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Book Title: The Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook for Kids
Year: 2023
Author: Bridget Thoreson
Review:
Now I’m not necessarily one to cook or bake. I can do it, but upon marrying my wife, Jaime, she is much better in the kitchen so I’ve relegated myself to cleaning up. When Kourtney from Pacific & Court asked if I’d be interested in checking out this cookbook, I was intrigued. Part of the reason is that much like the author, Bridget Thoreson, who is a huge fan of the original Hocus Pocus movie, my wife is as well. Bridget also credits Beatrice, who is her daughter as an inspiration. Jaime and I have a little one of our own so I was also thinking of Mackenzie.
I’ll be honest, I’ve never reviewed a cookbook before. I wasn’t fully sure on how to go about it. Jaime will get credit here again in that we’re going to make a few of the recipes from the different categories. This opening section is where I’ll go over the writing style. Bridget has a way with words and I love how the recipes correlate back to the movies. I’m not as versed. I’ve seen the original twice and we’ve watched Hocus Pocus 2 just the one time when it came out. I picked up on little things that I remembered from the descriptions. That was a good touch for a movie buff like me. Also giving spooky names when able works in its favor.
What I also like is that this cookbook is tailored toward children. It also works for me since I know how to do cooking techniques, but by supplying ways that a child could make these recipes, I feel more confident. From what I can see, this is a great starter cookbook for children out there. The recipes are also rated between one and three for difficulty. A one being something that they could do alone or a beginner recipe. Two might need a bit of supervision or one that a newer chef would need guidance. A three would be more of a work together.
Since this is a cookbook, it didn’t seem right to me to not try to make recipes from it. I personally made the ‘Trapped in Salt Corned Beef Grilled Cheese’ for dinner for my wife and child. Now Mackenzie was too young to fully appreciate it, but Jaime agreed with me that it was delicious. The portions that were served was spot on as well since we had leftovers. I’d never made corned beef brisket before and that opened me up to a new world there. Jaime also made the ‘Drop of an Enemy’s Blood Orange Yogurt Cake’. We did have to improvise since we couldn’t seem to find a blood orange so we just used a regular one instead. We never had a yogurt cake and it was amazing as well. Both recipes were easy to follow and tasty to the point where we would make them again.
Then as an update between recording the audio review and posting the written one, we’ve made more from this cookbook. For breakfast, I’ve made the ‘Aralia Berry Jam and Pancakes’. I’ll use this recipe going forward when making homemade pancakes. Best that I’ve made. I did a bit more work on the blueberry syrup. It tasted good, but I couldn’t get it to thicken up like I wanted. I also made the ‘Glorious Peanut Butter Smoothie’. This is basic and easy to make. It was delicious as well. I also made the ‘Baked Witch Ziti’ which was fun since I never made homemade pasta sauce. That is something I’ll also take from here. This dish was great as well.
I’d highly recommend this for collectors of Hocus Pocus items. This is something that will be used, especially during October and fall in general. There is more of a theme with the recipes catering toward that section of the year. That’s not to say some won’t be incorporated into the rest of the year. To reiterate, this would be a good beginner cookbook for children as well.
My Rating: 8 out of 10