Back in 2007 I reviewed a Vegan baking book called My Sweet Vegan for my blogging friend Hannah Kaminsky. If you don’t know Hannah, she runs the blog Bittersweet. One of the things I love about Hannah is that even though she is Vegan herself she is more than okay with others not being Vegan. While I very much liked her first book, I must say that Hannah has really grown in her dessert making in the years between. There are quite a few vegan books out on the market these days but very few dessert ones.

As many of you know I have a slight dairy allergy so I *try* to not have dairy all that often, usually turning to coconut milk based ice creams, as I can also not have soy as well. The first recipe I noticed right away was for Mojito cookies which I made, but you won’t be seeing them until an upcoming Farm Update post as I used the mint from my own farm for the cookies. I made them the non-vegan way and that is okay. Just like when I make something that is non-vegan and vegans come and make it their own. I did the same as well.

In her new book, Vegan Desserts: Sumptuous Sweets for Every Season, as the title would suggest, the desserts are broken down by season. She has many great ideas; though I must admit that fall desserts were the most appealing to me…imagine that. There is a recipe for Sticky Toffee Donuts that is screaming my name…my thighs are screaming back no. Or Stuffed Cider Donuts? Hello! Or how about the adorable Candied Apple Cookies, shaped like apples, perched on a stick, and then dipped in candy apple glaze. Seriously cute!

The ice cream I made here is not actually from the book, I figured since I was already using one of her recipes for another post that I would hold off on giving all of them away. This is super simple and dare I say good for you. Just three ingredients and the raspberries could be subbed for just about any berry you like. But I had a ton of Costco raspberries, so raspberries it was. The other two ingredients are honey and coconut milk. How easy is that? And as you can see, coconut milk makes really great ice cream!

If you are vegan, like to cook vegan from time to time, or just like dessert cookbooks, give Vegan Desserts a try!

Raspberry Coconut Milk Ice Cream

*1 can (or 13.5 oz) high quality full fat coconut milk
*1/2 cup honey
*3 heaping handfuls fresh ultra-ripe raspberries (about 2 cups)

Prepare ice cream machine by freezing mixing vessel for 8 hours prior to ice cream making.

Whisk coconut milk and honey together in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Pour into ice cream maker. Add raspberries after churning has begun.

Once contents freeze to desired consistency, (about 20 minutes) immediately scoop into bowls and serve. Leftovers (if there are any) can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer.

Adapted from HomeGrown.org

One question I get emailed a lot is what cookbooks do you recommend? I am a girl who owns a lot of cookbooks. A lot. It’s a sad little addiction I know. But I figure in order to save a little money, as suggested by many readers, not all of my blog posts have to include a recipe. So with that in mind, here I the books I recommend you put on your bookshelf.

By far the baking book I recommend and buy as gifts for people the most is Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Conner. Jill bakes like I do, taking the usual baked good and making it just a little more bad for you. It also helps that every recipe I have ever tried from this book has turned out great…and I have made a lot from this book.

The second baking book I love is Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker. This was another one of those books that I was pleasantly surprised with how many unique recipes there are and how well they turned out.

A book that has a lot of great foundations for you to build on is that of The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard. This book gives you the basics from which to build on. The brioche recipes alone are worth the price of the book.

The last baking book is a recent one, Bon Appetit Desserts. It’s 704 pages just full of delicious desserts featured in the famous foodie magazine over the years. If you can’t find something to your liking in this book you just aren’t trying hard enough.

In the non-baking cookbook category I received a free copy of Tupelo Honey Cafe from the publisher. And while it wasn’t a baking book, so it wasn’t featured on here, it has so many wonderful recipes I can’t help but tell you to go get it. I have only owned it a few months and the pages are stuck together and stained, a sign of a well used book.

If you are a fan of the website 101 Cookbooks then you already know the greatness that is Heidi, if you don’t get on it! All of her recipes are vegetarian but what I love about her is that she still uses butter, cheese, sugar (the white devil) which she often gets called out on by some of her more healthy readers. The Cauliflower Soup (pictured above) was the first thing I made from her new book Super Natural Every Day and it was like no other cauliflower soup I have ever had, and I mean that in a good way. My roommate and I gobbled it up in one sitting. The dijion croutons made it especially lovely.

You can’t even get Salad Days in print anymore but its worth finding it used if you are looking for unique salads. I love Marcel, he is more known for his Death By Chocolate series of cookbooks, but has some great savory books as well.

Well that’s a few for right now. What about you? What cookbooks are you loving right now?

Did you know that Za is a real word. It’s slang for pizza. I have learned this thanks to playing Words with Friends. I have learned a lot of words that I didn’t know exists. When I was super sick and on bed rest this last month I was kind of bored out of my mind so my friends suggested the time suck that is Words with Friends. Lucky for me I am fresh off of studying pages of vocabulary words for all of my teacher certification tests (which I passed all of those by the way…even the grammar section) has helped. As has playing a few of my friends who have highly impressive vocabulary skills. I steal their words a lot and use it against other people. I am evil like that.

I am not a huge pizza girl. I don’t crave it like some people do but I don’t usually turn it down. But since I am supposed to stay away from dairy and tomatoes, it’s not the best food for me. But when I was asked to take a look at a cookbook all about pizza I thought, well pizza technically is baking (at least the dough part). But what really sealed the deal for me is that it’s written by a monk. I love me some monks. They make some killer beer, and my guess is this guy was probably pretty darn good with pizza. He is. Or at least his crust and sauce is. Fr. Dominic Garramone is a Benedictine priest of Saint Bede Abbey in Peru, IL. He holds a B.A. in Communications Arts from Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota, and an M.A. and an M.T.S. from Saint Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana. Known as “Papa Dom” to his students, he is chaplain and drama director for Saint Bede Academy, a co-ed college prep high school. Each summer he directs a theatre program for grade school students. Fr. Dominic is an avid rubberstamp artist and herb gardener, and writes regularly for National Stampagraphic and Potpourri From Herbal Acres. Got to love that he is a teacher as well.

This was my second go of doing pizza in the apartment oven. I have had a take and bake that I didn’t have the great of success with so to be honest I wasn’t expecting much. But I must say that this crust turned out really nice. It was crispy and chewy and really good. Good job Papa Dom. I went with a little bit of sauce and some gruyere cheese and a whole mess of bacon. But you can top with whatever you like.

Papa Dom has other bread books that after having this I think I will be picking up. And of course I must mention that I got this book for free but no other compensation. It was my choice to highlight it. I just can’t pass up a book by a happy, well fed looking, bread baking monk.

Italian Style Pizza Crust

1 package active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp.)
1 ¾ cups room temperature water
1 ½ tsp. salt
3 ¾ to 4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
Olive oil
Place warm water in a medium sized bowl and sprinkle yeast over. Whisk and let stand for about 5 minutes.
Stir in salt until dissolved. About 1 cup at a time, add 3 ½ cups of flour, mixing thoroughly each time until flour is completely incorporated.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 3 minutes. Dust your palms with lightly with the remaining flour as needed to keep the dough manageable.
Let the dough rest on the countertop, covered with a clean, dry towel, for 5 minutes, then knead for a another 3 minutes.
Using a bench knife or scraper, scoop the dough and place in to a clean bowl that has been oiled. Lightly oil the dough as well. Place in bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
Let rise in a cool place for 2 hours before use, or in the refrigerator for several hours.
Recipe from Thursday Night Pizza by Father Dominic Garramone, O.S.B.

As for the rest of the pizza I used his 8 minute Pizza Sauce, but since this is a baking blog you will just have to get the book. I gave you the baking portion recipe.
I topped mine with gruyere cheese and lots of crispy bacon.
Roll dough out to 12” to 14” inch crust with a thick outer edge. Spread the sauce. Then add cheese. Then add toppings.  If you have a pizza peel use it. I don’t so I used a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake at 500F (though I did 475) for 10-12 minutes.

I get my fair share of free cookbooks from publishers. If I really like the book, I feature it here on the blog. More often than not, those books are not really baking/dessert books, though usually have both in them. So I get especially excited when someone offers to send me an actual baking/dessert book. So when Houghton Mifflin Harcourt asked if I wanted a copy of The Gourmet Cookie Book* I was all over it. My original intent was to give it to my mother after I was done with it. But after having it now, I had to go buy my mom her own copy for Christmas (don’t worry, I didn’t spill the beans…she never reads my blog ).

The book highlights what they feel was the best cookie of that year, starting in 1941 and making and baking its way up to Gourmet’s sad demise in 2009. I was a bit overwhelmed with my choices. I thought about choosing my birthday year, only to realize I didn’t have the main ingredient. So I did what I sometimes do to cookbooks, I just opened a page and that is what I made. I hit 1999 (Prince would be so proud). There pictured were beige cookies. Damn it! Beige again. I hate taking pictures of beige food. So I figure I would make them but not put them on the blog. Fine.

And then I ate one. Oh my. These cookies come from Skibo Castle (in Scotland…my dad would be so proud) and have just a hint of ginger that you don’t even notice it is ginger. The people I had try these loved the flavor but no one could pick out what it was. I actually love when that happens. No overpowering ginger flavor here. They are a super thin shortbread that is topped with a topping that almost ends up like half icing, half candy. I love it. I want to top many more things with it.

I quickly forgave the beige color and decided that regardless people needed to make these.  I think they would make a great cookie to take to cookie exchange, I can pretty much guarantee that no one else will have them. And as far as the book goes, you probably want to pick that up as well.

*My copy of The Gourmet Cookie was given to me for free by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt but the opinions are all mine.

Skibo Castle Ginger Crunch

Makes about 5 dozen
For shortbread base:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 TBSP granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 TBSP) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

For topping:
3/4 stick (6 TBSP) unsalted butter
1 TBSP Lyle’s Golden Syrup (British cane sugar syrup)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 13- by 9-inch metal baking pan.
Make shortbread base:
Sift together dry ingredients and blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press evenly into bottom of pan (base will be thin). Bake in middle of oven until golden and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.
Make topping just before shortbread is done:
Melt butter in a small saucepan and whisk in remaining ingredients until smooth. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring, 30 seconds.
Pour topping:
Remove shortbread from oven and pour topping over, tilting pan to cover shortbread evenly. Cool in pan on a rack, then cut into small rectangles (8 rows lengthwise and 8 crosswise).

Source: The Gourmet Cookie Book: The Single Best Recipe from Each Year 1941-2009