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Coolest Gadgets)
The automated flapjack maker is able to produce a pancake every 30 seconds, stacking them in a neat little pile on the side while you spend your time frying eggs and sausage. And you needn't worry about preparing the batter either, as the machine is designed to use ready-made batter pouches.
Understandably, this type of machine lends itself well to larger crowds, as in cafeterias and convenience stores. Taking up about as much real estate as a microwave, it provides a more economical and space-efficient solution to providing pancakes for larger venues than a full-sized griddle. That being said, it's most likely a bit too specialized for you to rationalize keeping one on your kitchen countertop. In any case, the machine is technically designed for use in commercial applications anyway.
The Chefstack is shipping at the end of September of this year. You can preorder one and read more about its features on ChefStack's Web site.
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Nordic Ware)
There are plenty of ways to liven up a stack of pancakes: you can mix in blueberries or add a handful of chocolate chips or even use a pan that adds fun designs to your breakfast. The Bug Pancake Pan lets you take that last option, adding pictures of dragonflies, ladybugs, and more to your pancakes.
The pan comes from Nordic Ware and has a non-stick surface that's also heat-reflective, offering uniform browning for your pancakes. The pan offers seven different sections into which you can pour pancakes, each with its own bug theme: a dragonfly, snail, butterfly, ladybug, spider, bee, worm, and beetle. The pan was designed with silver dollar-size pancakes in mind.
The Bug Pancake Pan is particularly ideal for making up a stack of pancakes for children--not only will the bug imprints appeal, but the smaller pancakes will be a better fit for smaller appetites and the pan lets you make up a whole batch in a hurry. The pan is 10-1/4 inches across. Cleanup is hand-wash only: Nordic Ware warns against using abrasive cleaners with its non-stick pans. The Bug Pancake Pan is priced at $35.
Just in time for Valentine's Day, Crate and Barrel has released a slew of gadgets to help you give your sweetie something delicious.
You can give your significant other a stack of perfectly shaped heart pancakes. You can create two sizes of hearts at once, or leave the middle of the pancake open to hold fruit or other treats.
If you want a fancier design, you can buy the scalloped heart mold. Both are nonstick and have handles to help keep your fingers safe. However, they are not dishwasher safe. Bummer; I guess that's more work for someone on Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day cupcake stencils are great for an afternoon delight. Get it?
(Credit: Crate and Barrel)If you're not a morning person--or just won't wake up to make pancakes--you could bake some cupcakes for your sweetie. Crate and Barrel followed up its holiday cupcake stencils with a Valentine's version. The stencils help you create flawless decorations on your baked treats. They're $4.95 for a set of six 4-inch stencils.
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Williams Sonoma)
It's not actually a weapon, though it does have a trigger: This Batter Dispenser ($30) from Williams-Sonoma promises to neatly distribute perfect blobs of batter onto a hot griddle or waffle iron. You can choose among three different sizes of pancakes, and the catalog copy claims that even batters with small berries or chocolate chips will easily flow through the valve. Most importantly, the plastic device is dishwasher safe.
The Batter Dispenser was singled out for ridicule on the organization blog Unclutterer, the author of which suspects its primary role will be taking up valuable space in your kitchen. But a quick glance at the post's comments show that plenty of people are drawn to this gadget, not only for its promise of tidy pancake-making, but also for the opportunity to fill muffin cups and mini-loaf pans without all the drippy batter mess.
I'm not enough of a pancake- or waffle-eater to justify owning such a specialized device. But if I had kids, or loved muffins, or was tasked with baking cupcakes for a special event, it might be worth the price. What do you think: is this going on your kitchen wish list?
Batter Blaster stands proud with its spray-can brethren, Reddi-wip and Easy Cheese.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)For a while now, it seems we've been reading about Batter Blaster everywhere. For whatever reason, the food blogging crowd has been simply captivated by the latest addition to the food-in-a-spray-can family.
Batter Blaster, a spray can of pancake (or waffle) batter, started hitting store shelves in the fall. Even though it's still available only in select stores, it caught the attention of food and kitchen bloggers immediately. Some praised it for its brilliant simplicity. Others scoffed because...well, because it comes in a spray can. Most early reviewers just seemed to love it for its kitsch value.
Would it be as slimy and weird as I imagined? Or would it produce fluffy little cakes of breakfast heaven? Truth be told, I wasn't in a big hurry to find out. Meanwhile, people started uploading videos about Batter Blaster on YouTube. And others kept on blogging about it. But when the intriguing (if slightly disconcerting) batter-in-a-can made it to the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, we decided to settle the batter matter once and for all.
So CNET News.com video reporter Kara Tsuboi and I donned our aprons to do a side-by-side taste test of pancakes made from scratch versus those squeezed out of the Batter Blaster canister. (For the test, I used Cook's Illustrated's recipe for "Light and Fluffy Pancakes.")
Blasting the batter
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)Making them from scratch took 3 minutes (but we should note that that was with the two of us splitting duties, so double that time to 6 minutes for an estimate for a one-man job). The Batter Blaster pancakes, of course, required no preparation time at all. You simply pop off the top, give the can a shake, and squirt the batter straight into an oiled pan.
We noticed some differences in consistency, and the "blasted" batter didn't bubble up as much as regular batter did. The Batter Blaster pancakes also didn't brown like normal pancakes; it seemed not to have the same kind of nooks and crannies so it browned to one flat, uniform color. The canned batter didn't rise to the same degree as the others either.
How did they taste? The first thing I noticed was that they were super sweet. And their texture was a little off, too; our official panel of tasters (Kara, our camera guy Jared, and me) called them foamy, spongy, and rubbery. We were reminded of airplane pancakes or prepackaged, frozen pancakes. But all that said, they were entirely passable pancakes--especially if taken on their own and not directly compared with the regular ones.
Compared with the real thing, which really were deliciously light and fluffy if I do say so myself, they just didn't hold up. But my hunch is the people behind Batter Blaster aren't trying to make it compete with homemade pancakes. People looking for the perfect pancake are going to make their own no matter what.
But the zero prep time and easy cleanup could well be worth the taste and texture trade-off for the cooking-challenged or for people who are cooking for one or two and don't want to make a whole batch. It could be very cool for people going camping (The can needs to be refrigerated, though, so it'd need to stay in a cooler). And the spray method makes it fun for kids because you can make fun shapes--an added challenge for the most skilled pancake flipper!
Batter Blaster also wins some points for using only organic ingredients and making the entire package (including the plastic cap) recyclable. You can check out the video of our culinary adventures here.
Batter Blaster allows cooks to do away with all this stuff.
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