Baking Class

I bought this for my granddaughter's 11th birthday. She loves to cook, especially baking. This book is outstanding in presenting information in a way that encourages baking. The basics are covered, directions are easy to follow, the illustrations are superb, and the recipes are delicious! Also, there are many extras in the book to encourage creativity and cooking activities. She began her baking as soon as the party was over and is still cooking several times a week. As a result of her interest, we purchased the companion book on cooking so she is now making meals for her family. I would definitely encourage purchase of the book.

Wow, wow, WOW! This book is the real deal and it is PERFECT for my 8-year old who has expressed interest in baking lately! The introduction is great, all the steps and simple and straightforward and the food-- YUM! She got this as a Christmas gift eith her very own set of baking tools and we've enjoyed many recipes already, 100% made by her from start to finish (with supervision of course). Brownies, cookies, lemon bars, biscuits....we've asked her to make the biscuits twice more because they were so good! She's so confident in the kitchen now and we are totally enjoying this, too. HIGHLY recommend this book!

I think it was a little too basic for what my granddaughter wanted - the pictures of the kids cooking looked like they were younger than she is - almost 12. It is set up for easy direction following and has extras in the back - Labels for personalizing baking gifts, stencils for cutting out cookies in different shapes and also perforated pictures that you can use with confectioners sugar to decorate tops of cakes, etc. It was purchased as a substitute because I could not get the British Bakeoff "Mary Berry Baking" cookbook before Christmas. I ended up buying the Mary Berry book at a bookstore in order to get before Christmas so did not give this book to my granddaughter but I might just see if she wants it as it is a very cute, complete cookbook for kids. She just had her heart set on the Mary Berry one as she loves the show.

I had parents that both worked, so I grew up on fast food and microwave meals, so I knew nothing of cooking or baking . My husband on the other hand grew up on home cooked - nearly gourmet- meals, and has been my cooking instructor for the last 8 years. I can cook and bake a wide variety of things now, but I wouldn't call myself master yet. Our eldest, 8, is learning to cook. I am reviewing this book based off of the mind set of someone learning to or new to cooking, like I was a few years ago. I read negative reviews first before I purchase anything, because, those are the most brutally honest about products and I count myself lucky if the negative reviews do not affect my product. That said, I do agree that the spiral spine of this book is not the greatest. If the book should be dropped, the books spine will come undone and have issues, needing to be fixed. That is the only reason I docked a star. I didn't count all the pages of the cookbook yet, but it seems to me they are all there when thumbing through the book. I am annoyed at the reviewers who claimed that the majority of the recipes are "how to decorate toast to look cute". Yes, there are a handful of pages like that, but they are added suggestions, like the page that shows you how to make a dip, than other add on's to try to change the flavor of the dip. I find those pages to be helpful for a new baker to get inspiration. Most of the pages of this book are actual recipes with photos of children making said recipes. The photo results are always a child's cooking results. No, not all the steps are always included, but by the time you get to certain steps, it is assumed you read the cooking lingo part of the book or a previous recipe to already have an idea how to do certain tasks. I will also add that while most of the recipes could easily be explained in a few sentences, each one takes about 2 pages. One page with ingredients, than one page with photos and steps on how to do it. This is very helpful for new bakers. This is why there are only 50 or so recopies for such a large book. I agree that the pictures of finished products do not look cute or fancy. From my new cook perspective, I would get really annoyed at cookbooks with 5 star perfect pictures of cookies and cakes, than look at my results that look like my food got in a back ally fight with a blender and the result was mush. You cant compare when learning, otherwise you get frustrated and quit before you perfect it. I love that the photos look like an 6 year old cooked the item, because when my daughter cooks, hers will look just like that, and she would know she did it right! I also agree that some of the recipes looked bland. They are basic recipes. if you want something to taste amazing, go find different variations of the recipe. This book shows them BASIC techniques and BASIC recipes. Everyone's taste is different. Something that tastes good to you could be gross for someone else. I personally think this book will be used for the first year or so of my kid cooking, than doomed to sit on a shelf until my next kid learns to cook, etc. With that in mind, What I AM doing in addition, is giving my daughter her own cute blank binder/ cook book to fill with recipes that will taste amazing and she will make for life. But, that process I imagine will be something like this: She makes scones from this cook book 2 or 3 times, learns terms like "cutting" in butter and other techniques, than we say "Okay, now you know the process, lets find a recipe we like better and add it to your cook book binder". That is how any of us learn anything. I know that out of all the many cook books I have, I only actually have maybe 4 or 5 recipes from each that make it into my cookbook binder for regular rotation and to be passed on to future generations. I do love that there are little stickers and stencils (for powder sugar dusting treats) in the back of book. This will encourage her to make goodies as gifts for loved ones. I do plan on cooking with my daughter, step by step, until she masters each of her chosen recipes. I also plan on letting her operate the blender and turn on the oven, etc. You need to keep in mind that now a days everyone is sue happy, so authors have to put "with a parents help" on everything so they can cover their bums if something happens. My answer, to this is to show my kids how to do it it, than when they ask for help (because the book says to have a parent do it) say "You can do it, honey. I trust you." Encourage your kids to be self reliant, but don't give them tasks that are out of their ability, Overall, I love this book. If the spiral bound spine were of a thicker gage material, I would have given it 5 stars. I expect this book may be dropped a bit in the future (it's what to expect with kids) and may need me to repair it a few times. I think this is the PERFECT book for new and beginning cooks. I think that its colors and details and photos are fun for kids. I love that the from the of the book is filled with cooking lingo such as "folding" and "cutting in reference to dough", that I know I had zero clue about until a few years ago. I love that this book encourages your children to have bake sales and gift treats. I love that it gives them realistic goals to achieve as they learn. I love that it teaches them to have fun decorating and experimenting with flavor ideas. I also think that this cook book could benefit many adults I know. We are all raised on some sort of "convince cooking" and have been brainwashed into thinking that store bought pancake mix is where pancakes always come from and we can't do it ourselves (I run into this a lot). The contents of this book itself I give 5 stars. I am pleased with this purchase and can't wait to give this, as well as our homemade binder cook book, to my daughter, to teach her to be self reliant and confident in the kitchen.

Usually cook books end up just sitting on the shelf. But we use this one all the time because it covers a bunch of basic kid*-friendly recipes that are easy and delicious. It has helped my kids feel more confident in their baking abilities. The recipes do not require many special ingredients, so we usually already we have what we need, which is great for spontaneous baking decisions on a rainy day. *or grownup who just doesn't want unnecessary complexity

I was very impressed with this cookbook, and my eight year old was too. Unlike many children's cookbooks, this one uses normal ingredients that I usually have on hand to make normal sounding meals. Many of the cookbooks currently on the market have recipes for foods that I don't even want to eat, let alone my children. My child has made several of the recipes and they were all pretty good. Compared to the Betty Crocker children's cookbooks we already own, these recipes are a little more complex (need more supervision) but taste much better. Some other strong points: * This cookbook teaches basic procedures like cutting in butter. * The pictures are great. * Stickers and labels in back encourage child to give baked goods as gifts or become an entrepreneur. My child spent time in this cookbook everyday for at least a week. :)

I received this title today, and was pleasantly surprised to see how it is visually designed for the younger audience. Unlike other "kid's cookbooks" I've perused, text does not dominate the page as a traditional recipe does. The directions are numbered, but with a corresponding picture of a child doing the task. Then underneath the photo is a brief direction. I also appreciate that the ingredients are simple and few. The book is also set up initially with lessons. "Baking class" is the perfect title for this style of book. This is not an intimidating cookbook for kids as some others are. I know our daughter will love it when she receives it for her birthday. Also, I like the spiral binding, because it will actually lay flat on the counter.

My 18-month-old is too young to understand recipes yet, but the picture directions in this book are great for illustrating the steps. She points to the pictures and recognizes what we're doing. Although it's a baking book, I'm very pleased that there are a decent number of non-sugary recipes in here. We made the cheese crackers which were a ton of fun because it's basically playdough. We also made the blueberry muffins, and I have to say they turned out to be the best thing I've ever baked (in fairness, I don't bake much!). I'm very excited to continue to use this book as my daughter grows older and create some good memories together in the kitchen.

Bought this for my 9 year old, it’s fantastic. Every step comes with a photo to illustrate how to do it. Honestly, I wish grownup cooking books did this! My son loves it. We’ve made 6 of the recipes so far, all are fantastic. We’re in the U.K, so some things seemed strange (puffy popovers = Yorkshire puddings?!). Definitely recommend.

Le regalé a mi prima de 10 años que le encanta cocinar y le encantó! Ya ha hecho 4 recetas del libro y esta super contenta, además viene con diferentes aspectos interactivos que son muy chulos.

I fought this as a gift for a 5 year old and 4 year old sisters for Christmas. They loved it! They couldn't wait to look through it and pick a recipe. They chose sugar cookies and they and their mom loved the results! Good buy! Every step has a picture and seems easy to follow with a parents guidance!

A lovely book for kids. Have baked a lot out of it.

It looks like a very good book.