Editor Reviews:

Product Description:

Rating : - Buy This Book!
As an avid cook and baker, I can say that hands down, this is the best (vegan or otherwise) cookbook that I own (have over 30 +). I seriously praise this book out loud just about everytime I use it. My partner and I do 95% of our eating at home, and this is the go-to guide for baking. I find that aside from the excellent recipes themselves, the miracles of this book are in the details. The author has packed this thing with info in really digestible easily absorbed ways: like little cook's tips, or facts, or lists.

While baking (sweets) isn't necessarily the most healthy thing one can do, my grandpa is 91 and still alive, and made and ate killer baked goods! The author of this book is very thoughtful and thorough outlining other food politics to consider such as buying and baking with seasonally fresh and locally grown ingredients or explaining fair trade products and why you would consider using them ("hey this chocolate cake is made with chocolate not picked by child slaves, cool!"). This book includes all sorts of ingredients differences (banana vs. flax vs. egg replacer), all the different kinds of sweeteners, along with a seasonal appendix as well as other "themed" lists. Very thoughtful, helpful, and convenient. We have made about 50% of the recipes in this book, and not one has been bad.

The world of store-bought vegan baked goods is full of variables too often with dryish tasting results. This book definitely proves that vegan baked goods hold their own and can and do taste better than their non-vegan counter parts. My wishes for this book were that it had more savory recipes, and that the result quantities were a bit more specific. A couple of times I have made standard size muffins planning on batter for 16, and getting batter for 7 or 8, so sometimes the book could better specify what size vessel would result in the projected quantity...but this aside, the recipes, clarity and info delivered in this book, absolutely qualify it as a must buy. You do not have to be vegan to enjoy, but you should like to enjoy really tasty, moist yummy baked things.

For those who critize this book for saying that it uses Ener-g egg replace or Earth Balance too much - I would note that I have never used the egg replacer in any of the recipes that called for them, and I always try to use earth balance in moderation, all you have to do is switch out the ingredients with something else. The flax and water combo works fine in most dishes, or if its a sweet one bananas work wonders. Coconut oil is a fine stand in for earth balance in most situations, and is by far a superior quality ingredient. Don't be so nit picky folks, just like in all cooking use this book as a guide, but have fun and riff with the recipes. Maybe those oat bran muffins would taste more to your liking with blueberry jam inside instead of strawberry. Or mash up that banana and melt some chocolate chips and use that as a filling instead. Remember the title is "The Joy of Vegan Baking"