Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Desserts (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this newest by Lee, author of the bestselling Semi-Homemade Cooking, a typical ingredients list reads like an index of advertising sponsors-Duncan Hines, Nestle, Carnation. According to Lee, that's the idea. Why buy fresh ingredients when you can buy mixes and prepared foods that allow you to skip a few steps? The gimmick-buy name-brand food items and transform them into glorious dishes-is a good one, but the results are often less than satisfactory. (One additional downside with this approach-aside from the chemical and additives involved-is that many of these dishes emphasize attitude rather than flavor.) Recipes such as Pastel Petit Fours, which are relatively time-intensive, look much better than they taste. This is less true of the Frozen Oreo Cake, but the Easter Bunny Cake (which requires eight name-brand ingredients) is not only overly sweet, but somewhat unattractive. Of course, some of the recipes appeal to the palate by virtue of the ingredients alone. Who doesn't like whipped topping, especially if it's mixed with fruit-flavored gelatin? For the reader who tends to purchase items like the ones used herein, these recipes are sure to appeal. Perhaps unnecessarily, headshots of television stars accompany many of the recipes, something that suggests the recipes either come from or are favorites of well-known people-e.g., there's Sex and the City's Kristin Davis's Savvy-Simple Limewhip Angel Food Cake and Katie Couric's Early Morning Raspberry Crescent Ring.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"...great ideas for simple and quick dishes." -- The New York Times

"A quick fix... helps cooks create 'homemade' in a hurry...saves time by using ready-made and boxed ingredients." -- The Sacremento Bee

"[Semi-Homemade contains] a new batch of ideas for holidays and for everyday meals, to satisfy that nagging sweet tooth." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0696226847
• ISBN-13: 978-0696226847
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,121 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Semi-Homemade Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sickeningly sweet and some even silly ideas., August 29, 2004

By	k b - See all my reviews

This review is from: Semi-Homemade Desserts (Paperback)

Ms. Lee has no real grasp of balancing flavors within foods it seems. Having seen her recipes on her show, which are mostly included in her books, and read recipes in her books, it becomes obvious she's all about themes of the day rather than good food.

The idea of semi-homemade is nothing new. Some simple additions to homemade food purchased products are great. Ms. Lee does not seem to understand that food should taste good and balance flavor. Sickeningly sweet is really what I get from many of these recipes.

Sugar overkill and and obsession with canned frosting and angel food cakes.
She has at least 10 angel food cake creations in her book. If I recall correctly all of them call for purchased angel cake, which isn't the greatest (always slightly stale) especially when a boxed mix is simple to prepare--and still would fall into the semi-homemade concept.
But then she slathers all of these light airy cakes with heavy canned frosting. One cake included Corn Nuts as a decoration? Corn Nuts?

Immensely silly in what could have been a fun and romantic section are her ideas for romance:
Pixi Stix as a base for dusting powder and she asks you to dust it onto your bed and yourself.
Canned colored frosting as body paint.
Lip gloss with food color and Crisco.

Can you imagine the sticky, sweet, grainy mess (I'm no prude...but pixi sticks?)

The other complaint and it's extremely distracting throughout the book: Trademarked name brands throughout the entire book. She may not be getting kickbacks from them, but she certainly has shown who the book is being created for...and it's not the people who are trying to get good recipes and ideas. Seems to be a book created to get deals with all of these companies.

She basically thumbs her nose at good cooks and is insulting to those hoping to learn.
(sure there are some good recipes...but wading through the rest, definitely not worth the money.)

65 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not waste your time or money, December 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Semi-Homemade Desserts (Paperback)

This book is filled with recipes using name brand pre-processed food items. You don't eat a dessert everyday so why not use fresh ingredients without all the trans-fats, additives and preservatives that pre-processed food contain. Her idea of the a berry cobbler used canned berries and packaged sugar cookie dough, that would be so cloyingly sweet my teeth hurt just reading it. Please do not waste your money on this.

55 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Breathtakingly Bad, August 12, 2004

By	Vermyn (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Semi-Homemade Desserts (Paperback)

OK, she recommends using flavored Crisco as a lipgloss!!

That should be enough to scare you away .. but there's more. And it's NOT good.

Cool Whip, oodles of canned frosting, canned biscuits. Dream Whip!! Yes, they still make it and she commands you to use it.

Anyone with a first grade education can buy an angel food cake and slather it with canned frosting. You do not need her 10 or so "recipes" for how to do this.

This is not a book for busy people who want to make something quick and tasty. It's a book for people would apply canned frosting to twinkies and serve it to guests.