Dessert Mashups

Whenever a kid misspells  the word “dessert,” I tell them to remember it this way; dessert has two “s,” and that’s because you want seconds. Dessert Mashups gives exactly the kind of recipes that a kid will want seconds of, and even better, that the kid will want to make herself. Most of the recipes involve minimal ingredients and almost no cooking, like the s’more cookies, which rely on candy bars and other store-bought stuff. There’s the Milky Way brownie pie, the “Elvis hand-pie” made of peanut butter and bananas, with a store-bought crust.

The benefits of this book are that the recipes are easy for a child to make, and it’s great for party food, especially if you’re serving the type of people who don’t want fancy desserts, like wine-poached pears in chocolate sauce.  The problem with this book is twofold; first, the desserts like the death by chocolate brownies might be too rich for kids, and second, these recipes are not only meant for kids, but they’re only good for kids. These desserts will not appeal to adults, especially the health-conscious ones.

It makes sense, however, to have some things that the kids can make, seeing as most children aren’t ready to handle the oven. As for the over-sweetened desserts made of store-bought candy, why take the risk of your friend’s picky-eater son whining that the chocolate mousse looks weird? Stick a brownie in his mouth, and keep everything cheerful.