A new vegan ice cream cookbook is on the market! Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love
, by Cathe Olson, is sitting here on my desk. Overall, I recommend the book, but I'll go into the positives and negatives:Positives: The first thing I noticed that I know many readers will love is that nearly all of the recipes can be made with agave syrup instead of sugar. I've been asked many times about using non-sugar sweeteners, and this book has plenty of options. In most cases, you can use an equal amount of granulated sugar or agave syrup.
There are also lower-fat options, alongside the really decadent recipes. And a bunch of sorbet recipes, which I have to say are going to tempt me away from ice cream for a little while. So you've got ice creams, frozen yogurts, sherbets, and sorbets.
And the book also has recipes for ice cream cakes, ice pops, and other frozen treats. Plus recipes for sundae toppings. I am particularly happy about the butterscotch sauce recipe. Mmmmm...butterscotch.
Yeah, so all the recipes look amazing and you could spend all summer making a wide variety of frozen yummies. This book will rock you.
Negatives: I feel so nitpicky with my list of negatives. But I want to get them out of the way. The most unfortunate thing about the book is the design. There are stock photos all through the book, as well as on the cover. The pictures of coconuts or coffee beans are fine, but the pictures of happy people eating ice cream are just...meh. They look kind of goofy and somehow already dated, even though the book just came out.
And the title. Lick It! I mean, maybe I'm the only person with a filthy, filthy mind, but ice cream isn't the first thing that pops into my head when I hear "Lick it!"
Finally, I'm not a fan of the shades-of-purple interior design--text, pictures, etc. It's just not very attractive.
The verdict: All of the negative things I have to say about this book are cosmetic. Which makes me a shallow husk of a person, I suppose, and one with a filthy mind. But I can look past the cover (maybe slap a book cover on it) and re-label the title (something like, "Vegan Ice Cream That Doesn't Remind You of Oral Sex in Any Way, Thank You"). Because the recipes are gonna rock you. Your (my) filthy mind will be so distracted by the (potentially orgasmic) recipes that you won't even think of other, more adult pleasures. Despite the title, which I really must cover up.
Stop thinking about the title. Think about the recipes! The glorious plenitude of recipes!!!
So despite my filthy mind and nitpicky habits, I heartily recommend Lick It!
It's here just in time for summer.
