MORE GREAT GOOD DAIRY-FREE DESSERTS NATURALLY [Paperback]

Fran Costigan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2006

Desserts are celebratory and provide an emotional as well as physical satisfaction. This collection of recipes for sin- sational sweets can be enjoyed without the guilt. They're all rich in wholesome, minimally processed ingredients and free of chemical additives and superflous fat.

Even if you're a novice baker, you'll be able to make rich, moist cakes, delightful cookies, and flaky pie crust--all cholesterol free. Designed as a complete course in dairy- and egg-free baking, readers can still go directly to any recipe; each one is detailed and complete. You'll learn all the tricks of the trade for making and baking : gels, creams, mousses, puddings, and sauces, cookies, bars, little bites, cobblers, crisps, biscuits, muffins, cakes (basic to elaborate), pies and tarts as well as fillings, frostings, glazes, and frozen desserts.

Dessert lovers everywhere will be delighted with these sumptuous treats and now those who are lactose intolerant, watching their cholesterol, or simply health conscious can have their cake and eat it too.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Fran Costigan, a graduate of the New York Restaurant School and the Natural Gourmet Cookery School, has developed many courses at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts (including the Natural Pastry Arts Intensive) and at the Institute of Culinary Education. Fran lives in New York City. Her first book was Great Good Desserts Naturally.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Book Publishing Company (January 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570671834
• ISBN-13: 978-1570671838
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chef Fran Costigan Meet the "Queen of Vegan Desserts"...
Native New Yorker Fran Costigan, the "Queen of Vegan Desserts," is an internationally recognized culinary instructor, author, consultant, recipe developer and the pioneering vegan pastry chef who marries healthy eating with sumptuous tastes. The "Fran Factor" is her unique ability to transform traditional desserts into modern, healthful, and luscious vegan desserts that satisfy vegans and omnivores alike. In Fran's recipes, 'nothing is missing except the dairy, eggs, white sugar and excess fat.' She is the authority on all things related to vegan baking and desserts.

A graduate of the New York Restaurant School, the Natural Gourmet Institute, and Nick Malgeri's Professional Pastry Intensive, today Fran teaches her unique courses at the Institute of Culinary Education, the Natural Gourmet Institute (including her always sold-out Vegan Baking Boot Camp Intensive®), and at other venues throughout the US and Canada. Fran's most recent book, More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally (Book Publishing Company, 2006), is designed as a complete course in vegan baking. Fran's recipes feature organic whole grains, fair trade natural sweeteners and chocolates, and clean seasonal ingredients.

Fran and her decadent modern vegan dessert recipes have been featured on Discovery Health's Get Fresh with Sara Snow, Better TV, and ABC's Nightline. Her work has been profiled in numerous print and online publications such as The New Yorker, VegNews, Veg Family, Vegetarian Journal, Vegetarian Voice, Café Sweets Japan, and Organic Spa Magazine. Fran is an advisory board member of New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods, and she also promotes her message through her professional affiliations, which include the New York Women's Culinary Alliance (NYWCA), International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), Women Chefs and Restaurateurs (WCR).
For more information, please visit www.francostigan.com.
"Like' Pastry Chef Fran Costigan on facebook and follow her Tweets @goodcakesfran

"Like" Vegan Pastry Chef Fran Costigan at Facebook and ollow Fran on Twitter @goodcakesfran

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll never believe this desserts are vegan!, September 25, 2006

By 

Cathe Fein Olson "Avid reader and writer" (curled up with a book) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: MORE GREAT GOOD DAIRY-FREE DESSERTS NATURALLY (Paperback)

This book is completely vegan and most recipes contain some whole grain ingredients and less refined sweeteners.

The first chapter - Getting Started - contains helpful information about baking without dairy products and using natural sweeteners. I especially liked the "Tips and Techniques for Making and Baking Desserts" and "A Baker's Dozen Secrets to Successful Desserts." I also like that Costigan recommends using organic ingredients.

The rest of the book is devoted to recipes. I particulary enjoyed the information, advice and tips at the beginning of each section.

- Great Good Gels, Creams, Puddings, and Sauces
- Great Good Cookies, Bars, and Little Bites
- Great Good Cobblers, Crisps, Biscuits, Muffins, and More
- Great Good Cakes, Fillings, Frostings, and Glazes
- Great Good Pies and Tarts
- Great Good Fruit, Beverages, Frozen Desserts, and Confections

For me, the most surprising thing about these recipes was how light they all were - even when I replaced the white sugar with whole wheat. You defintely would never guess the recipes were vegan or healthier than the typical white sugar/white flour, made with dairy desserts.

My only problem - and I have this critism with almost all dessert cookbooks - is that all the recipes were too sweet. I cut down the sweetener by 1/4 to 1/2 in almost everyone. But that is easily done and would not keep me from using this book.

Our favorite recipes were Currant Scones, Oat Sesame Squares, and Coconut Sorbet. Yum!

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carpe Dessert, February 21, 2006

By 

Mimi G. Clark (Vegan Cooking Instructor, Fairfax Station, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MORE GREAT GOOD DAIRY-FREE DESSERTS NATURALLY (Paperback)

Fran Costigan has done it again. Her latest cookbook, More Great Good Dairy-free Desserts Naturally, is much more than an update of Great Good Desserts Naturally, her first such book published in 1999. Seven years and five reprints later, Costigan's recipes from working as a consultant in professional kitchens, baking custom cakes for private clients, and teaching at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School and the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC, were compiled for a more
comprehensive dairy- and egg-free dessert cookbook.

The first 23 pages are devoted to listing and defining essential
ingredients and equipment, tips and techniques for making and baking desserts ("Think like a pastry chef: Organize your mise en place"), and a baker's dozen secrets to successful desserts ("Use pure vanilla extract, not vanillin, an artificial flavoring"). Costigan demystifies the "natural sugar" confusion by categorizing granulated sugar into "dark whole," and "light natural," with five pages devoted to natural sweeteners.

There are over two-hundred pages of mouth-watering recipes, including gels, creams, puddings, sauces, cookies, bars, little bites, cobblers, crisps, biscuits, muffins, cakes, fillings, frostings, glazes, pies, tarts, fruit, beverages, frozen desserts, and confections. Costigan's expertise as a pastry chef is captured in her fool-proof, flaky pie crusts and tarts. She painstakingly walks the reader through each step in such a way that you feel you are in her classroom. (I might add that my pie crust turned out perfect!)

New Yorkers will want to try the New York Eggless Cream made with Costigan's incredibly decadent Ultimate Chocolate Sauce, and kids of all ages will go nuts for the Caramel Popcorn Treats. Coconut aficionados will salivate over the Coconut Cloud Layer Cake, a version of which was served at Costigans' sons' wedding. Did someone mention chocolate? There are over 20 chocolate recipes listed in the index, including a unique version of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups filled with
peanut butter mousse!

More Great Good Dairy-free Desserts Naturally was well worth the wait. It is a must-have for anyone who enjoys baking, regardless of their experience.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, January 16, 2007

By 

N. Cloud (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MORE GREAT GOOD DAIRY-FREE DESSERTS NATURALLY (Paperback)

I have been vegan for nearly 9 years and have done quite a bit of baking both in restaurants and at home. This book gave me a clear understanding of the baking process as well as a wide variety of baked goods to prepare. I have to admit the german carob un-chocolate cake is one of the best recipies I've ever used for a cake. Many non-vegan friends never knew the difference and joked that I'd returned to their side. With the recipies in this book you don't have to give up light moist cakes. Thanks Fran. And I can't wait till I have time to take your pastry class in New York!