Real Snacks: Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats Without All the Junk

by Lara Ferroni

Make wholesome homemade Twinkies, Ding-Dongs, Doritos, and Cheez-Its, all with gluten-free and vegan variations! Here are 70 recipes for everyone's favorite childhood snacks with whole grains and natural sweeteners, so you can make low-sugar treats the whole family will love. Full of wonderful flavors and nutrients not artificial colors and preservatives, this collection of nostalgic childhood treats that satisfy your junk food cravings, but without all the junk. Real Snacks includes recipes for:

Twinkies
Ding Dongs
Hostess cupcakes
Pop Tarts
Animal Crackers
Oreos
Nilla Wafers
Sugar Wafers
Fig Newtons
Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies
Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies
Drumsticks
and more!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of recipes to make junk food a little bit more healthful, using different kinds of flours and sugars/sweeteners. Some of them seem like they’d be almost gourmet versions of the originals.

Most of these recipes seem fairly easy and doable. Except the Cheeto puffs. I don’t know how much I want to hunt down spelt and teff flours, though.

The author provides gluten free and vegan versions where practical.

[Anna Catherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

F I N A L L Y
A book that delivers recipes for popular treats.
And tries to make them healthier.
WITHOUT totally writing off white flour, cane sugar and other "bad" ingredients.
I think some of the people complaining about this book are just looking at it through the wrong lens.
"Real Snacks" is the vaguest part of the title, and I can understand why some label it a "poorly written health book". But I don't think that's what it's meant to be.
"Make Your Favorite Childhood Treats", the first part of the subtitle, is self-evident. We have here recipes for flavored tortilla chips (a la Doritos), toaster pastries (aka Pop Tarts), and a few knock-offs I can say I've never seen before (homemade Cheetos?!).
"Without All The Junk" here means: no preservatives, artificial flavors, MSG, or food dyes. Whole grains are added to many, and the author tries to stay clear of corn syrup and other "empty calorie" ingredients as much as possible.
What attracted me to this book so much was that the first part of the subtitle reigned supreme.
This is not first and foremost a "healthy snacks" book.
This is a cookbook that explores and challenges a lot of ideas surrounding food.
It sheds light on how processed and so un-food-like our snacks tend to be, while acknowledging that some of these crazy corporate creations can be delicious. And it seeks to replicate them, making them healthier but not being afraid to use "bad" ingredients when absolutely necessary to create an authentic eat-alike. Too often, "healthy" snack books sacrifice nearly all resemblance to the treats that they steal the names from. Let's be real: Twinkies will never be health food. And yet, homemade Twinkies with a touch of honey and spelt flour are an improvement over the ones from the box, even if they do contain a small amount of bleached cake flour and cane sugar. :)
Confession: I still haven't made anything from this book. I hope to do so soon and will update the review accordingly - and quite possibly bump it up to a 5* rating.

[Jesse Henning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid inspiration/technique for snack fakes but-

since it's one of those 'healthy snacks' books, be prepared to make some creative substitutions when nearly every recipe calls for flours of grains that grow on the moon.

[Isa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, and I wish I could try some, but about 99% of these recipes call for like 50 different types of flour - Harry Potter had an easier time finding the horcruxes than me ever finding this stuff.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I was checking out one of my fave bloggers when looking for a much different thing, and in my search for an orange sauce, I stumbled across a post about Real Snacks. She was making the homemade Orange Milanos, and yeah I totally did a whiplash inducing scroll back to the post, because Orange Milanos YUM (which I can not get in the UK any more and Milanos are one of the things I beg people to bring me when they visit).
So I went and hunted down the book.
I've done one quick read through, and it has like allllll the things I want to recreate, and without the added nasties is a huge bonus.
It even has a wafer recipe that I was needing so that I can recreate Nutty Buddies.

And graham crackers!! This makes me exceedingly happy to try this recipe as my cheesecakes have been just not right (they use Digestives here which are absolutely NOT the same, so I resorted to Ginger Nuts, but ginger doesn't work for alllll the cheesecake flavours I like to do)

So yes, I need this book in hardcopy. Definitely on my 'things people can buy me' list.

I can't wait to make some of the recipes. I'm sure my 5 year old will be very happy about it.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! All the childhood treats I'm nostalgic for in one smart volume. Toaster tarts, cereal bars, and ice cream sandwiches made from real ingredients? I'll take one of each, please.
Heidi Swanson

If you're one of those people who reads the ingredient ilst on the back of a bag of Cheetos but buys them anyway, this one's for you. Lara Ferroni is coming to the rescue. She's managed to recreate, some would say reengineer, some of the world's most beloved snacks like Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Cheezits, without all that bad stuff.
Lynne Rossetto Kasper

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure I'd actually make anything out of this book, but the fact that I could is pretty cool. These are not at all healthy foods, but they are more real than packaged junk food--no dyes or preservatives or ingredients you can't pronounce. There is a good break-down of different types of flours and sweeteners in the front; one of the best I've seen, actually. Note that all recipes include adaptions to become gluten free or vegan.

If I were to make anything, it would probably the Cheese-It. I do love Cheese-It and am curious how cheese crackers I made myself would taste.

[Carrie Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great snack hacks. Wonderful way to have snacks without all the extra chemical junk.

[Stacey Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a neat idea to make your childhood treats healthier. I like that there are gluten and vegan options to each recipe. But they still all have a ton of sugar in them so healthier but not really healthy. But to able to make twinkies, and thin mint cookies...that's cool. I did not try any of the recipes so I don't know if they're really like the treats they're meant to replace. I like the concept of the book but didn't execute any recipes. There are a variety of treats from cookies to crackers to potato chips. The recipes are easy to follow with well laid out instructions. Photos accompany most recipes.

[Rambling Killeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

All your favorite snack foods made at home

This book is great. I borrowed it from the library, and decided I had to buy it! The recipes are easy and detailed. All your favorite snack foods made at home without all the chemicals. Yes! #ramblingboho

[Catie · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of those pantry snacks you enjoyed as an American kid? Make them at home without extra preservatives, unpronounceable chemicals, dyes and additives. I haven't tried them yet, but I have a feeling my niece and I will be making a batch of cheesy fish.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fave recipes: chocolate pudding pops, cheesy fish (goldfish), cheesy crackers (cheese-its) & savory crackers (chicken in biskit!) :)

[SassieMolassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book made me feel nostalgic! Loved that the book included ways to make it gluten-free or vegan.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will be trying some of these.

[Tiffany T · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a recipe for puddin popsicles. They used to advertise those around the Cosby show back in the day. Great summertime treat those popsicles, ate them a lot as a kid.

[Marathon County Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Craving Thin Mints, Hot Pockets, or even Twinkies, but don't want all the preservatives, food dyes, and other mysterious ingredients? This cookbook is packed full of recipes for homemade versions of your favorite snacks you ate as a kid. They are healthier, homemade versions of all those snacks you remember craving. What I appreciated the most about this cookbook was that the author had notes for every recipe on how to make it gluten-free and/or vegan, so soon I will get to eat a safe version of Thin Mints!

Sarah M. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

these were fancier/more labor intensive than I ever care to make, but it looks like she put some effort into developing a gluten-free version of her biscuit/empanada dough that I haven't tried yet, but which might have been just what I was looking for. That is the only GF recipe in the bunch, however, so people with this dietary restriction should probably borrow from the library rather than purchase.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting this cookbook to be healthy (although the cover claims that all recipes have vegan and gluten-free alternatives). Despite the bias towards health, all, if not most, have substitutions for normal ingredients. Many of the recipes sound interesting, particularly the graham crackers, Goldfish, and raspberry coconut Twinkies. I haven't tried any of them yet, but I look forward to it.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate that she offers gluten-free and vegan options for all of the recipes. Alot of them seem to be more work than I care to expend, or require kitchen tools that I don't have and I'm not going to go get. But I think that's the point of eating "junk" food you make yourself- make it worth the calories and the time you spend. Just a theory.

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was prepared to dismiss this book as super-bougie Portlandia nonsense. Why are women suddenly expected to hand make Fritos?? But there is a recipe for homemade cheesy poof powder on the last page that I find Very Intriguing. Hmmmmmmm. Update: I tried the Corn Nuts recipe (basically baking spiced hominy at 400 degrees) and those little buggers exploded. Proceed with caution!

[LS kitchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was impressed with the variety of snacks covered in this cookbook. Practically everything I thought of, from goldfish crackers to Twinkies, was in there. I have not made anything from the book yet, so that might change my opinion as time goes on, but for now, I really liked it. This cookbook seems like a great one to have on hand for the "fun" factor.

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is for the hardcore lover of homemade, healthy food, which is not the level that I'm at. I'm not willing to go to a specialty store for special sugars and flours just to make some treats. But this book would be VERY helpful if I was at that stage, and I would definitely recommend it to others!

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laura does a great job with photography on this book. Sadly though, there wasn't anything really new in here. I have been pinning similar knock-offs of brand name snacks for a while now, and have even managed to make a few. Not sure I would bother buying this.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't tried any recipes, but they sure look fun. This is another cookbook I would love to own and dedicate good time to cook through. Think favorite snacks from childhood. It will make you nostalgic to flip through.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

These recipes sound delicious and seem reasonably easy to make. I'm hankering to try a few. I'll have to check my stock of appliances and equipment first, though. Also I need to look around for some of the more exotic ingredients. Fun cookbook!

[Dhonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am very impressed with these recipes. I have stopped buying crackers because the ingredients are ridiculous. But, after reading this book I am inspired to try and make my own! And the onion dip and that banana "ice cream"...and vegan options for every recipe, how cool is that?

[Robert Hudder]

Decent book for those who want to make healthy versions of mass market snacks - even gluten and vegan - such as goldfish crackers, twinkies, hostess cupcakes, etc. Some of it is really clever.

[Amy M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really a sweets or snack cake person, but I'm really interested in making my own crackers. I'm glad that they had vegan substitutes for most of the recipes.

[Chelle_Rydz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Photos are gorgeous as usual. I will report back after I try a few recipes.

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great recipes for everything from twinkies to goldfish! And it includes vegan variations for EACH recipe!