Customer Reviews

Christmas Comfort & Joy (Better Homes & Gardens)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

`Christmas sweets & treats' is a `Better Homes and Gardens' collection of recipes and craft projects selected, I'm sure, from the pages of past `Better Homes and Gardens' Christmas issues.

I got off on the wrong foot with this book when I opened it to the first project which was for `minty topiaries' which involved gluing round peppermint candies and other edible candies to a plastic foam cone, thereby making them inedible. No matter how pretty they look, this adulterating of food simply rubbed me the wrong way, and while I have seen edible glues used, of course, on `Iron Chef America', there is no mention of such a product or option in this writing. Staying with this same project, one of the `supplies' is `Ornate silver candlestick holders'. My guess from the photograph of the finished product is that this little item can easily run to several dollars per unit, and the photograph suggests one per table setting.

This brings to mind the kind of project you can find in `Martha Stewart Living' and not `Better Homes and Gardens'. But my experience with `...Living' is that their instructions for projects are generally much more complete and their photographic spreads are better done.

The second craft project involves several very specialized materials, tools, and skills and since I am not an experienced craft person, I found the explanation of the techniques required to be just a bit sparse. They were akin to a cooking recipe's telling you to turn your mixture into quenelles. While I have never done this, I know I can run to my Jacques Pepin `Complete Techniques' to get the correct procedure. On the other hand, I have never used a sewing machine and the need for one will damp my spirits for this project.

A third objection I found with the craft projects is exemplified in the third project for `tussie-mussies' that create Christmas tree ornaments out of live `dainty fresh flowers'. My first concern is that while my Christmas tree is usually up for about six weeks, these decorations have practically no chance of lasting a week. And, the cost of such flowers in December at the average florist is likely to be pretty dear.

Since I know a lot more about cooking and baking than I do about craft projects, the baking recipes, mostly cookies were a lot less mysterious, but I had at least three objections to them. First, the book presents a few very ambitious projects for gingerbread constructions, yet the instructions for these are pretty thin. I know one could do a lot better with these since Rose Levy Beranbaum has done just that in her excellent book, `Rose's Christmas Cookies'. Another great source for Christmas cookie recipes is Dede Wilson's `A Baker's Field Guide to Christmas Cookies'.

My second objection to the recipes is that I know some of the recipes are not `best in breed'. For example, the snickerdoodle recipe here uses shortening, while my very best recipe uses butter plus a bit of corn syrup.

My third objection to the recipes is that some instructions do not follow genuine cooking practice. For example, one recipe calls for using a ¼ cup ice cream scoop, yet ice cream scoops are not rated by cup, but by what fraction of an ounce they scoop.

While there are many good things in this book, there are also many things that are half-baked, too expensive, or impractical. In place of this book, get one of the two cookie books I suggest, plus a good book on only Christmas crafts.

Mostly a cookbook. If you are looking for a decorating book, this may not be it.

wonderful recipes .beautiful pictures inspire decorating ideas and get you in the festive mood. i'm not really into crafts, but some of them look interesting.