Customer Reviews

Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is such an eye-pleasing book. I just love the scallop edged pages, and the sturdy, colorful cover. The lay flat spiral binding inside is also a good feature. I love food photography so I do wish this book had a picture of every recipe, but I understand the space constraints. There are a good amount of photographs though, and they are all beautiful!

We already own a lot of kid-related cookbooks, so I wasn't sure if we needed another one. I was delighted to find that this book is really appropriate for the more advanced young chef. My 13 year old daughter takes her cooking very seriously and she felt like this book was filled with fun recipes that were the kind a real chef would make.

Banana Split Pancakes, New York Crumb Cake, and Chock-a-block Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Muffins are on the top of my list of projects I can wait to taste from this book!

My only complaint is just related to the packaging done by amazon; some of my pages were bent by the inner cardboard piece inserted into the book.

Yesterday afternoon, I handed my girls and son a cup of the hot chocolate and a candy cane. They were thrilled! I did a little substituting since I didn't have white chocolate (her recipe would taste amazing, I'm certain!) and it was very good. It was the perfect Christmas treat for drinking while doing Christmas crafts. They also had in their hands a very yummy chocolate chip cookie made with the recipe from this cookbook. I've never been able to make anything like them before.

I love to bake and I make a lot of cookies. It's one of the things I remember from growing up--my mom always had some around. So, I already have 2 chocolate chip cookie recipes that I love. But, I'm always willing to try something new. So, when this cookbook arrived, that's what I decided to try--I figured it would tell me whether I wanted to try anything more. And wow! They are just like the Costco cookies--big chewy and full of chips. The recipe is made differently than I've made such cookies before, but that's what often makes a good cookie, I think. (My other favorite recipes has you add the vanilla and eggs at the very, very end) In this recipe, you melt the butter and have to chill the dough and you need to use parchment (you can reuse the parchment with the next batch and not have to use a ton--it will work fine).

On my shelves, sit a lot of cookbooks. I have found that often there are only a few recipes in each one that I love. But, this cookbook will have a place for a long time--based on those two recipes alone. My daughters have been bugging me all week to try the other recipes and now that my 6 year old can read all the recipe names, I'm really in trouble.

To address other reviewers concerns about this cookbook. I think the publisher mismarketed this cookbook. It is not one full of recipes to be made with kids (Mollie Katzen's kids books are the best around when it comes to that). This cookbook is full of fun treats to make for kids and share and enjoy together. There are not a lot of pictures--and I agree with others that I would like more. But, the cookies were good enough to rate a 5 star review, I think. And as for the amount of sugar--these recipes are really treats for special occasions--not meant to be eaten every day. At least in our house, my kids don't eat that much sugar every day.

I enjoyed the author's introduction and her comments with the recipes. She's a very human mom who talks about her enjoyment of cooking and also the struggles she has with cooking with her children--I have the same ones a lot of times, but I'm working on being more patient and choosing better recipes.

If you want a fun dessert cookbook for you--to make for your kids, get this one. You'll love it! I think a tween or older child could do the recipes with you. But, if you want one full of recipes to make with your kids pick one of the 3 that Mollie Katzen has out!

The introduction from the author makes me instantly love her. She seems totally neurotic about her kitchen and prefers her baked goods to turn out a certain way - just like me! And yet she wrote this cookbook for kids, understanding her kitchen would be under fire and making peace with the situation. If she can let her kitchen become subject to sticky, messy and gooey, any of us can.

Jill's introduction: I have a secret. Baking with children isn't always easy. I realized this a long time ago when I tried to make chocolate cupcakes with my daughter Sophia, an activity that ended badly with her running crying from the kitchen when I took the icing spatula away from her. My older daughter, Olivia, in all her teenage wisdom, like to call me "mean chef." My husband sometimes pretends an invisible time clock is ticking (sound effects included) while I am trying to teach one of them to cook, to see just how many seconds I can stand it before I snatch the whisk from their fingers. Is it just another case of the cobbler's children having no shoes, or am I really just a big kitchen ogre?

Just like the title promises, this book is chock full of wonderfully gooey treats that children will fall head over heels in love with. Armed with recipes such as Flufftastic Fudge, Curiously Sticky Caramel Monkey Bread and Butterscotch French Toast, it's a certainty that parents will be in hog heaven as well. It's surprising to me that these desserts lean a bit upscale, but I guess if you let kids loose in your kitchen with chocolate sprinkles, the knowledge that you will be nibbling on Peanut Butter-Pretzel Bonbons will probably take the edge off. Should the kids get suspicious, you can always wow them with the Ghostly Meringues.

It's important to note that the format of this book is as lovely as the recipes. The page edges are cut into a scalloped design with sweet gingham and flower patterns running the length of each page, almost like using the prettiest recipes cards imaginable. Drool-worthy photos accompanying several of the recipes, and notes are scattered about on white and pastel colored doilies. All of those details come together to make this a cookbook that has a lot of visual appeal and personality.

I really like that each page includes a short paragraph on why that particular recipe was chosen, giving us a little insight into the author's thoughts. It's not just a bunch of recipes stuck together, but rather good explanations on when and where these dishes might be appropriate, or suggestions on how to further adapt them.

Jill also writes "When I was growing up there was often a homemade treat waiting for my brothers and me when we came home from school." I really want my kids to have those kinds of warm memories. It helps to remember there will be plenty of years after your kids are grown to keep your counters fingerprint free and the floors swept clean. With the help of this book, you can allow those sticky little hands to invade your space and help turn out wonderful treats for the whole family.

I got this book for my wife, who loves to cook and bake, and kids, with whom she wants to share her passion. My hope is that it would help my wife share her love of cooking and baking with our two young boys (6 and 8). Once it arrived, I knew we were on to something. They shared her excitement as they gathered on the sofa and spent close to an hour looking through the recipes and deciding what they would make. Over the next week, they began to make some of the recipes. Here is where the important part of the title came in. The last two words in the title are crucial. The recipes and the resulting treats are really "for kids" as opposed to treats to be made "with kids". After tackling a few recipes, my wife reports that the recipes were so complicated that the kids lost interest early on in the process. Having said that, I can report that there interest was reengaged once my wife was done with the recipes. Every recipe we tried was delicious and looked wonderful. So, with the understanding that this is a cookbook for making treats "for kids" as opposed to "with kids" I suggest it for fun treats that in description definitely do meet the multiple adjectives of the title.

"Sitcky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids", by Jill O'Connor, lives up to its title -- easy-to-make snacks, drinks, and deserts that your kids will enjoy.

The first few pages cover the essentials that are needed in the kitchen, covering both appliances and ingredients. It also covers the basic ground-rules for successful treats.

The chapters are broken up into breakfast foods; everyday treats such as smoothies, cookies, & cakes; and party foods. The recipes include not only the major items, but basic recipes such as icing.

The book is written at a level that my 12-year old daughter and 10-year old son can follow with parental assistance. The book is spiral-bound, which is a huge plus. You can lay the book flat and not have to worry about it closing up on you. The publishing should have spent a few more dollars on color photos of the less-common recipes. Everyone knows what a chocolate chip cookie looks like, but I would have loved to have seen a photo of the "Sun Butter Blossoms", "Banana Montana After-School Cake", and "Houdini's Hot Chocolate Pudding Cake", to name a few. Aside from this small oversight, it's a great cookbook. My kids love the recipes, and I love the fact they can follow them.

This is a great cookbook to get as gift for a teen or tween or for a mother. It's just beautiful. The art, the pretty scalloped pages in the hardcover over spiral bound cookbook, the photography. It's one of the prettiest cookbooks I've ever seen.
It is NOT a kid's cookbook. It doesn't have the explanation of tools and techniques that a children's cookbook would have. It's a cookbook for parents to use with their children while teaching them to cook.
The recipes are the sorts of things that children would love making, pink cupcakes with marshmallow fluff frosting, pretty little bon-bons, homemade chocolate pudding, banana split pancakes covered with chocolate-y Nutella Hazelnut Chocolate Spread 13 Oz.. All the recipes have parts that even very young children can help out with, but a lot of them do need adult supervision, or active adult participation.
That said, I love it. It's a great cookbook for me and my daughter. We enjoy cooking and creating together.

The fault I have with this cookbook is there are only 30 recipes and for $20.00 that is expensive per recipe. There aren't many pictures and most of the recipes you probably already have if you own any Nestle or Hershey cookbook.

The Hunka Chunka Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies are good but just look on the back of a bag of Toll House Morsels for the recipe and save yourself .66 cents. The Chock-a-Block chocolate chip gingerbread muffins are good but look on a box of Betty Crocker gingerbread mix and you'll have a very similar recipe. The Banana Split Pancakes are quite yummy as we've been having those for years. The recipe is to make regular pancake mix adding a mashed banana to the mix, and then serving with melted Nutella with cut up bananas and strawberries. Do you really need a recipe for that? Some of the recipes are for beverages like the Pepperminty Wintery White Hot Chocolate. It's too make hot chocolate using one pound of white chocolate and then stirring with peppermint candy canes. The Ghostly Meringues on page 67 were featured in the Halloween's Taste of Home website. The Flufftastic Fudge is to make fudge using chocolate chips and 2 jars of Marshmallow Fluff. A similar recipe is on the jar of Marshmallow Fluff.

If you want a cookbook that uses the backs and labels of jars and cans then I would suggest Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars (May 2008).

Most of the recipes you can find on-line for free or off the back of a label or you already have. There are really no wow recipes. The ingredient list is printed in narrow black so if you have any reading difficulty you won't be able to distinguish the letters. The instructions are printed in regular type so they are no problem to read.

The book is cute with the scalloped doily edges and it does lay flat with the spiral binding. However, it is not a cookbook to cook WITH kids it's a cookbook to cook FOR kids. So don't buy this as a gift for a child thinking they can follow it. Overall I'd skip this one.

The title "sticky chewy messy gooey treats for kids" along with the gorgeous photography and great details in the book (spiral binding, scalloped page edges, quotes from my favorite children's books) lead you to think this would be a family friendly cookbook in the "everyone play along and get all messy" way. But then you read the introduction and it's like one giant buzz kill. O'Connor's daughter calls her "mean chef" and after reading the introduction, I totally agree. With all of her rules and anal warnings against deviating even slightly from recipes, cooking feels like a chore instead of something fun to share with kids. When I'm in the kitchen I want to leave work behind and have fun. So if my kid pours a little too much flour in, okay. If we don't have X but we still want to make the treat and substitute with Y, why not? It might not be AS good, but it will probably still turn out fine! And by having fun along the way it's a much better overall experience. WAY more in line with a sticky, chewy, messy, gooey attitude!

I much prefer Rachel Ray's attitude to cooking than Jill O'Connor's. I think the recipes are fantastic and the book is beautifully photographed/designed/printed/assembled. So really I just recommend skipping the introduction and having fun with some yummy treats with your kids. If O'Connor wants to be a stickler in HER kitchen, fine. But mine will be preschooler friendly!

I really liked these recipes! Definitely a lot of fun to try, even if you're not a kid!

I ordered this cookbook after baking out of the original Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth to rave reviews. Oh, the Double-Crumble Apple Pie (special requested by my sis), and the Churros! In that volume, Jill Connors took some well known sweet treats and stepped them up a notch. A little more work in some cases, but oh! so worth it! This volume looks like it succeed in the same way.

As noted by other reviewers, these are not recipes to be made by, or probably even with, young bakers. For that I would suggest Baking Kids Love or Williams Sonoma Kids Baking, two kid friendly titles for budding bakers. The recipes in Sticky, Chewy are a little more complex, which might appeal to a teen baker but definitely demands a more experienced hand. But ther are scrumptious recipes and she focuses on kid-friendly flavors and treats, all paired with cutsey names (like Holy Moly! Strawberry Jam Roly-Poly and Banana Montana After School Cake).

I never like to review a cookbook without giving it a spin, and for my sample recipes I choose Practically-Perfect-in-Every-Way Cream Scones. And they were! Each recipe has a little intro at the top of the page, and I completely agree with Jill's assessment that these scones are the "tastiest..[she's] ever eaten." They are light and rich simultaneously, and I was introduced to a new technique (grating frozen butter to incorporate into the dry ingredients). Based on the clear instructions and the delicious outcome, I'm game to try anything else in this book.