sure to give into temptation to view additional pancake creations from channel owner Nathan Shields and others.

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Additional pancake-theme articles:

• Delivery Pancakes or Not
• Whataburger Pancakes, Mix, or Scratch
• Pancake-mIx Baked Donuts

Whataburger Pancakes, Mix, or Scratch

Tried Whataburger pancakes? Yummy, quick, and economical! Know that you can buy Whataburger Pancake Mix at HEB? Have you tried making scratch pancakes? Also yummy, even more economical, but not quick! The scratch recipe, which I've used for many years (with slight occasional tweaks) comes from Pillsbury's Simply From Scratch Volume 2 booklet. This method of obtaining pancakes is yummy, slow, and economical, although surprisingly, more expensive that the Whataburger mix method.

Note: My article does not include info about other places that serve pancakes or other pancake mixes. (I do include a few links to scratch recipes farther down.)

Whataburger Pancakes—Buy at Restaurant
The least amount of effort for obtaining pancakes is going to Whataburger. The info doesn't state the diameter, but does state the calories as 720. Guessing the price might be less than $3, if available, as the pancake platter lists as $3.35. "Platter" indicates added sausage or bacon.

Whataburger Pancakes—Buy Powder and Make at Home
The next least effort for obtaining pancakes is making up a batch from Whataburger pancake powder. I bought a box (32 ounces) for $2.78. The batch had 2 cups of powder (~10 ounces) and 1 1/2 cup of water. One yield was 10 4" diameter cakes, another yield was 9 pancakes. OKaaaay. The box says that one serving is two 4" pancakes, totaling 180 calories—using 1/3 cup of powder.

According to a Whataburger press release,

The 32-ounce pancake mix uses the same ingredients and recipe used in Whataburger restaurants. Customers simply combine the mix with water and follow the instructions on the label to enjoy the light and fluffy Whataburger pancakes they love. Each package makes approximately 32 pancakes.

Um, the info conflicts with the package I bought, which claims 36 pancakes. Even weirder is the online two-package bundle info:

Two 1.75 lb (794g) pouches. Each pouch makes approximately 32 pancakes. ... Price: $14.99 (Yow! My one 32-oz box cost only $2.78.)

So now we have three stats for weight and estimated yield of pancakes:

• 2#, 32
• 2#, 36
• 1.75#, 32

Proportionally, the 2#/36 and 1.75#/32 match up for weight and yield.

By my calculations, a 3-pancake Whataburger restaurant stack (720 calories) equals 4—FOUR powder-mixed pancake servings. ¡Ay, caramba! But wait! If I used 4 as a multiplier for powder stats vs. restaurant stats, the sodium ratios look to be way out of whack—1650 for restaurant pancakes, and 2560 for the powder-made pancakes. In any case, those sodium stats are way high!

Alrighty then. Because I made the middle range number of pancakes, the total calories came to 1080, ~540 for each of two people. Feeling better already that those two plates have fewer calories than two restaurant pancake stacks. Of course, I'm ignoring the addition of calories because of butter-type spread and syrup. Comparison of price: ~$6 vs less than $1 ($2.78 divided by 3 batches) if you supply your own labor.

Now inching towards discussing scratch pancakes. I use a half recipe from the Pillsbury scratch booklet, and I tweak it with added vanilla and cinnamon. The table below shows ingredients (but not quantity) mapped to Whataburger's powder:

Ingredient	W	Scratch
Flour	y	y
Soy flour	y	n
Sugar	y	y
Dextrose	y	n
Whey	y	n
Sodium caseinate	y	n
Milk	n	y
Vinegar	n	y
Cooking oil (whatever's handy)	n	y
Palm oil	y	n
Sodium bi aka baking soda	y	y
Baking powder	n	y
Sodium acid pyrophosphate	y	n
Salt	y	y
Corn syrup solids	y	n
Monocalcium phosphate	y	n
Egg white	y	n
Egg	n	y
Dipotasium phosphate	y	n
Monglycerides	y	n

In light of the Whataburger powder having so many more ingredients than my scratch ingredients, I think when I finish off the powder, I'll not buy more. Instead, I'll consider experimenting with other brands' powders that have fewer ingredients.

Scratch Pancakes, Tweaked From Pillsbury's Simply From Scratch Volume 2 booklet
The following tables list the main ingredients for my batch of scratch pancakes for amounts, cost, calories, and sodium:

Dry Ingredient	Cost, Calories, Sodium
~1 cup flour	9¢ (1.68/5#, using 1/4#), 450, 3 mg
1 T sugar	2¢ (2.78/4#, using 1/128#), 50, 0 mg
1 t baking powder	2¢ (1.18/10oz, using 8/473 container), 0, 480 mg
1/2 t baking soda	0¢ (68/16oz, using 4/908 container), 0, 476 mg
1/2 t salt	0¢ (62/26oz, using 2/491 container), 0, 1180 mg
1 t cinnamon	6¢ (2.49/4oz, using 1/40 container), 6, 1 mg

Wet Ingredient	Cost, Calories, Sodium
1 cup nonfat milk	25¢ ($2/64oz, using 1/8 container), 80, 100 mg
1 T vinegar	1¢ (44/16oz, using 1/32 container), 0, 0 mg
2 T cooking oil	5¢ (2.38/48oz, using 1/48 container), 240, 0 mg
1 egg	17¢ ($2/dozen), 70, 70 mg
1 t vanilla extract	18¢ (2.67/1.5oz, using 1/15 container), 12, 0 mg

Main Recommended Instructions for Making Scratch Pancakes

• Note that ingredients and quantities vary slightly from recipe to recipe.
• Have a separate bowl for mixing dry ingredients and one for wet ingredients.
• Grease or spray oil onto the pan or griddle.
• Make sure the pan is hot enough before pouring batter into it.
• For each pancake, watch for bubbles to emerge from the uncooked side before flipping it over.

I am unable to find the Pillsbury Simply From Scratch recipe that I use. If you are somewhat experienced in pancake making, you can glean my list of ingredients. The milk and vinegar substitutes for buttermilk. The actual measurement is 1 T vinegar and 1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon milk. Numerous scratch pancake recipes are available through Googling and YouTube searches. Visit the following sites for ideas:

• Recipe that calls for nearly identical ingredients and amounts as mine (Scroll down about 1/3 of the screen for ingredients and instructions.)
  No Butter Homemade Pancakes
• One slightly different and highly touted recipe
  Essential and Easy Pancake Recipe
• YouTube video that demonstrates principles and calls for most of the same ingredients
  Pancakes Recipe Demonstration - Joyofbaking.com

Scratch Pancakes vs. Whataburger Pancake Mix Stats

• Scratch batch (9 to 10 pancakes): 908 calories, 2310 mg. $1.22 (excluding cinnamon and vanilla)
• Whataburger batch (also 9 to 10 pancakes): 1086 calories, 3840 mg, $ .93

Clearly, the Whataburger mix, although more economical but requiring the less mixing effort than scratch pancakes, uses A LOT of sodium. Also, the powder includes more mystery ingredients than the scratch recipe does.

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Additional pancake-theme articles:

• Delivery Pancakes or Not
• Instant Pancake Mix, Info Table, Etc., for 12 Brands
• Pancake-mIx Baked Donuts