Decadent(ly) Gluten Free!

August 26th, 2014

Today I will be discussing two cookbooks that actually fell prey to their blog's brilliance (and one that didn't). Let me start with one of the first vegan books I bought, because it was one of the first vegan blogs I ever stumbled upon (just googling "vegan blog"): Vegan Yum Yum. I actually (unsuccessfully, alas) tried to seduce someone with her recipe for cinnamon buns once. The buns can't be faulted for my bad choices. And don't get me wrong, Lolo's cookbook is great, inventive recipes, lots of them, lovely pictures, very comprehensive. A pocket-version without the helpful general directions and background info of Veganomicon. She also taught me a lot of food photography tips and tricks, so you can partially blame her for my relentlessly keeping up the iphone snapshots against a painfully blue deck table and/or chair. But the cookbook also has lots of schmancy picknick and sandwich and dinner-party stuff and really nice pancakes. A nice combination of staples and food for a special occasion. Only point is that her blog probably has even more, even better recipes! The cinnabons are on the blog, not in the book, so there you go. And that's where we come to Decadent Gluten-Free Vegan Baking.

The cinnamon rolls are in the book this time. They're gluten-free yeast-free cinnamon buns, does it get much better than that? Ok, I haven't had time to bake them yet, but Cara's track record is excellent, so I don't doubt for a second that this recipe will be a resounding success. Anyway, the cookbook is nice and has more tips on replacing gluten and eggs then The Complete Guide To Vegan Food Substitutions did. But then her blog Fork and Beans has those tips as well. And the book is just desserts, her blog has everything. And I am more of a savory person. I will bake until I'm blue in the face, but in the end potato chips are my weakness, not vanilla cake with frosting. I will gladly leave all of the cakes and frostings alone for just one fatty salty crispy crunchy nibble. In short, even though I think it's really nice to support Cara, I also feel the book is overshadowed by the amazing stuff she makes on her blog.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is on the other end of the spectrum. And looking at Deb's blog, you might not guess there's much more to cook and bake and write about. But there is! And the cookbook has some really nice overviews, tips for what to serve when and store how, all of those things. How she ended up with a recipe, why it works, what makes it worth making. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook gave me some never before seen original (egg- dairy- and dead-animal-heavy) recipes that just keep working for me no matter how I veganize them. Even more so than her blog. There are some vegetarian recipes, Deb was a vegetarian at some point. And even though I might be morally opposed to the killing of defenseless chicken, I will wholeheartedly recommend this book to you (along with the page on the Smitten Kitchen blog with everything labeled vegan). There's quite a few recipes in the book and on the blog that just don't particularly appeal to me, but Deb is brilliant when it comes to flavor combo's, presentation, party planning and ideas for dates (as if I ever have dates, hah). Deb announced a new book recently, and I'll surely get that when it comes out. I can only hope there's a vegetarian (or perhaps vegan?) chapter in her second book as well, and I will happily keep marinating seitan and tofu in place of the dead flesh!

So in conclusion: all three of the books probably add something to the information on the blogs that they sprung from, but in different amounts. If you're looking for a good starting point to vegan food in general, Vegan Yum Yum is an nice place to start. If you are a lover of food and stories about Deb's husband's Russian family, and don't mind some veganizing, I would go for that one because it is the best one out of the three. But if you have a kid that's gluten-intolerant I'd know what I'd buy if I ever needed to give treats to their class or something. And then I'd probably bake those cinnamon buns.
On a helpful gluten-free sidenote: millet flour has a very distinctive taste, and I think I might avoid it from now on. It's not that I am against said taste in every situation, it's just that I am not fond of it in my baked goods. It was something my mum and I discovered (with an awkward giggle) at about the same time we bit into a millet-flour-based bagel. And then I had to think about Mitchell & Webb.

Posts bewaard in: Cats,Cookbooks,Food in General,Recipes,Review