Authors: Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
Publisher: Da Capo Press–Lifelong Books (Member of Perseus Books Group), 223 pages
Book Review by Laxmi Chaandi
My mouth was watering as I started to browse through photos of the immense variety of delicious-looking cakes, cobblers, cookies, creams, fruits, nuts, pies, puddings and tarts on the front and back covers and within 220-plus pages of this colorful book filled with recipes of baked delights.
And for vegetarians who love baked goods but do not eat anything with animal fat in it, this book is an unusual treasure trove of 75 recipes for delectable pies and other such goodies.
You like chocolate? With more than 30 pages of delights made with chocolate – from Boston cream pie with a layer of chocolate to brownie bottom peanut butter cheesecake to chocolate mousse to Manhattan mud pie to salted chocolate caramel tart – this delightful book has the recipes you need to satisfy your craving for chocolate
And if you are nuts about nuts and want to have them with chocolate, you will find delicacies made with almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts and other dried fruit too.
If you like creamy delights, try the banana kahlua cheesecake, the cappuccino mousse pie, the coconut cream pie, the key lime pie, the little lemon mousse or the luxury pistachio pudding pie and many other tasty treats.
If you like berries you will find a large number of pies and other desserts that can be made with anything from apple berries to blackberries to blueberries to cherries to raspberries to strawberries.
And if you’re a fruit lover, help yourself to recipes on how to make an apple cream raisin pie or the maple pecan pie or pear frangipane tart or pear cranberry galette or sweet potato Brazil nut crunch pie or the voluptuous pumpkin pie.
Want to top off your creations with some smooth toppings? Learn how to make sweet coconut cream, the chocolate drizzle, the macademia crème and the Rad Whip.
If you feel intimidated about making pies here’s some reassurance from the authors:
“Pie is the perfect fusion of art, craft and kitchen, unlike anything you can bake in your oven today. Or right now. That’s right; we feel that anyone should be able to bake a pie whenever the situation calls for it, no matter what their level of experience. Requiring little in the way of equipment, but a worthwhile investment of time, pies can easily become a way of life.”
I believe life is to enjoy and one form of enjoyment is eating good food, including pies and such. But a better means of enjoyment is the satisfaction one gets from learning how to bake pies, tasting them, getting a smile on your face and sharing them with family and friends. The starting point? Get a copy of Vegan Pie in the Sky.
