We’ve all been there: you’re getting ready to bake cookies, you’re assembling the ingredients, you’re so close you can almost taste the buttery goodness … and then you realize that you forgot to restock the flour after your last bake session. Alas and alack! But wait — all hope isn’t lost, just reach into your pantry and grab that box of pancake mix. According to one expert, it makes for a perfectly acceptable substitute when making cookies.
Deana Karim, owner and founder at Good Dee’s, was kind enough to speak with Food Republic and walk us through how to use this adaptation method to produce as good, if not better, cookies. “Pancake mix is essentially flour [plus] leavening [plus] a little sugar and salt, which makes it an all-in-one base,” she said. “It works in cookies because it gives structure like regular flour, the built-in leavening helps cookies rise or spread without extra baking soda/powder, [and] the slight sweetness and balanced salt can simplify the recipe.” The exact ingredients in store-bought pancake mix vary depending on the brand, but these basic building blocks can be found in nearly all mixes, making them an ideal substitute for rescuing your cookie plans.
“This makes it a convenient swap in a pinch, especially for basic drop cookies,” Karim shared. Drop cookies, for those unfamiliar with the term, are any cookies that can be “dropped” straight from the scoop or hand onto the baking sheet, rather than requiring rolling or shaping.
Necessary adjustments when swapping pancake batter for flour
When it comes to tinkering with your recipes to accommodate the substituted pancake mix, Deana Karim shared a few tips to guide you in your quest for the perfect cookie. “Most pancake mixes have little to no sugar, so adjust it how you would like it,” she told Food Republic.
Those adjustments can come in many forms. In addition to changing the sugar quantities, Karim advised that bakers should watch the sodium levels — unsalted butter is the way to go, as most pancake mixes already have added salt, and too much will definitely overpower your batch of cookies. You can also season the pancake batter for better flavor, adding enhancers like cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg to give a deeper taste profile to the cookies, or you can swap butter for cream cheese for even fluffier cookies.
“Skip extra leavening unless your recipe has very dense ingredients like oats or peanut butter,” Karim warned. “Then you might still need a small pinch of baking soda.” The final consideration, she says, is the absorbency of your new ingredient. “You may also want [a] touch less liquid than the original recipe calls for, since pancake mix often absorbs more (especially if it contains powdered buttermilk),” she shared.
