Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links; thanks for your support!
So a few months ago, we received a copy of the Berenstain Bears Country Cookbook from the publisher. When it first came in and I started looking through the recipes, I wasn’t super impressed. But I was really won over by the time we finished reviewing.
First of all, it’s enjoyable to look at. Every page is colorful and includes a picture of the recipe. Young chefs are not yet able to look at a group of ingredients and make a decision about whether those ingredients could make a good dish. The title and picture help a lot to help them branch out.
The variety of recipes make it great for most kitchens and styles of eating. This was my biggest sticking point at first. There are 40 recipes that range from simple sandwiches to doctored convenience foods to cakes from scratch. Some items LOOKED fun (like turkey sandwiches that looked like turkeys) and others were just plain yummy.
My 7 year old daughter made 4 or 5 of the recipes in this book while we were reviewing it. She made the Cola Cake, which was a from scratch cake, all on her own. I was nursing the baby & not even in the room. It was delicious and I hadn’t even given her cooking lessons. She figured it all out, including the measuring AND cooking the cola mixture on the stove top on her own. So impressed!
Overall, I would totally recommend Berenstain Bears Country Cookbook for any budding chef. If they love to help in the kitchen, there are easy no-cook recipes for little ones to help with as well as more complicated recipes for your more mature helper. We will be keeping this book around for a long time. My kids love to help in the kitchen and this gives them ownership of their help, too.
Do you let your kids cook?
