Vegan Baking Made Easy, 60 Foolproof, Plant-Based Recipes
Rebecca Coleman, a Vancouver-Based food blogger, loves nothing more than baking for her friends and family. She’s recently released Vegan Baking Made Easy, 60 Foolproof, Plant-Based Recipes.
Vegan Baking Made Easy is currently available on Amazon!
We caught up with her to learn a little more about this project.
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Congratulations on the release of Vegan Baking! What was the process of writing and testing for this cookbook?
I’ve been baking a long time, so the good news was I already had a few recipes in the bank that I could pull from my blog, re-test and write up for the book. Otherwise, writing a cookbook is a process that includes a lot of failures. In order for me to make the deadline, I have to make a minimum of 2-3 recipes per day, in hopes that at least one of them will be good enough to include. Some of the recipes took 6-10 tries before I was happy with them, sometimes I would nail it on the first try.
How did you decide what recipes to include?
Some of it was guided by what the publisher wanted. They gave me chapter names, and I created an outline for them based on what recipes I thought I could do that might work. I also had specific parameters: every recipe had to be either less than 10 ingredients, take under an hour to bake, or be one bowl. They all also had to have some baking component. I really started with the popular recipes I thought people would be into: chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, that kind of thing. Then filled in with some new and fun inventions.
One real source of inspiration for me was my mother’s recipe box. I just recently came into possession of it, though I lost my mom in 2008 to cancer. These were recipes I grew up making, so I knew they were good. I just veganized them, although there were a few that, it turned out, were accidentally vegan. Bonus!
What are the main challenges when baking vegan?
I think most people are afraid of baking to start with. Many people can cook intuitively, by which I mean, they are good enough cooks to be able to make a bowl of pasta or roast some vegetables without a recipe. But baking… baking is different. It requires more precision with ingredients, more techniques, and I’ve watched enough of Top Chef to know that baking makes even professional chefs cry sometimes.
But then take away milk, butter and eggs, and most folks are downright terrified.
For me, the most challenging part is figuring out how to bake something that is light and has a nice crumb, without eggs. There are tons of butter and milk subs on the market that work great. But eggs, with their ability to bind and leaven, are harder to replace.
Why do you feel vegan is important right now?
We are in the midst of a climate crisis. We know that global warming has been linked to, in part, factory-farmed meat and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions those farms put out. Even Epicurious recently announced that it will no longer be featuring beef recipes on its website or in its magazines.
I get that it’s not practical for everyone to go vegan. But if we could all just eat less meat, that could make a huge difference to the environment.
What are your favourite vegan products when you are cooking at home?
I have a teenager, so we eat our fair share of junk food! I’m a huge fan of local TMRW brand burgers and sausages, as well as Nora’s Ice Cream. There’s always some in my freezer!
We eat pretty simple meals overall. I usually make some kind of pasta dish and then some kind of stir-fry. We often eat tacos, pizza, veggie burgers.
What is one recipe home cooks should start with in this book?
I would start with the basics: things like Chocolate Chip Cookies or Chocolate Cake. I think the Triple Threat Ginger Cookies are really great, and I love the Sunshine Mango Pie.
What are your plans now the book is done?
I teach college, so it’s back to work each September! But maybe there’s another book in the works… 😉
“Baking is my love language,” she jokes. “But more and more of my friends and family are identifying food allergies, or choosing a more plant-based diet.”
Her obsession with making delicious, plant-based baked goods lead to her becoming an expert in aquafaba, the water drained from a can of beans that acts as an egg-white substitute. Aquafabulous!, her first cookbook, was published by Robert Rose in 2017.
“While I learned to bake as a child, I am recognizing that a lot of people did not, and baking for them is actually really challenging,” Coleman admits. “Add to that the layer of no butter, no milk, no eggs, and… well people are ready to give up before they even begin.”
The purpose of the book is to demystify the challenge of vegan baking. In it, Coleman outlines some tips and tricks for veganizing your baking, goes over substitutes, and then also includes 60 plant-based recipes, many of which are under 10 ingredients, take less than an hour to make, or are one bowl.
Coleman says: “it was my goal to make vegan baking accessible to all. There are no weird ingredients in this book. Everything in there is easily available at your local grocery store or by Amazon.” “I am also absurdly proud that there is zero tofu in these recipes. I don’t really love tofu.” she laughs.
Chapters include:
- Cookies, Brownies & Bars
- Cakes & Quick Breads
- Pies, Tarts & Pastries
- Savoury Treats & Breads
“I was very inspired by the recipes I baked growing up. These were classic bakes my mother made all the time, that I learned from her. In fact, quite a few of the recipes in this book came from her recipe box, which I veganized.”
Recipes include:
- Fudgy Brownies
- Go-To Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
- Chocolate Lava Cake
- Classic Vanilla Birthday Cake
- Cherry Hand Pies
- Sunshine Mango Pie
- Beer Pretzel Twists
- Caramelized Fennel and Onion Tarts
Vegan Baking Made Easy is currently available on Amazon!
More info: http://www.cookingbylaptop.com
