Flying Apron's Gluten-Free & Vegan Baking Book

I ordered this book along with several others as an addition to my growing allergy free reference books. Myself and my children all have strict dietary guidelines. I have 4 children and between all of us, we are allergic to nearly everything...lol :( As I was considering purchasing this book I was cautiously optimistic...it seemed to have the things I was looking for...healthy alternatives to unhealthy sugars, gluten free recipes, etc. But was reserved in my enthusiasm since I have purchased other allergen free cookbooks before and was less than happy when I recieved my product in the mail.As soon as my books arrived in the mail I began reading....no studying the recipes inside. I read the beginning pages that many people (including myself) skip when recieving a new cookbook.... These pages include invaluable information. I was happy to have the list of needed ingredients included on page 7. I was glad to have a resource section in the back of the book with places to buy the needed ingredients.After I compiled a list of needed ingredients and acquired these I began to carefully pick which would be the first recipe I would attempt. Ahhh...I found my first one. Berry Tea Biscuits.... to have a cookie with my tea in the morning...and one that tastes good and won't make me sick to boot.... I was no longer cautiously optimistic.... I was down right excited! My mouth was watering as I was preparing the dough.... Then I was rather impatient as I had to chill the dough (overnight).... I was up early the following morning to finish preparing the biscuits and adding the large berries on top. As they baked I wait in anticipation of the finished product. I got my cup of herbal tea with a splash of honey and was all ready for this warm biscuit. I cooled the Berry Tea Biscuits (ever so slightly). I picked out the perfect one.... drizzled a little honey over the top and was off to drink my tea, eat my warm cookie, and enjoy a few moments of quiet bliss before the children began running through the house and my day began.I was not disappointed when I took my first bite of the biscuit, it had good texture, not too crumbly, not overly gritty, and perfect with the little bit of honey and of course those big juicy berries on top.Later I tried the house bread recipe for bread and for pizza dough. I enjoyed this recipe for bread, but not so much for pizza dough. I am going to try more recipes as time allows... I am very satisfied with this book, the only complaint is that I wish it only used healthy sugar alternatives or at least gave opitons. The tea biscuit recipe used alot of cane sugar...though it was organic, I still would rather have used honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar for these. All in all these recipes are perfect for the person who needs gluten free recipes and wants healthier options.

Well I made the chocolate triangle recipe and that was pretty good but I added honey & peanut butter b/c it was WAY too rich. Then, I made the coconut cake recipe but decided to make them into cupcakes. The recipe has some serious issues. The icing was awful and I had to use regular vanilla frosting and add coconut flavoring & shredded coconut. The cupcakes are so crumbly they are impossible to eat or frost b/c they just fall apart. Also in the cake part of the recipe coconut is listed in the ingredients but you are never instructed as to when to add it. I ended up adding egg replacer to the 2nd batch I made & they are in the oven at the moment. I'm hoping that makes them stick together. However, they taste great if that's any consolation.

Here is the email I've sent to Flying Apron, thanking them for this book - which has made me so HAPPY!I just wanted to put out a HUGE thank you to everyone involved in Flying Apron's cookbook! I'm sure you've heard tons of stories like mine... I've just been diagnosed as gluten intolerant by genetic testing (!) and LOVE breads and pastries. To make matters worse, I've found out I'm having auto immune reactions to dairy, soy and eggs...I LOVE to cook. I'm pretty fantastic - so I'm told... and I never follow recipes... I can't, they just never come out as good as if I'd just done it with intuition. So, dealing with this new paradigm has been excessively draining and depressing for me. I ordered several allergy-free cookbooks hoping for some inspiration...Your book is exactly the motivation, and inspiration I was needing! It has everything! I'm throwing out all my other cookbooks, as I can't eat from them anymore... and I only ever used them for ideas anyway... I will be buying copies in the future for all of my gluten/allergy free friends - to be certain!I just wanted you to know how grateful my family is that we are going to be eating home-cooking again! They'd pretty much tired of steamed veggies and quinoa and I can't wait to make all of the amazing things in your book! Beyond that, your book has really been a psychological boon for me... not just making cooking and eating possible again, but normalizing and even glorifying gluten/allergy free eating. It's fantastic the way everything is so beautifully presented, and thoughtfully formulated. The flavors and varieties expressed in this one little tome are so fantastic! I just REALLY, really appreciate that you've created such delicacies and that you've taken the time to put them in a format that is accessible for people like me! THANK YOU! :) If I'm ever in Seattle, I'll be stopping in, for sure! :) AM

My mother is an excellent cook/baker. She can take any cake recipe, mess around with some ingredients, and make it gluten free vegan in a snap. I am not so fortunate. This book gives you the tools you need to be confident in the kitchen. Everything I have baked so far has come out BETTER than expected. The honey corn cake was scrumptious. The standard pie crust was so light and flakey!!! And the earl grey tea cake was super moist! I found myself already playing with her basic structures for cakes and pies to come up with my own creations!She does call for a lot of oil and a lot of maple syrup, In some of the recipes I used honey instead of syrup, or I substitued honey and brown sugar. And I did not use as much sugar as was called for in any of the recipes simply because I dont like things to be too too sweet. But everything I have made has come out so good! (Check out my customer images!)I highly recommend this book to anyone suffering from food allergies who also wants to live a vegan lifestyle. So many other books are so dissapointing and require so much altering. This is your stepping stone to future home baking creations! Thank you Jennifer!

Just fantastic recipes gluten and many times sugar free. A must have for everyone who has dietary restrictions with gluten like myself. I've tried almost everything in the book and everything was mouthwatering. Very good job!

I'm missing basic recipies in this book, but other than that it's ok.

Lovely book, beautifully presented

I've been avoiding wheat and dairy for a couple of years now, so this book seemed ideal, and I was really excited when it arrived. I've made the Maple Berry Muffins (pretty good, bit of an odd after-taste), the thumbprint cookies (really good) and the macaroons (excellent, lots of requests for the recipe).My reservations about this book are probably a result of the author trying to avoid such a huge number of ingredients. She's very keen on palm oil which, given its environmental impact, I'm not, but I tracked some down and tried to make her icing with it. It was very orange, and it had a nasty taste. I decided not to ruin perfectly good cake with it, and thanked my lucky stars that I'd halved the recipe. I haven't tried the bread recipes, having read someone's blog (and numerous comments from the blog's readers) about other people's attempts to use them, I don't think I'll bother. Things like sorghum flour and teff flour seem to be pretty much unobtainable in the UK - even my local wholefood wholesaler doesn't seem to have heard of them. The author doesn't have a web presence, so there is no way of getting feedback from her on how to swap ingredients, tweak the recipes etc. - that would be a huge bonus.I'm lucky - I can eat wheat and dairy, but I try not to as they seem to be a factor in my arthritis attacks. If I had been deprived of cake for a decade, I would probably think this cookbook was the best thing ever. I will use many of the recipes in this book, but I will approach it with caution.

First I was in awe- a gluten free (for me) and Vegan (for my daughter) book so I could bake tasty cakes and breads that work for us instead of making up and adapting recipes. The downsides are: US measurements mean it is hard to gage how much you need when buying ingredients. The recipes seem to make a lot and it is hard to scale down when using 1/3 cup etc. Also ingredients called for are expensive e.g linseed ground £5, enoough natural sweetener for a cake £5 also. The idea behind it is great and I have had some success with some recipes. I will try again now I have a mixer which is mentioned in every dish!