Book Review: Pickles, Peaches and Chocolate: Easy, Elegant Gifts from Your Kitchen

Interested in making gifts for your friends and family that come from your kitchen? Great! But save your money on this one.

In this book, there are a lot of simple gift ideas to make. There are photographs which I do feel is important in a book such as this.

One of my major reasons for not giving this book such a nice review is that there is a recipe for a "litterbox cake"--one of those cakes where it looks like a cat's litterbox. You are even suggested to heat the tootsie rolls to get a more real look. Now, this is fine. I have no problem with this cake. I would not eat it. Unless I am completely confused, the title of the book is "Pickles, Peaches & Chocolate: Easy, Elegant Gifts from Your Kitchen", and I would not call a litterbox cake elegant.

My suggestion would be: if you are looking for elegant gifts made from your kitchen, then I would recommend: "Modern Food Gifts" by Martha Gill. If you are looking for a great book on how to make cute cakes, then I suggest "The Cake Mix Doctor" by Anne Byrn.

"Pickles, Peaches and Chocolate: Easy, Elegant Gifts from Your Kitchen"
Karen Ward
C & K Enterprises (May 1, 1999)
Hardback: 127 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 9.6 x 7.6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0966658000
Price: $18.95

More Information:

Gifts of Food
Great Gifts From The Kitchen
Twelve Days of Shipping Christmas Cookies

If you enjoyed this article, check out Jennifer's other topics Cooking With The Seasons and Food Pursuit.

Jennifer A. Wickes is a freelance food writer, researcher and cookbook reviewer. She has written several eBooks, and has had numerous articles and recipes in printed publications, as well as on-line. She is working on her first cookbook. For more information about Jennifer or her work, please visit her home page: http://home.comcast.net/~culinaryjen/Hom...