Member Reviews
I wasn't sure what to expect with "Fairy House Cooking" -- maybe it would be delicately decorated desserts for a fairy party? I thought there were several clever ideas (toadstool cupcakes, mushroom meringues, stained glass fairy door and window cookies), yet some recipes seemed basic ones that had something remotely to do with fairies? I honestly think it's my brain -- this book was obviously full of creativity, kids, and love but I couldn't make the connection of how the recipes were more 'fairy' than 'tea' party (but rather than fancy hats at tea, one would wear fairy wings? Either way, I'm sure it would be fun as long as there was the creativity and belief behind it!
Every little girl dreams of the make-believe world of fairies, and loves to participate in fairy-themed parties. Fairy House Cooking: Simple Scrumptious Recipes & Fairy Party Fun! includes plenty of recipes and ideas for a perfect make-believe party, and the recipes are not only easy enough for kids, but are dishes that kids are sure to like.
There are suggestions on keeping the kitchen clean, kitchen safety, notes to parents, and cooking tips. Each recipe is rated according to difficulty. There are pictures of most of the recipes, along with fairies making and eating them.
Some of the recipes are everyday recipes that most of us are familiar with, such as muffins, scones, a puffy pancake, and morning glory muffins. The recipes have been given a “fairy” twist, however, to make them fun for kids to make. One recipe, Speedy Garden Patch Cake, is known to many as Wacky Cake or a similar name, and can be whipped up in about 6 minutes. Walsh adds dirt, worms, and flowers for the fairy element, and the finished cake is almost magical as well as delicious. There is a recipe for Candied Violets (wasn’t there a cake with candied violets in one of the Harry Potter Books?) and uses for edible flowers. The book includes an excellent, flaky pie crust recipe that can be used for a scrumptious blueberry pie and miniature plum (or peach) tartlets. Also, an easy Apple Crisp as well as some no-bake confections such as Bird’s Nest Cookies and Fairy Wands.
Little girls (and some boys) will consider this book magical and will want to make every recipe in the book to serve at a fairy tea or just for fun on a leisure afternoon. The recipes are easy, succinct, and easy to follow. Although it is always recommended that an adult be present when kids are cooking, the recipes are easy enough for kids to make by themselves, and most call for simple ingredients that are already in the fridge, freezer or on pantry shelves.
Fairy House Cooking: Simple Scrumptious Recipes & Fairy Party Fun! is a magical book with great pictures, great recipes, and great ideas for kids to entertain. It would make an excellent gift and addition to any cookbook collection.
There are so many fairy tale inspired recipes. A great book to gift to your girls.......
This kids cookbook will get checked out a lot. It has recipes both simple and hard for kids to make, but it's all their favorite foods. The book is broken down in chapters such as good morning, food for fairy houses, and Birds and Blooms. This cookbook is unusual in that there are more pictures of the kids cooking and eating the food, than of the actual food being made. It’s a little odd, But at the same time the pictures are not just full of little girls. They show boys having fun making and eating as well. One of the hardest both to do, and convince kids to eat, would be the candied violets. But maybe not.
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Fairy House Cooking, Simple Scrumptious Recipes & Fairy Party Fun! by Liza Gardner Walsh is a fun book in deed. It is jam packed with recipes, with clear directions, colorful photographs and delightful little tidbits giving insight into the fairy world. They are sandwiches, sweets, breakfast food and edible flowers. Something for everyone. Not every recipe had a photo of the finished product but there are many that do.
The Purple Power Puffs and Edible Fairy Houses were favorites of mine as well as the chapter on Recipes for the Fairies &Friends that are for play only but include mud pies. Not really a child’s book but for anyone who wants to have fairy food fun with children as their assistant.
A delightful book for all! I enjoyed the fairy "food" and then the real food, It was fun to have created food with my daughter. We really enjoyed working through each recipe. Thinking of fairies calls upon imagination and I enjoyed the variety of unique ideas that came with this book.
It is one to do with your children not send them out alone to do, and I feel like that was the message the author wanted to give " become a child again, find the magic".
Beautiful! Just beautiful! The photos are wonderful. The recipes are written to the kids which is great for teaching kids to cook. My girls loved it. The recipes are so cute and appropriate for a fairy garden party. Easy to follow recipes that turn out good.
I received a free divital copy from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
This is a delightful cookbook for little girls to create some fairy inspired treats for a party. There are pancakes, cookies, meringue mushrooms, pie, sandwiches, drinks, and so much more. Children can create their own food with some help from adults with this beautifully created cookbook.
I have yet to try some of the recipes but know my daughters would enjoy this. We plan on dressing up as fairies and having a small garden party with this little book very shortly.
Such a darling little book! Fairy House Cooking is a sweet little cookbook and craft book all in one. Young fairy lovers will greatly enjoy the simple recipes that help create human-edible and fairy-edible delights.
The writing style was conversational and simple, probably about a third grade level, but younger learners would enjoy listening or reading along. The human-edible recipes vary from breakfast treats to afternoon tea fare. I love that the author included some edible flower recipes with clear warnings about which flowers are safe to eat and which are not. Some of the recipes (such as candied violets) will obviously require adult assistance. After the human-edible recipe chapters, the author provides a chapter of recipes that fairies, birds, and other animals in nature would love. She’s very clear in the opening of this chapter that these recipes are only for fairies, etc. and not for humans. The pictures throughout were sweet and engaging. The human shots did not looked staged but instead just looked like kids having fun.
I gratefully received this book as a free eARC from the author, publisher, and NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.
Fairy House and Fairy Garden are two of my favorite books. In a house full of fairy lovers, we never miss an opportunity to use our imagination and play like the fairies!
In the newest book, with help, the kids can try their hands at Toadstool Cupcakes, Toadstool Meringues and Marzipan Mushrooms,Pixie Dust Popcorn or Pretzel Fairy Wands and much more.
The photos in the book are a hit. Not staged, just kids having fun and making a mess while pretending they are fairies and having a bit of a party.
The books are aimed at stretching the imagination in the out of doors and now we have some tasty and quite easy treats to take with us on our adventures!
I am in favor of all things imaginary and I thought this was one of the most charming books I've seen on the topic.
I love cookbooks and I have a daughter who loves fairies so I was excited about this book. Unfortunately there was no magic inside. The recipes are very basic and so are the tips and pictures. I have to say Pinterest would provide a lot more help than this book for fairy magic.
This is a really fun book for little kids. There are quite a few recipes in there that my girls are excited to try. This book has great pictures, the names of the recipes are whimsical and cute, there are little fun information that intrigued my kids. Can not wait to make these and have little fairy tea parties.
Super cute cookbook. Not all of the recipes need cooked. Great for kids to help in the kitchen with. The recipes are all pretty easy to make. I love that it has variations listed as well. The book comes with great pictures too.
What a delightfully colorful and engaging cookbook. I found this book to be extremely kid and parent friendly. The recipes were fairly easy and not overwhelming in the least. My daughter adored the fairy perspective. She really liked the muffins, wands, toadstool cupcakes and fairy hearts. I loved the mushroom meringues, the stained glass fairy door and window cookies, and the fairy trifle.
Rating: 4/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: Family
Status: Baking/Cooking and Entertainment
I was a little excited about this book. I have several students who enjoy cooking and wanted to share something different with them. Before doing so, I wanted to try the activities/recipes within the book with my daughter. We both started off encouraged by the activities, but soon we both felt that the book was off and didn't have the fun and exciting feel as it suggested. Which left us a tad disappointed.
Wonderful book! Loaded with info for fairy parties and recipes! Walsh writes great fairy books! Her fairy house book is wonderful, too.. Love the photos! So magical!
The author, Liza Gardener Walsh, has created a hybrid cooking and craft book. My only complaint is the lack of clarity when it comes to using edible ingredients versus inedible ingredients. At the beginning of her book she writes about creating "fairy soups" in her backyard which I presume was not "real" cooking as the ingredients were not meant for eating. In fairness there are sections of the cookbook where she warns young cooks about selecting safe food ingredients.
I do believe her book would have been far better if she had focused on either writing a cookbook or a craft book. Her attempt to to do both muddled the issue.
At the end of her book you'll find a chapter called Mud Pies. This chapter is a perfect example of lack of clarity.
When it comes to imagination and play her book is superb. I loved the fairy drawings, her ideas on how to present a tea party, and I loved the color photos strewn throughout her book.
I would highly encourage parents to supervise and explain how to use her book.
I'd give her book 5 stars for creativity and 3 stars for implementation.
Recommend with caveats given.
Review written after downloading a galley from Net Galley.
Pretzel wands? Toadstool cupcakes? Magic puffy pancakes? No this is not make-believe! These are actual recipes found in fairy house cooking. Now you and your children can make these fantasies an edible reality. The recipes take familiar kid-friendly foods and make them into something that transports you into a fairy wonderland.
Fantastic book really enjoyed reading it and showing to my daughters will be buying this book
I know so many little boys and girls that will love this book, and it is sure to become a cookbook and party favourite. Liza Gardener Walsh has put together an inclusive Fairy House Cooking book that has recipes and party fun that will delight the palette and have your child pouring over the pages for hours, deciding what to cook and how to put their fairy picnic or party together.
From the outset I was most impressed with how inclusive this books is, firstly the book discusses allergies and mentions how they have made most of the recipes nut free and have allergy warnings which are bold and easily noticeable. Also, a lot of people associate fairies with girls, but throughout this book there are photos of little boys involved in the cooking and parties, I applaud you Liza Gardner Walsh.
One of my favourite sections is towards the end of the book, this features an outdoor section of "recipes" consisting of mud pies, grass stew, bark sandwiches, and birdseed cookies. Apart from these "recipes"there are other delicious recipes that can be made alongside a grown up including real fairy bread, magic fairy wands, purple power puffs and fruit wands. There is a balance between sweet, savory and healthy delights to fill hungry fairy stomachs.
The instructions for the recipes are very well written, with information about different fairies, some interesting information about the recipe and very thorough instructions. The book features tips on cleaning up, notes on safety, difficulty levels measured by fairy wings, and cooking tips.
The photographs will have you and your little fairy wanting to go straight to the kitchen and cook some delicious treats and set up your own fairy oasis. With a combination of crafts, cooking and creativity you will come to discover that "It's a very special honor to be invited to tea with the fairies, for only those who truly believe will be blessed with the rewards of their presence." (Dawn)