Review and Giveaway: Hannah Kaminsky's Vegan Desserts

If you have been reading my blog since the title ordinary vegetarian actually fit me, you might remember my first vegan baking experience. Armed with a copy of Hannah Kaminky's My Sweet Vegan, I was well equipped for my task. Since then I became vegan, and my interest in vegan baking immediately followed. Hannah has been a favorite source for vegan dessert recipes through both her blog and e-books ever since, so you can imagine how excited I was to learn about the release of her second cookbook, Vegan Desserts!

A worthy collection of sophisticated yet approachable desserts, conveniently divided by season. The book features over 100 recipes, each accompanied by the most tempting full color image photographed by Hannah herself. I have had my copy for two months now, and have already enjoyed several recipes.

Irish Crème Squares

I cheated and baked from the winter section first since I had all of the ingredients for the Irish Crème Squares on hand. This is definitely a grown up dessert, unless your young ones enjoy the flavors of coffee and whiskey. As for myself, I couldn't resist! The coffee and whiskey infused cream layer is perfectly complimented by the cocoa almond crust. Hear, hear for boozy desserts!

Marbled Chocolate and Zucchini Bread

For my first springtime selection I went with the Marbled Chocolate and Zucchini Bread. This dessert bread is a real treat. It is sweet, moist, and cakey--sweeter than more traditional zucchini breads I have tried. This was my first marbled baked good, and I was so pleased with the way that the beautiful swirls of chocolate turned out. I am anticipating having too many zucchinis on my hands soon, and looking forward to putting them to good use in more loaves of this bread!

Coco-Nut Macaroons

I sampled a second dessert from the spring section -- the Coco-Nut Macaroons. Coco-Nut is hyphenated because the Nut is actually crunchy peanut butter. The peanut butter flavor is second to coconut, but is undoubtedly the oomph that pushes these macaroons over the edge. That and the chocolate dipped bases! These were perfectly dense, chewy, and rich--honestly the only coconut macaroon recipe I'll ever need. I mean, coco-nut! 

Mango Tango Cupcakes

Moving on from springtime delights to a perfect summery treat (and the cutest name in the book!), Mango Tango Cupcakes. This inventive cupcake has two pureed mangoes in the batter, along with a helping of chopped macadamia nuts. If you aren't sold on that alone, then the rum cream cheese frosting should convince you! Oh yes, that's perfection.

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I am sorry for teasing you with all of these amazing treats, but I have a peace offering. After receiving a copy of this book, the opportunity for a signed copy from Hannah presented itself and I couldn't turn it down. As much as I love this book, I don't need two copies and would love to offer my first copy to one of you. I will ship the winner this copy personally, anywhere in the world you might be. That's right, a no-restriction giveaway, hooray! As always, several ways to enter, leave 1 comment for each entry:

1. Leave a comment, any comment!
2. Follow me on twitter.
3. Like me on facebook.
4. Follow my blog here or by email (see sidebar)
5. Tweet "Enter to win a copy of Hannah Kaminsky's Vegan Desserts from @ordinaryveg! http://t.co/6z9IZxt"

Good luck! Winner to be announced the first day of summer--Tuesday, June 21 (just in time to make the Peaches and Crème Breakfast Buns, what what!)!