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.
