Children’s Quick and Easy Cook Book by Angela Wilkes, 1997.

When I was expanding my cooking skills as an adult, I started doing it using children’s cookbooks instead of cookbooks for adults because of the simplified instructions. When I bought this one, I hadn’t realized that it was originally a British book. I have the American edition, but the reason why I discovered that it was a British book is that the types of recipes the book offers includes some that are more common in the UK than in the US. A friend of my family, who was originally from England, spotted it and was happy to hear that I’d be learning to make some of these recipes. The recipes provide both metric and imperial measurements for the ingredients (another clue that this is an international book). There is a section in the beginning of the book that explains how to use the book and some general cooking safety tips. In the back of the book, there is a helpful Picture Glossary that demonstrates various cooking techniques and concepts used in the book, like how to use a marinade, how to core an apple, how to separate eggs, and how to roll out pastry. It’s all useful information for beginning-level cooks.

The recipes are divided into helpful sections, including snacks, meals, desserts, and sweets. The book is heavy on desserts, candy, and sweets, but many of the recipes under the snacks section are what Americans (and possibly British people, too, although I’m less sure there) might consider as breakfasts, lunches, and general light meals. In particular, the snack section includes sandwiches of various kinds. Some of the ingredients for the sandwiches sound uncommon for the US, although that might also vary by region. I can’t recall seeing salami and cream cheese together before, but I wouldn’t mind trying it sometime. Some sandwiches also call for ingredients like cherry compote and mango chutney. I think that serving grated chocolate on croissants or other bread items is also a European thing. I’ve seen it packaged just for that purpose at international grocery stores and import stores. Some of the snacks are more like snack items in American cook books, like flavored popcorn and smoothies.

The section of Speedy Meals include omelets, two kinds of soup, tacos, and pasta. Some recipes are common ones in the US, too, like chicken nuggets, chicken burgers, and fish sticks. The Turkish Meatballs with lamb, Falafel, Tabbouleh, and Chicken Curry and Rice are less common, but are still eaten here, especially if you live in areas with international restaurants and grocery stores.

Of course, the desserts and sweets are particularly fun recipes. I particularly enjoyed making the cream puffs! There are different types of cookies included and candies like chocolate truffles and peppermint creams.

Many of the desserts would be familiar to Americans, like the chocolate cake, carrot cake, lemon cheesecake, and Baked Alaska. However, there were also a few desserts that were new to me. I had never heard of Clafouti before, and this was the first place I had heard of Knickerbocker Glories, a kind of parfait or sundae with layers of ice cream and fruit. (If you remember Harry Potter referring to a Knickerbocker Glory in one of the books, here is what it is!)

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.