Raw for Dessert: Easy Delights for Everyone [Paperback]

Jennifer Cornbleet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2009

Now you can have your cake and eat it too! You can stay vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or just plain health-conscious and still eat delicious cakes, pies, compotes, crumbles, custards, sorbets, ice creams, cookies, and candies!

Jennifer Cornbleet, author of the best selling Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People, shares her favorite easy no-bake treats. Learn how to:

• Avoid white sugar, white flour, dairy products, trans-fats, saturated fats, and processed foods
• Make easy-to-follow recipes quickly and affordably
• Enjoy desserts for every occasion: Summer Berry Compote, Caramel Apple Stacks, Creme Brulee, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Chocolate Cupcakes, Coconut Cream Pie, Tropical Ambrosia Tart, Pine Nut Caramels, Concord Grape Sorbet, Cookies n Cream Ice Cream, Knockout Brownie Sundae . . .

Editorial Reviews

Review

Scorching summer days are best soothed with cruelty-free sunscreen, ice-cold lemonade, and bites of decadent desserts. Understandably, many bakers shy away from the oven in the summer, opting for fruit-based treats to keep themselves and their homes cool. Raw-food mastermind Jennifer Cornbleet offers another solution with her latest cookbook Raw For Dessert. While fruit dishes earn their keep, plenty of creative, chocolate-filled lovelies just beg to be made. Balance a Summer Fruit Trifle with Chocolate Cupcakes, topped with Chocolate Ganache all without flour, sugar, or flame. Cornbleet s recipes promise sweet-tooth happiness beyond the summer months, and redefine the notion of no-cook treats. --VegNews Magazine - July+August 2010.

From the author of Raw Food Made Easy comes this delectable collection of dessert recipes. Jennifer is known for her simple cuisine, accessible to all skill levels, and Raw For Dessert does not disappoint. Daunted by raw ice creams? Jennifer's recipes are a simple blend of nut milk, cashews, and natural flavors. Looking for a rich mud cake for your next get together? The Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting will disappear in the blink of an eye. --Living Raw Magazine, 2010.

From the Author

Hello, I'm Jennifer Cornbleet, and I'd like to invite you to dig in to dessert, without using processed foods or turning on the stove. 

Raw food dessert recipes let you take what's already good and good for you - fruits, nuts, and other natural products -- and make them better.  Mother Nature does most of the work, but you can take all the credit by simply combining ingredients in a way you may not have thought of before:

• Mix grapefruit juice, filtered water, and agave syrup and -- with the help of an ice cube tray - create a flavor-rich citrus granita in just a few hours. 
• Combine frozen raspberries with nothing more than sweet dates and filtered water for a delicious jam that tastes like fruit, not sugar.
• Dress mangoes in lemon juice, cinnamon, and agave syrup for a fruit carpaccio that you can serve as the perfect finish to an elegant dinner party.
• Process mashed avocado, vanilla bean, and natural sweetners to create a faux 'creme anglaise' to bring drizzle over pineapple upside down cake or puddle under chocolate brownies.
• Transform cocoa powder, cocoa powder, maple syrup, dates, and coconut oil into homemade chocolate candy cups that you can fill with ice cream.
• Combine cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and ground cloves with raw nuts, fresh and dried fruit, and a whisper of maple syrup for a flavorful spice cake that's gluten-free.
• Use nut milk (made by soaking raw in filtered water) to create luxuriantly rich dairy-free ice cream that you can flavor with vanilla, coffee, mint and other natural flavors.
• Combine raw almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, and maple syrup to satisfy your craving for a New Orleans-style praline without butter or brown sugar.

Raw desserts are ideal for anyone who doesn't want to sacrifice good health for good taste.  The ingredients aren't processed or heated, so they're loaded with vitamins, enzymes, fiber, and scrumptious natural flavor.  Plus there's no trace of trans-fats, chemicals, animal products, corn syrup, or other unhealthy ingredients that are typically part of the manufacturing process.

Raw food recipes have been rapidly gaining in popularity as more and more people realize that raw food is good food.  It's rich with the satisfying flavors, aromas, colors, and textures that make eating a pleasure.  That's why you can now find raw food and raw food desserts featured on the menus of elegant restaurants around the world.

Home chefs are learning that it's fast, easy, and inexpensive to 'bake up' raw desserts with fresh ingredients.  And the great thing about raw desserts is that you can use the foods you already enjoy to make irresistible cakes, pies, ice cream, and confections everyone will love. 

Easy Raw Dessert Substitutions You Can Make

• Choose organic ingredients that are produced without pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, antibiotics, or any type of synthetic materials and chemicals.
• Instead of flour, use ground nuts as the base for crusts for pies and tarts.
• Make the switch to raw nuts which, unlike the roasted variety, are made without additives, preservatives, or processed ingredients.
• Say 'no' to sugar and 'yes' to nectar, honey, and dried fruits when you want to add sweetness.
• Skip butter, cream, and eggs and replace the 'bad' cholesterol in typical sweets with the 'good' cholesterol of avocado and coconut.

Simply put, desserts don't have to be damaging to be delicious when they're made with natural, raw ingredients.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Book Publishing Company (TN) (July 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570672369
• ISBN-13: 978-1570672361
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.4 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Cornbleet is a nationally recognized raw food chef and instructor, and a faculty instructor at the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute. She offers classes, hands-on workshops, and consultations nationwide. Her first book, Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People, has already sold over 100,000 copies. A companion DVD, Raw Food Made Easy, is also available. Her second book, Raw For Dessert, provides recipes for delicious cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, ice creams, and candies. For more information, visit Jennifer's website at www.learnrawfood.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 64 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't have to be a vegan to love the recipes August 31, 2009

By Beth DeRoos HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

You don't have to be a vegan to love this book. I LOVE it because we camp and backpack a lot and like making desserts that require no cooking.

The nice thing about the book is it has a huge variety of all season desserts, that even a non vegan would like. Love how the author begins on page 4 by listing all the ingredients that will be listed somewhere in the recipes, which allows a person to plan well for future dessert making. Starting on page 7 the equipment needed is listed and explained. The only thing I would have liked would have been substitutes that could be used. Like with a blender. Someone could invest in a food processor and use their blender blade, and a food processor is a multi use machine that takes up less kitchen space. And a food processor with a variety of blades can also do the job of a mandoline. A mandoline can be a tad pricey if you want one that will last.

And while I did invest in an Excalibur dehydrator, one need not buy a food dehydrator, since a mesh cookie cooler rack set on the oven rack and the temp set at 200* can dry food slow over night or all day. Same with page 10 where she says for dish's that one needs plates that are white and of various sizes. Use whatever plates you have .While I have no problem acquiring items like Agar flakes, agave syrup, carob powder, rose water,spy lecithin powder, and whole vanilla beans, some people in more rural areas or those without access to health food and natural food sections may have more difficulty.

The Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting on page 74-75 was excellent. The Jumble Berry Upside Down cake on page 72 is great since you can use pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, which makes this a very in season dessert. Try the Ginger Spice cookies on page 81 are cookies kids and adults would love.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy & fast to make, makes cooked desserts taste tame! September 3, 2009

By Susan Schenck TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As the author of a raw food book myself, I have read nearly every raw book out there. The great thing about Jennifer's book is the simplicity of her recipes. I can whip up one of her dishes in ten to twenty minutes (depending on my familiarity with it) and often that includes the clean up time.

In this book, each recipe has a handy listing of ingredients, a list of equipment necessary, and an "ahead of time" section. Many times I have decided to make a recipe when I realized I couldn't do it because I was supposed to have sprouted some seeds or soaked some nuts overnight. With this recipe book, we are warned of what preparation should be made ahead of time.

At the beginning of the book is a handy listing of ingredients to have handy at all times in your cupboard. These range from the norm (ex: spices) to the obscure (ex: agar flakes, a vegetarian substitute for gelatin). There is also a list of kitchen equipment, serving ware, and even techniques (ex: tips on how to open a coconut and cut certain fruits).

Jennifer starts out giving recipes for the "basics." These are items that will later combine in different recipes and include yummy frostings and creams (such as "Vanilla Cashew Cream"), sauces (like "Caramel Sauce", and crusts (like "Chocolate Cookie Crust"). Next comes a chapter for each of the following categories of desserts: fruit desserts; sorbets, ice creams and sundaes; cakes, cookies and bars; pies and tarts; creamy desserts; and candy. There are stunning colored photos sprinkled throughout to motivate us to get going!

People who have little experience eating raw will be amazed: These recipes will make their cooked counterparts seem so tame.

I just made the spice cake with vanilla cashew cream for a topping, a huge hit with my husband. I can't wait to make the key lime tart, coffee ice cream, chocolate candy cups, pine nut caramels and summer fruit trifle. The monthly raw food potluck group is going to love me!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Yummy!! September 7, 2010

By J. Paschal

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Let me start off by saying that I am not a raw foodie, I am vegan, but I am ALWAYS looking for new desserts that are not complicated to make and take virtually no time to put together. This book is it. I made the chocolate cake with fudge frosting and it was THE BEST chocolate cake I have ever had!! All of the recipes are very easy to follow and the author does a great job of explaining step by step with each recipe. I also like how she has at the very beginning of the book an explanation of all the ingredients and some of the equipment you'll need (which is basically your standard food processor). I like too that a lot of the frosting's and crusts used will keep in the freezer (no need to thaw before use) for up to 2 months! I never knew too how easy almond milk was to make along with my favorites pistachio ice cream (vegan and raw or course). I thought making vegan desserts was easy and delicious, but WOW!, raw food desserts is pretty fabulous too!