Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Itty-bitty brownies come at a much bigger price

New Pillsbury Brownie Minis brownie mix contains two envelopes of just-add-water brownie mix and two little oven-safe plastic pans, each with cuplets to make six little mini-brownies. So the box makes 12 total miniature brownies, with (admittedly) very little effort.

At one store the box, which contains a total of 7 ounces of mix, sells for $2.25, the same price as a 15.9-ounce box of regular Pillsbury brownie mix. Adding 40 cents for the oil and egg you need for making the regular brownies, that $2.65 brownie mix produces 16 2-inch-square brownies, each of which, judging by the carbohydrate, sugar and sodium content in the nutrition facts on both boxes, is the rough equivalent of a "serving" of two Brownie Minis.

The regular mix's 16 brownies cost 17 cents each; the Brownie Minis' six two-mini equivalents of a brownie cost 37 cents each -- a whopping 117 percent more. But they are darling.

AEROSOL FROSTING

The other new (Smucker) Pillsbury item is Easy Frost "no-fuss frosting" in aerosol cans. Each can contains 13.5 ounces of frosting and at one store sells for $3.47, where a 16-ounce tub of (Smucker) Pillsbury's ready-to-spread frosting (how much "fuss" does using that involve?) costs $1.95. So Easy Frost costs 110 percent more per ounce. But it has one advantage: With the aerosol can, you can squooch some frosting directly into the middle of a baked cupcake!