Just Add Sprinkles: A Colorful Collection of Fun, Easy Bakes to Satisfy Your Sweet Cravings, written by Taryn Camp, features a vibrant assortment of desserts for the home baker using boxed mixes, candy, fruit, pantry staples, and, of course, sprinkles. A few highlights include Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cookies, Irresistible Cookie Butter Pie, Triple-Layer Chocolate Bars, Sprinkled and Dipped Fruit Cones, and Frosted Flakes French Toast. I will also be sharing her recipe for Dark Chocolate Cashew Pretzel Toffee following the review.
Disclosure: I received this book from Page Street Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and statements are my own.
Taryn Camp
Taryn Camp is the writer and creator behind the food blog, Life & Sprinkles– “where food meets fun.” Her work has been featured in Taste of Home, So Yummy, and more.
This is Taryn’s debut cookbook. She is currently based in Oviedo, Florida with her family.
Just Add Sprinkles
Taryn begins Just Add Sprinkles with a short introduction before jumping into the recipes. Her goal in creating this book was to “make approachable and simple desserts that were just a bit more elevated and not too hard, but with elements that take the desserts to the next level.” Most involve a blend of homemade and store-bought ingredients.
The result is such a fun collection of recipes. Taryn even has even included a cake called, “Cake on the Cover” (it is indeed the cake featured on the cover of the book). In case you want more sprinkles, the final bonus recipe in Just Add Sprinkles is for Homemade Sprinkles with a wide range of color and flavor options.
Chapters are divided based on the type of dessert: Classic Flavors with a Little Fun; No-Bake Desserts; Recipes for Bake Sales, Parties and Making Memories; Fruity and Fun Treats; and Comforting and Nostalgic Sweets. The contents page has a list of the included recipes with page number for easy reference.
The photography is also provided by Taryn. Every recipe is paired with a full page photo of the finished dish.
Measurements are listed in US Customary and Metric. Each treat has a headnote with background information, personal memories, yield, and helpful notes.
Dark Chocolate Cashew Pretzel Toffee
To pair with this review, I made Taryn’s Dark Chocolate Cashew Pretzel Toffee! A Pretzel crisp base is coated in a homemade toffee sauce, then covered with dark chocolate and cashews for quite the delicious treat.
The flavors were absolutely fantastic with a blend of sweet, salty, buttery, and crunchy in every bite. I definitely need to make it again during the holidays.
Start by arranging pretzel crisps in a single layer across an aluminum foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet. Cover as evenly as possible with the homemade toffee sauce, then bake until the mixture is fully melted and bubbly.
Immediately cover the sheet with melted dark chocolate and finish with a sprinkling of chopped, salted cashews.
Allow the Dark Chocolate Cashew Pretzel Toffee to completely cool at room temperature for 3-4 hours before breaking into pieces and serving.
I stored leftovers (once fully cooled) in an airtight container for up to a week.
A Few Tips
Snack Factory® Pretzel Crisps® are thin, flat pretzels perfect for covering with the toffee. Make sure to get original, not one of the flavored varieties.
Try to keep the pretzel crisps as close together as possible over a single layer across the rimmed baking sheet.
Spread the chocolate over the toffee immediately after removing the baking sheet from the oven. Careful- everything will be hot.
More Treats
We also made the Chocolate Chunk Sea Salt Cookie Cake, Loaded Edible Cookie Dough, Celebration Chocolate Chip Pancakes, and Maple Cinnamon Roll Casserole.
The Chocolate Chunk Sea Salt Cookie Cake was such a fun summer baking treat for the family. This massive chocolate chip cookie (with both semisweet chocolate chips and chocolate chunks) is baked in an 8 inch cake pan until set to create a thick, chewy texture. The kids were torn on how to finish the top of the cookie cake. One wanted the chocolate drizzle and sprinkles. The other wanted part plain and another part with just a little sprinkles. So we did all of the above.
Claire was immediately drawn to the Loaded Edible Cookie Dough. We happened to have all the ingredients on hand after receiving the book too! Heat treated flour, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla are combined to form a decadent, no-bake cookie dough. For even more flavor, it is packed with chocolate chips, toffee pieces, and chopped milk chocolate-covered pretzels.
The Celebration Chocolate Chip Pancakes were quite the festive and easy start to the weekend. These buttermilk pancakes are filled with mini chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles (Claire opted for unicorn sprinkles). To finish, they are served with maple syrup and any additional desired toppings.
The Maple Cinnamon Roll Casserole was Chad’s favorite. Canned cinnamon rolls are cut into pieces and arranged in a prepared baking dish. Before baking in the oven, they are covered with an eggy cinnamon buttermilk mixture, maple syrup, and chopped pecans. It is perfect for feeding a crowd.
Just Add Sprinkles is a fun pick for those interested in a variety of sweet treats for every season with an assortment of quick and easy last minute bakes (or no-bakes) and larger treats for family/entertaining. Many desserts come together in as little as 30 minutes to an hour, while others require a bit more time to rest or set.
Most of the ingredients are available in larger American grocery stores. A few of the boxed and specialty items may be difficult for those in other countries to locate including fudge cake mix, marshmallow creme, Vanilla Pudding Cook and Serve, red velvet cake mix, cookie butter, double chocolate chunk cookie mix, butterscotch chips, instant lemon pudding mix, and more.
Dark Chocolate Cashew Pretzel Toffee Recipe
Excerpt from Just Add Sprinkles
Dark Chocolate Cashew Pretzel Toffee
Ingredients
- 10 ounces (283 grams) Snack Factory® Original Pretzel Crisps®
- 1 cup (227 grams) butter
- 1 cup (220 grams) light brown sugar
- 15 ounces (425 grams) dark chocolate melting wafers such as Ghirardelli
- 1 cup (150 grams) chopped salted cashews small pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F (177˚C). Line a 12 x 18-inch (30 x 45- centimeter) rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with baking spray.
- Place the pretzels in a single layer on the sheet. Keep them as close as possible, and it's fine if they overlap a bit. The reason you need them close is because, traditionally, this is made with saltine crackers or even graham crackers. Since the pretzels have spaces, it'll just help the toffee cover the whole layer. If you don't cover the pretzels completely, it's fine! Even with a little bit of coating, they're absolutely delicious.
- Melt the butter and brown sugar in a small pot over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally so that the sugar doesn't burn. Allow the mixture to come to a boil for 5 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and carefully pour the mixture evenly over all the pretzels. It's hard to spread, so go slow so that you don't pour it all in the same place and run out!
- Bake for 5 to 7 minutes.
- In the microwave, heat the melting wafers in 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, for 90 seconds, or until fully melted.
- Remove the sheet from the oven and immediately pour the melted chocolate on top. With a knife or spatula, gently spread the chocolate over the entire surface of the toffee.
- Sprinkle the cashews over the melted chocolate.
- Allow the toffee bark to fully cool and set at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours.
- Once fully cooled and set, break the toffee into pieces and serve.
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