Joy of Vegan Baking

[Wildflower]

Bought this today...anyone have it? I have used some recipes from the author's website -> http://www.compassionatecooks.com/ in the past and really liked them.

The book has lots of pictures and is really well layed out. It also was only 19.99 USD, it felt like a much more expensive book, if ya know what i mean.

[Kevin2]

I haven't seen the book, but I do regularly listen to the podcast.

[Sri Radha]

I am getting this for Christmas. I have heard good things about it.

I am a cookbook junkie.

[bryzee86]

Yay! Since veganomicon has supposedly been delayed in the UK, I got in a strop and Jo has ordered me this for christmas wooooo!

I'm gonna have some fun baking!

[sponge]

Any more reviews on this cookbook? I am debating on buying this book, but I want to make sure I'll use it to cook with rather than decorate my shelf.

[bryzee86]

I'll be getting mine at Christmas, so check back after the 29th cos i'll be back home then.

[emmapresley]

i think this is finding its way into our home wrapped up in festive paper

[emmapresley]

right..i have pilfered this book off my daughter and have made some caramelised pecan praline stuff just now. i'm obviously an idiot novice as i tried licking the spoon just after lifting it out the pan. ow.

anyhow..is anyone reading this an expert on things like boiling sugar..it seems i need a thermometer?? well, i followed the recipe instructions verbatim and even though it sort of tastes nice, it's quite bitty..erm..like crumbly and not at all praliney..so i assume i've made some terrible mistake along the way when bringing it all up to boil..i even did the soft drop ball test thingy and it seemed okay.

i'd hate to try this again and stuff it up again..the ingredients..pecans..cost loads (well...4 quid)

[fondducoeur]

I got this book for Christmas. It seems wonderful... unfortunately I haven't made anything out of it yet!
The first thing I want to make though is the Mediterranean Olive Bread though.
It looks delicious and not too difficult.

[bryzee86]

oh my god whis book is bloody fantastic! i read it from cover to cover whilst away from my kitchen for a week, and now the baker in me is vying to make me obese.

ask stu, joeybee and beanstew - the cookies are fanTAStic!

[beanstew]

I can confirm that!

Thanks for the awesome cookies.

[Joeybee]

I can confirm that too, I like off his baking...literally!

[emmapresley]

cookies after bread for me then..

have started (at approx 8pm) making the wholemeal bread..quarter to twelve now and it still hasn't even gone into the oven?? but this is normal..yes?? and i'm following a recipe..
fresh wholemeal bread for breakfast..how rustic

[Pob]

There's a reason why breadmakers were invented

I refuse to buy any more recipe books as I never actually make any of the recipes in them!

[fondducoeur]

I just made the peanut butter cookies. They were really good, but not as good as the pb cookies my boyfriend's vegan friends made us for Christmas! I wonder where they got their recipe. But all in all I am pleased.
What cookies did you make Bryzee?

[bryzee86]

I made the chocolate chip ones, and the PB ones from VWAV.

Ask Stu: the choc chip ones were a massive hit on NYE.

[fondducoeur]

I'll have to try the chocolate chip ones then

[sunrisesunset]

I have The Joy of Vegan Baking and every recipe I have made from it so far has been incredible I just recently made the butterscotch pudding and it is delicious; everyone loved it even non-veggies. There are many recipes that need Ener-G egg replacer and i still can't find that anywhere. If anyone knows where i can get this please let me know. thanks.

[fondducoeur]

I have The Joy of Vegan Baking and every recipe I have made from it so far has been incredible I just recently made the butterscotch pudding and it is delicious; everyone loved it even non-veggies. There are many recipes that need Ener-G egg replacer and i still can't find that anywhere. If anyone knows where i can get this please let me know. thanks.

Hi sunrise. I will have to try the butterscotch pudding. It does sound delicious. I got my Ener-G egg replacer at a health food store in Rolla, MO (a little town in the Midwest), so I'm surprised that you haven't found it. I have also seen it at Whole Foods when I'm in St. Louis. But, I occasionally order products from this web site and have never run into any problems and they carry it also: http://www.veganstore.com/index.html?action=search. Good luck!

[Kevin2]

I like the flaxseed waffles! Next up for me are the blueberry/lemon muffins. EDIT: about the egg replacer - I don't have the one the book recommends but since she mentions how many eggs it is that are being substituted for you can use any egg replacer... as far as I know.

[sunrisesunset]

thanks guys. i have recently bought the ener-g egg replacer so ill be trying some new recipes shortly. i just tried to make the apple strudel and it came out really dry...it was quite disappointing since every other recipe from this book has been amazing. has anyone else made the apple strudel?

[sunrisesunset]

mexican wedding cookies= delicious!

[emmapresley]

^sunrisesunset..these are the lemon bars out of 'the joy of vegan baking'. not really like the photograph in the book, but they taste amazing. would advise you to make some if you haven't already!!

i haven't made the apple strudel, no..

i also find that the things i've made require about ten or so minutes longer to bake than is stated in the book. anyone else found that?

[Penny]

i also find that the things i've made require about ten or so minutes longer to bake than is stated in the book. anyone else found that?

I've made the chocolate chip cookies (mmmmhhhhmmmm!!!!!!) but I, too, found they took longer than the recipe said. They were supposed to be baked for 8 -10 minutes, but took 20. I also used a wee bit less chocolate - VERY unusual for me. Boy, were they good, though! Why do I keep baking these things when I need to lose weight???

Penny

[bryzee86]

the choccy chip cookies are well good. Ask Stu. He has expressly requested that I make more before the next meet. Can't remember how long they took though...

[emmapresley]

I've made the chocolate chip cookies (mmmmhhhhmmmm!!!!!!) but I, too, found they took longer than the recipe said. They were supposed to be baked for 8 -10 minutes, but took 20. I also used a wee bit less chocolate - VERY unusual for me. Boy, were they good, though! Why do I keep baking these things when I need to lose weight???

Penny

unless you are being rhetorical..you're asking the wrong person, lady!

[bryzee86]

yeah, i'd better not, either.

[sunrisesunset]

i know what you guys mean. things have been really rough lately and whenever im stressed i bake which doesnt do much for my health.

i just baked the irish soda bread out of this book and it was great... the taste and texture was perfect.

next on my list is the lemon bars now..thanks for the suggestion.

[jalapeno]

I am really excited to meet the author (Colleen Patrick-Goudreau) at Denver VegFest this Saturday...hoping she may sign my copy, too!

[Roxy]

^sunrisesunset..these are the lemon bars out of 'the joy of vegan baking'. not really like the photograph in the book, but they taste amazing. would advise you to make some if you haven't already!!

I could go one of those right about now!

[Delina17]

I got this book for Christmas. It seems wonderful... unfortunately I haven't made anything out of it yet!
The first thing I want to make though is the Mediterranean Olive Bread though.
It looks delicious and not too difficult.

I made that bread, and all I had for soy milk was sweetened vanilla flavored soy milk. It didn't turn out very nicely. But the way it tasted, it would have been very good with normal plain soy milk. Hope it works/worked out for you.

[Delina17]

I've made the chocolate chip cookies (mmmmhhhhmmmm!!!!!!) but I, too, found they took longer than the recipe said. They were supposed to be baked for 8 -10 minutes, but took 20. I also used a wee bit less chocolate - VERY unusual for me. Boy, were they good, though! Why do I keep baking these things when I need to lose weight???

Penny

I have to say, depending where you live in the world can drastically affect the baking time. It depends if you are below or above sea level by so much, you will have to bake things for longer. I forget how that goes. I live in Canada, quite a bit above sea level (I think) and I bake it for the amount of time specified in the cookbook, and it turns out perfect.

What I DO find, is that the recipe actually makes a LOT more food than it says. A pleasant surprise, no doubt, and I'm not complaining if I get 50 cookies instead of 24 . . . or should I?

[fondducoeur]

I made the banana chocolate chip muffins last night and was really happy with how they turned out! I cooked them in a cupcake tray so they took less time to cook as they are on the small side. I didn't think of this right away, so the top shelf ones got a little done, but they were still okay. The other tray was fabulous.

[vgnwitch]

I like the idea of the book ... I mean, honestly, who wouldn't want a book devoted to vegan baking? However, from all the reviews and posts that I've read, it doesn't seem like there is anything original or very interesting about the recipes. I probably already have, or can easily find, recipes for everything in the book. And for that reason, I won't bother buying it.

[Anouk]

i personally think it's a great book - i haven't tried many recipes yet (but the ones i have were amazing - medditerranian olive bread, apple pecan muffins, blueberry cobbler and few more), but the concept is great and i find it really helpful(all the tips on how to replace non-vegan ingredients, which pans to use if you don't have the one that a recipe calls for etc). plus my mom (who isn't veggie) asked me to translate the recipes i've tried already into Slovene, so she can use them when i'm not around ... ).

[pigpad]

I am considering ordering this book. For UK users, are the ingredients easy to get over here as some of the US based cook books I have have some things I find really hard to get here and some I don't even understand what they are lol

[bryzee86]

Yeah, they're not too bad. Well, that is if you can get ener-G egg replacer. I know I can get it here, but have you access to it there?

[pigpad]

I have a health food/veggie shop by me so will have a look there. If not maybe I can order it online

[Hemlock]

Bah! If only we had an oven, or a kitchen The extension we're building is not nearly ready!

[fiamma]

Yikes, Hemlock!! How are you doing your cooking, let alone any baking?

[timberly]

I made apple cobbler and pumpkin pie from this book and they were fantastic.

[kamal]

I got this book as a present for my wife. She LOVES it!!!!! We have been enjoying all sorts of baked goodness using the recipes in this book.

[Tish]

I love this book too. All the recipes I've tried so far have come out really nice.

The chocolate chip brownies are absolutely divine!

[khadagan]

Oh yeah, this reminds me to get this book of the shelf more often! Haven't used it in a while. I was given this for my birthday a few years ago and made 5 or 6 different things from it that turned out very nice, can't remember which ones from the top of my head, but I'll be making something from this book again soon!

[khadagan]

Well I've just made something from this book and it was only a snack, nothing baked, but I'd thought I'd share anyway. I made the popcorn with the caramel sauce. I had a bit of a sweet craving last night. I didn't read the recipe properly and it said to wait an hour until the sauce got hard on the popcorn, but who can wait that long? So, I burned my tongue with the hot caramel sauce, I can still feel it :s.! It was nice though. On the next page is a recipe for chocolate fudge which I've made in the past as well and was very nice as well. I don't think I'll be making any of these often because it's just a bit too unhealthy all that butter and sugar..

[DiaShel]

I've had it while and finally used it. I made the banana chocolate chip muffin but as a cake. It was delicious!!! The recipe calls for too much chocolate chips I think, it overpowers it. There's nothing like soy milk or egg replacer in it so omnis can't really say anything about the fact that it's vegan. It just kind of, happens to be.

[Bearshark]

I saw this in my local organics shop yesterday and I kind of put it back because the cover was ugly (I'm really terrible, when it comes to books I really do judge them by their covers), but after reading this, I may have to pop back and check it out...especially the banana choc chip muffin recipe! I love banana cake!!!

[khadagan]

I just made the apple and pecan muffins (eating now while they're still hot), they came out perfect and they're delicious!

I didn't have applesauce so I blended two apples and put it through a muslin, my daughter drank the juice and the pulp went into the muffins, I also added some homemade almond milk to make the mixture a bit wetter since it was too dry, could have used some of the apple juice if my daughter hadn't drunk it all I guess.

[khadagan]

And I know I'm doing way too much baking lately. But I also made the banana muffins and chocolate muffins. Both are great!

[nickyb]

like some of you have already said, I am also a bit of a baking junkie and own this book, I've made the cookies, apple cake and scones, all turned out very well and were eaten very quickly!