Mix in whatever you fancy with ‘choose your own adventure’ baking

From chewy Taiwanese snowflake crisps to kitchen sink cookie bars, these fun-filled recipes use up whatever you’ve got on hand – or whatever you fancy throwing in your mixing bowl!

Credit: Quarry Books / Nicole Soper Photography

— See Mary Berg making her kitchen sink cookie bars in Mary Makes It Easy, 6.30 Wednesday 28 February on SBS Food, with episodes airing 6:30pm weeknights and streaming at SBS On Demand after they air. —

Perhaps you want to cook up some ‘smile factor’ – you know, the fun recipes that make you feel like a kid again, or bring a bit of light-hearted silliness to the kitchen. Maybe you can’t decide whether you feel like a salty snack or a sweet one. Or maybe you just want to use up some of the various bits and pieces lying around your fridge and pantry…

Well, these recipes hear you. This is ‘choose your own adventure’ cooking, where you can throw a whole range of bits and pieces into a bar, biscuits, chew or crackle and end up with something new, fun and possibly a tad crazy. Some are baked, and some are as simple as melt and mix.

 

Kitchen sink cookie bars

Kitchen sink cookie bars. Credit: Mary Makes It Easy / Geoff George

These deliciously chewy bars from Mary Berg are made with browned butter for extra flavour, and two cups of “whatever mix-ins you’ve got” for a dose of fun: choc chips, crunchy pretzels, chopped up toffee, leftover chocolate bar, bits of brownies or biscuits, whatever nuts you have on hand. Be warned that some of it may not make it to the oven: Berg says, “If you are a cookie dough eater, this is, oh my gosh, so good!”.

 

Chewy Taiwanese snowflake crisps

Credit: Quarry Books / Nicole Soper Photography

It's not just the mix-ins that you can play with in this recipe by Kat Lieu, from her book Modern Asian Baking at Home – you can switch it up and make matcha or cocoa versions of this popular sweet snack, too. Made with salty crackers (e.g. Ritz), nuts, dried fruit and marshmallows, it’s one of Lieu’s favourite recipes. “Confession time! This is my favourite recipe in Modern Asian Baking. Why? Well firstly, it’s super versatile and easy to make. Secondly, I’m simply addicted to snowflake crisps (or nougat cracker candy). I’ve finished entire bags on my own. (Don’t judge!) Each bite is an addictive harmony of yin and yang: chewy yet crispy, sweet yet salty, and milky yet light. It’s no wonder this confection is one of the best-selling snacks across Taiwan and Hong Kong, and it’s a social media star,” she says. If you can melt, stir and stretch (Lieu recommends kitchen gloves for that bit) you can make your own version and discover why she loves it so much.

Crackle

Credit: Christina Tosi

Sugary shards studded with "flavourful pantry items", Christina Tosi's crackle recipe is a rich, crunchy indulgence. There’s a choose-your-own-adventure aspect to making crackles: you can opt for your favourite snack food, or use up something that needs eating from the pantry: cereal, crackers, potato crisps, mini pretzels, granola, nuts and seeds ...

Cereal fun bar

Credit: Michael Joseph / Penguin Books

"Reminiscent of a classic childhood treat, but pimped, make this with your kids, make it for yourself, it doesn't matter why – just make it!" writes Jemma Wilson of this colourful creation, in her book Crumbs and Doilies. "Of all the recipes we developed for this book, none have made us quite so weak at the knees as this six-ingredient delight! We all tried to resist it, but there is something about the sweet saltiness of the cereals and the nuttiness of the burnt butter that had us nibbling at it incessantly without even realising!" Marshmallows, browned butter, Rice Bubbles and coloured cereal form the base, which is topped with a layer of coloured and swirled white choc and decorated with more coloured cereal.

Amy's chocolate chip cookies

Credit: Adam Liaw

These look like simple, easy-to-make choc-chippers, and they are - but they are also a great base recipe. Swap the milk chocolate chips for dark or white, or add in cranberries, M&Ms, chopped glace ginger...

Movie night caramel popcorn

Caramel popcorn Credit: Kitti Gould

"My momma raised me to be a weekly popcorn devourer and movie watcher. This is my perfect version. Sweet, salty and textural. And fully loaded with whatever mix-in I am craving at that moment! Easy, fun and makes a huge quantity," says Toni Rands of this recipe, shared on The Cook Up with Adam Liaw.

Pistachio crackles

Pistachio crackles Credit: Richo's Bar Snacks

Cornflake crackles and chocolate crackles were childhood favourites for many, and they are a canvas for invention, as these pistachio crackles show. This grown-up cornflake crackle by Adrian Richardson gets a splash of whiskey in the mix, and while he's dipped his in rose petals, dried raspberries and coloured sprinkles, you could use whatever you have on hand. For inventive takes on the chocolate crackle, try cardamom, pistachio and rose chocolate crackles, pistachio and date crackles (another gwon up version, this time with run and a hint of paprika) or white chocolate and baklawa crackles, all of which show that you can have plenty of fun changing up the basic idea, and adding in all kinds of extras.