I Tried Chrissy Teigen’s New Line of Baking Mixes — Here’s My Honest Review
When it comes to baking, it’s hard to beat the ease and convenience of a quality baking mix. (We even included our editor-favorite baking mixes on our Kitchn Essentials list!) After all, who doesn’t love taking the hard work out of baking delicious treats? So, once I heard that Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings brand is releasing its first-ever line of baking mixes, I knew I needed to try them!
The mixes are adapted from Chrissy’s recipes, including some from her cookbooks, and are supposed to be easy to make with a handful of basic ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. The first three introduced are Chrissy’s Ultimate Banana Bread, Buttermilk Mochi Pancake, and Salted White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie — and I got to try them all. Here’s my honest review of each.
I distinctly remember watching Chrissy’s Insta Stories to see her journey to source browned bananas all over Los Angeles during lockdown and finally finding them (the exchange via kiddie car was highly entertaining). I have never made banana bread past my 8th grade home economics class, so I was looking forward to trying this one. It was pretty easy to throw together (albeit the fonts being too similar in color, making the instructions on the back of the box difficult to read), and what I really liked about it was that it has chocolate chunks — not chips — which make everything better.
When it was done baking and sorta cooled (patience isn’t my thing), I sliced into it and boy, was it moist! It was dense but not heavy, full of chocolate chunks, had a nice texture — thanks to the unsweetened coconut — and featured an overall lovely banana flavor throughout.
This is Chrissy’s favorite recipe from her third cookbook. This called for more waiting and work than I would have initially thought considering it’s a boxed mix. You have to wait for the butter to soften, an egg to come to room temperature, and use a stand mixer. That being said, it was relatively easy and it did NOT skimp on the fillings. There was a good balance of sweet and salty along with chocolate chips and nuts. My only notes would be to do the salt flake post-bake because mine got a little too clumpy, delivering too much salt in one bite.
Look, pancakes are a lot of work and, to my sadness, I don’t have a waffle maker. So being willing to make pancakes again is a lot for me. Nevertheless, however, this one is definitely my favorite!
The pancakes were light, fluffy, and bouncy — thanks to the mochi. Also, they happen to be gluten-free, but you would not know the difference based on taste alone. This recipe was inspired by the Teigen-Legend tradition of pancake Sunday, but amped up with the addition of mochi. All in all, though, it was delicious.
If you’re ready to get in on the Cravings fun, all three baking mixes are currently available for pre-order individually or as a bundle on CravingsbyChrissyTeigen.com and will launch in retail in 2023. Online prices begin at $7, but if you’re looking to grab the banana bread mix, keep in mind it has sold out twice online already. Happy baking!
Buy: Cravings by Chrissy Teigen Baking Mix Bundle (Set of 3), $21 (originally $25)