Epic Kitchen Adventures: Tasty Treats Ready in Minutes! begins with an inherent contradiction in its title. Anything “epic” cannot be accomplished in “minutes”. Clever disjunction, but the book only manages to succeed in being obnoxious. ‘Unicorn Poo Cookies’? Seriously? Or how about the gourmet ‘One-Minute Microwave Pizzas’ made with saltines. How more epic can you get?!? This is like the most irritating high school kid next door who thinks that just because he can throw some flour and sugar into a mug, and put it in the microwave for two minutes, makes him the Justin Bieber of cooking. Although maybe that is accurate. The photos are so annoying – they are meant to be fun and funny but just come across as infantile. Must you crack that egg on your forehead? The whipped cream beard is truly a work of art.

“To anyone who needs a break from the real world. I hope this book brings you fun, laughter and good memories.”

If you can get past the imbecility, the recipes as a whole are actually not terrible – some do actually have some cooking involved, for example there are recipes for pizza dough from scratch, actual chocolate cake, pancakes, and cookies. One section is devoted to pizza, but most of the book is treats; a great name for this book might be “Pizza and Mug Cakes”. The pictures of the food look good, and the recipes are easy to follow, but the illustrations around the text are distracting and assault your eyes. Maybe your middle school boy-band-loving college freshman would love this book?

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