Customer Reviews

Baking with Agave Nectar: Over 100 Recipes Using Nature's Ultimate Sweetener

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I was really excited when I found out this book was being published, because I've only been using Agave Nectar for a few months and have had a hard time finding/adapting recipes. I preordered it months ago. My first time reading through the book had me considering sending it back. What I was hoping for was a collection of recipes that had been adapted to use Agave Nectar, but had familiar ingredients. The recipes call for things that are hard to find at a regular grocery store (at least in the area where I live). Barley flour, quinoa flour, and silken tofu are not items normally stocked in my kitchen.

So far, I've baked 3 different things from the cookbook. I've found that the cooking times given are too long, especially for the lemon bars. The flourless chocolate cake recipe also has errors, as it leaves out a step in combining ingredients. I'll keep trying different recipes, but I don't have high hopes that this is a cookbook I'll use every time I bake, and when I do use it, I'll make sure to set my timer for a lot shorter time than the recipes call for.

I was so excited to hear about this book... I have PCOS and need to lay off the high-glycemic food. Another cookbook that I love--King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking--has whole-wheat recipes, but they also use tons of sugar, so it kind of negates the whole idea of low-glycemic baking (if that's what you're after). I thought this book would be the opposite--that it would use white flour even though it doesn't use refined sugar. To my delight, I was wrong. The recipes use whole grains only.

I was so excited to try the recipes... the book itself is beautiful, with gorgeous photographs and yummy-sounding recipes. And it was recommended by a cooking blog that I trust.

So today I tried the following recipes: Ultimate Fudgy Brownies and Raspberry Linzer Torte Cookies. Both were really easy to make, and used Spelt Flour (which, by the way is very expensive at $11 for 5 lbs, but for a cook book that uses an ingredient like Agave Nectar, expensive ingredients are to be expected).

The Brownies turned out very chocolatey, but the texture was.... off. I did whatever I could to keep from over-mixing and over-baking. I pulled it out of the oven 5 minutes before the recommended 30 minutes and found it to have this feel.. not quite rubbery, but like it was made with egg whites or something (in fact, it uses 4 whole eggs). And it looks like some of the agave nectar leached out of the batter and coated the bottom of the pan while it was cooking. Very strange.

The Linzer cookies were better, I think. The texture was great and I liked the combination of spelt flour, oats and almonds in the cookie portion. But the cookies were overwhelmed by the flavor of canola oil. Blechh!! And they really could have used some salt. Just a little. I'm really surprised that salt wasn't included in the recipe list.

It almost seems like these recipes weren't fully tested before being published. I really am surprised that they turned out this bad. Truly, neither one of these items is edible. And it's not like they are easy to screw up--they are both very simple recipes.

I may try one other recipe, maybe in a different category, but if that one doesn't turn out either, I'm done.

I was extremely excited to find this book. I use agave nectar in my coffee, in dressings and in sauces and I was thrilled at the possibility of being able to bake with it. I ordered the book and read it from cover to cover. I then set to spend over $150 on ingredients listed in the book. I ordered the sprouted flours from one store, the oat and barley flours and other items from an amazon seller, the essences and dried fruits from another store and I patiently waited for everything to arrive, giddy at the thought that I will bake these wonderful bars, cookies and cakes.

Well, I first tried the zucchini drops. Inedible. My four year old spit it out, my 10 year old said there were awful and my husband put it down after one bite. In retrospect I think it was the sprouted flour, which gives an unbearable vegetable taste to everything you put it in. It's the first desert that I had to throw away in 20 years of baking. I thought it was just bad luck and the next day I tried the coconut bars. How can something which includes coconut, chocolate and walnuts not turn out good? I'll spare you the details but this was the second desert of my life who ended up in the trash can. I didn't even dare to try it on my family anymore. Using the 9x13 pan that the author suggested the crust ended up being a 1mm deep crumbly, vegetable-tasting mess and the filling didn't taste any better.

In my house, we eat healthy and we love agave nectar. But something is seriously wrong with these recipes. I should have paid more attention to the fact that some of the 5 star reviewers did not yet try the book but some of the lower rating reviewers had experiences similar with mine. Oh well, I'm now turning to the other book I bought along with this one, "Sugar-free and fruit sweet" by Janice Feuer and hope to have better luck with it.

In Baking with Agave Nectar Ania Catalano presents over 100 recipes for using this intense sweetener, many of which are designed to be healthy in other ways, too. These recipes use whole grains, for example---pie crusts often involve oat flour, barley flour, whole wheat pastry flour, etc. Fruit substitutes for butter in some recipes, providing moisture and structure to cupcakes and the like. While some recipes use dairy (such as a banana cream pie that has whipped cream folded into a custard), others are vegan, such as a coconut custard pie made with tofu, of all things.

Ms. Catalano makes the assumption that if you're switching to agave, you're doing it because you want to be healthier in general. What amazes me, however, is the fact that she manages to do this without compromising the deliciousness of her recipes. In fact, these recipes are so utterly amazing that I wouldn't hesitate to make something from this book instead of a similar recipe from a non-healthy book, even if I weren't trying to be healthy in my eating.

The directions in this book are easy to follow, and the recipes are clear and easy to read. he only problem I encountered at all is one that's tough to avoid when dealing with whole grains: some baked goods lack a certain amount of structural integrity. One pie crust we made tended to fall apart pretty easily. Similarly, the chocolate chip cookies we made from this book tended to fall apart. However, I can virtually guarantee that once you taste a bite of either, you simply won't care about structure!

The coconut custard pie was the dish that most amazed me. The idea of a coconut custard pie based on tofu instead of dairy seemed dubious at best. Yet it was SO delicious that I could hardly stop eating it.

The banana daiquiri cupcakes were a similar shock. We thought they came out so well that we risked bringing them to a friend's retirement-from-the-army picnic. The cupcakes were so good that I don't think a single person guessed they were healthy, and we got a ton of compliments on them. They disappeared VERY quickly.

If you're looking for a way to eat more healthfully but can't give up your sweets, I highly recommend Ania Catalano's Baking with Agave Nectar. You might not want to go back to regular desserts by the time you're done!

The first recipe I tried was a disaster! I now assume it has a misprint, for the Black Bean Brownies it says to use an 11 x 18 inch pan - that's huge, I can only assume it should be 11 x 8 inch pan. Anyway, these Brownies were described by Faith Middleton as "...To die for" and they were barely edible, they are mealy, grainy, the texture is terrible and the taste nothing special. Too many of the recipes call for esoteric ingredients like "sprouted spelt flour" etc. none of them are made with white flour, and only a few give whole wheat pastry flour as an option. The introduction was the only worthwhile part - it tells how to substitute agave nectar in any recipe; but I likely could have found this agave/sugar conversion on the web without buying this bookBaking with Agave Nectar: Over 100 Recipes Using Nature's Ultimate Sweetener

The first time I tried some of these recipes, I was very disappointed. The chocolate peanut butter cupcakes tasted like sawdust. We ate them because I couldn't bring myself to throw them away, they cost to much. The black bean brownies were way too thin. The crepe filling tasted like chalk. So I did some research and made sure I had exact ingredients. Like silken tofu and not firm tofu. Big difference. Anyway, the second time around, my cupcakes came out delicious and my family gobbled them up in no time. The black bean brownies I put into a 9x12 pan and they came out thick, just like we like them. The longer the stay in the fridge, the better they taste! So I am giving this book another chance and I have to say, I think if I pay attention and don't change the ingredients, I will be happy with the outcome. I am giving this book 4 stars, except I can't seem to change that.

What a let-down! I live in Seattle, where "healthy" ingredients are readily available, and I still haven't found half of the ones required to bake these things after months of looking. The items I've tried have turned out horribly and I consider myself a skilled baker. It's a shame that this book won't serve to inspire others to use agave nectar more readily and a huge shame that I can't look forward to more low-glycemic treats as a result of using this cookbook. I give it 2 stars only because I haven't tried every recipe and I'm optimistic there might be one or 2 that are good. I just don't know if I'll have the patience and trust to use up ingredients finding out....

I love this book! I buy Agave Nectar because of its low glycemic qualities...well, that and the incredble field-of-spring-flowers taste. The book doesn't just substitute Agave Nectar for sugar -- it is chock full of really healthy, really delicious, really nutritious recipes. I defy you to find a better brownie than the Black Bean Brownie. I suspect that most folks who are into Agave Nectar are into whole grains and healthy fats, too. This little book is a perfect compilation of good flavors, inventive recipes and good health.

I've been looking for a book that incorporates whole grain flours and this book certainly fits the bill. So far I've only made the Chocolate Chip Cookies; they were easy to make and tasted wonderful. I found all the necessary ingredients at Whole Foods and Wegmans. I definitely recommend this book.

Until not too long ago, I had given up managing to make desserts that were healthy AND tasty. Having tried several books promising just that and left with disappointing results, I had decided to compromise and leave dessert as an occasional treat, consumed in moderation, and making "the real thing" for those special times. But when we moved and my daughter started at her new school, suddenly I found myself needing to bake for all kinds of celebrations during the school year, as well as for potluck brunches with the other parents, bake sales and double for birthdays (one for home, one for the celebration at school), and with that our sugar & flour consumption increased quite a bit. That's when I decided to give "healthy baking" cookbooks another chance.

Having used agave syrup in drinks and smoothies before, I knew it didn't have an overpowering taste and didn't wreck havoc on my blood sugar levels, so I was very excited to find this cookbook. And this time (finally!) I wasn't disappointed! This is a WONDERFUL cookbook, that includes many options for desserts, breakfast items, and lots of delicious baked goods, custard, icings and more, all sweetened with agave nectar! And the best thing is that the book also includes vegan recipes (or suggestions to "convert" the non-vegan recipes) and gluten-free recipes, so there really is something for everybody. The flours used are also unrefined, and most of the other ingredients used are fresh and unprocessed.

A fine cookbook (and beautifully put together!), and a healthy one at that - how many times we have been promised that! Ms. catalano has succeded where so many have failed! Very well done.