my sweet vegan

Need I write more? Who doesn’t love the combination of chocolate & peanut butter? Hannah of BitterSweet had the genius of making scones with them. Scones! Yes, scones. A treat you can call breakfast.

Chocolate-Glazed Peanut Butter Scones was the second recipe I tried from Hannah’s book, My Sweet Vegan. Not only is there peanut butter (chunky!) in the scones, there is peanut butter (smooth!) in the chocolate drizzle.

Like all scones, the dough quickly came together. Instead of making four large scones as directed in the recipe, I made 12 mini-scones. The texture was very scone-like–a little dry, crumbly, and with just a hint of sweet. I’ve made vegan scones that were more cake-like in texture. When I make a scone, I want it to taste like a scone and they did.

I baked them for a meeting and they were enjoyed by all. The problem with making minis is that people can’t just eat one and they were gone quicker than it took to bake them–12 minutes.

If you would like the recipe, buy the book.

The day before I left on vacation I was contacted by the publisher of My Sweet Vegan asking if I would like to review the book. I practically squealed my answer. Hannah Kaminsky, the wonderfully gifted blogger, wrote the book and I’m a big fan of her blog–BitterSweet. Of course I would review her cookbook!

Often times when you read a cookbook review on a blog, the blogger has tried a bunch of the recipes and has gorgeous photos to match. I’m more of a real-time blogger–I tend to make something and post it soon after. I don’t have a back log of posts waiting for publication. For one, I’m not that organized and my life is a bit too chaotic. Secondly, I’m not a note-taker and if I don’t write about it right away I will forget about it. Sometimes I’ll make something and take pictures of it and never write about it. So it goes. {/paraphrase Vonnegut}

Anyway, starting today and throughout 2010 I will bake from My Sweet Vegan and write about it. Often times when I buy a new cookbook and can’t decide which recipe to make first, I make the very first recipe listed. I’ve made a bunch of first recipes. 😛 Anyway the first recipe from Hannah’s book is: Better Banana Nut Muffins.

Do they live up to their name? Heck, yeah! The muffins were a huge hit at work. So much so that someone who very rarely ventures into my office came in to tell me how much he liked them. What makes them better? The banana flavor is intense. It shines, it screams it’s presence. These are not wallflower banana muffins. Where does the flavor come from? In addition to the usual mashed ripe bananas, the recipe calls for dehydrated bananas. Genius! Never in a million years would I have thought of that.

I can’t wait to try some of the other recipes:

Graham Flour Fig Scones
Butterscotch Blondies
Maple Pistachio Crèmes
Peanut Butter Bombs
Chai “Cheese”cake
Root Beer Float Cupcakes
Wasabi Chocolate Cupcakes
Green Tea Tiramisu
Plus a bunch more!

If you haven’t checked out Hannah’s blog, BitterSweet, please do. Not only are the recipes killer and creative, but she has mad photo skillz. Also, buy her book: My Sweet Vegan.