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My vegan friends, you can make a delicious pie crust with walnut oil, whole wheat pastry flour and water…and the ingredients don’t have to be COLD. You can make fabulous scones with agave nectar and no egg replacer. Please go beyond these tired recipes and BE CREATIVE! Purchase this book if you love all-purpose white flour, Earth Balance spread and Ener-G egg replacer in everything you make.

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Update: I promised an update once I had tried some recipes–yum! I’ve made the chocolate chip cookies, the lemon bars, the apple pie with the flaky pie crust, the pumpkin pie with the pecan crust, the light lemon bundt cake, the blueberry orange bundt cake, the lemon cheesecake, and…my favorite…the German apple cake. From the ingredients, the cake doesn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary, but it certainly is. I couldn’t get enough. The chocolate cake (with her chocolate frosting) was the best I’ve had–moist, “chocolatey”, light and fluffy.

In response to the comment on my original post, I wanted to add that while the quality of the recipes are obviously an important part of any cookbook, other characteristics are important too. Is it easy to read? Do the recipes use easy-to-find ingredients? Is the layout attractive? Am I, as the reader, given “bonus” information above and beyond the recipes? The answer to all of these for the Joy of Vegan Baking is yes!!

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This is not a “health food” book, although the recipes are cholesterol-free, lactose-free and healthier than the average non-vegan recipes. Instead, it’s a book that helps you understand how easy it is to bake without eggs and dairy.

My favorite part of the book is the section on milk, butter and egg substitutes, some of which do indeed make the recipes healthier (e.g., using ground flax seed and water rather than egg replacer, using almond milk rather than soy milk for those of us trying to minimize our intake of soy, or using date sugar rather than white sugar). There are loads of tips and “Food Lore,” which are interesting trivia tidbits that provide a historical context for the food. Perhaps most helpful, however, are the “Troubleshooting” pages that list the most common problems and their likely origins. Finally, the Appendices will save you a lot of time because the author has already organized your pantry and utensils for you and tells you exactly what you will need (/need to buy), and she includes a glossary, lists of what to substitute if you don’t have the pan that’s called for, and most fascinating to me, a section on the difference between baking soda and baking powder (I always wondered about that).

I’ve made the corn bread, the pancakes, a couple of smoothies, almond milk and the chocolate mousse because I had the ingredients lying around, and I look forward to trying my hand at chocolate chip scones this week. Then off to the serious holiday stuff so I can bring something yummy to every party I attend–so that I have something to eat (and share) at every party I attend.