Review: Fat Witch Bake Sale by Patricia Helding, Lucy Baker

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Fat Witch brownies are a chocolate obsession, not just for the locals from New York City, but also for the many tourists who visit Chelsea Market. Patricia Helding and staff bake tender, moist, classic, and decadent morsels that people are willing to wait in line to buy. And following on the heels of Helding’s very successful Fat Witch Brownies, which revealed the author’s secret recipe (at long last), comes her new personal collection of yummy brownies, blondies, barks, bars, and more . . . along with tips and tricks for packaging and selling them at your next bake sale.
Here are mouthwatering recipes for Pecan Caramel Brownies; Red Velvet Brownies; Five Layer Chocolate Bars; Jelly Blondies; Cinnamon Bars; Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars; Coconut Macadamia Cookies; uniquely grownup flavors like Fruitcake Brownies and Rum Raisin Spice Bars; and even gluten-free treats like Meringue Drops and Almond Flour White Chocolate Cookies. Packed with astonishingly good, easy-to-bake recipes that will leave your family and friends agog, Fat Witch Bake Sale will be the go-to recipe source for bake sale season—or anytime.

MY TAKE:
Before reading this book, I'd never hear of Fat Witch, and now, I really wish we lived in New York so I could taste the other creations of the woman who made the recipes in this book.

Fat Witch Bake Sale has recipes for all sorts of goodies you can bake for your next bake sale or even just for your family.

Before we get to the recipes, I'd like to mention a few things that were great. First, as the author says early on, she made a conscious effort to use ingredients that are easily found in supermarkets. There were a few recipes that used some ingredients that you might have to look in specialty stores for, but they're mostly in the recipes for healthier baked goods.

At the start of the book, there's a list of the most common ingredients used in the recipes and each ingredient has tips you can use to make your output closer to the desired outcome.

For bake sale newbies, there's a short section filled with tips for organizing your own bake sale. It's very informative and includes things you might forget or not think about.

Now, for the recipes. The recipes are divided as follows: recipes that are heavy on the chocolate, kid-friendly recipes, sort-of healthy recipes, gluten-free treats, vegan, recipes with a little unexpected ingredient in them, foreign treats, recipes with alcohol/liquer/etc., and icing recipes.

Even though I don't really require gluten-free or vegan stuff, personally, I appreciate that there's an option for others who have dietary restrictions or want to try something different.

I found a lot of recipes I want to try as soon as possible. The one I'll probably try first is the turbo-chocolate cookies recipe. It looks easy and delicious. Other recipes on my to-do list are the  baby brownie cupcakes and Kahlua-chocolate chip cookies.

The pictures are pretty, and the graphics, font and font color used are cute. I felt like they didn't match up exactly with the content, though.

Thanks to NetGalley and Rodale Books for the e-ARC.
THE GOOD:

1. There's something here for everyone.
2. Majority of the ingredients are available at supermarkets.
3. There are lots of useful tips here. 

THE BAD:

1. The graphics, colors, and feel of the book don't feel like a perfect match for the content. 

READ IT IF:

1. You like Fat Witch's products.
2. You're wondering what to sell at your next bake sale.
3. You like desserts of all kinds. 

RATING:


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