Ani's Raw Food Desserts: 85 Easy, Delectable Sweets and Treats

For me, pictures are an important part of a recipe book, as I like to know how a recipe is -supposed- to turn out. I was happy to find that this raw dessert book by Ani Phyo had at least half the recipes with pictures of the completed dessert included. (If you have ever gotten Ani's other books, there are rarely pictures of the food, so I felt the need to point this out) It also has an intro on various important raw foods ingredients and small tips spread throughout the book. To some people the tips might be repeats, but I rather find her writing style enjoyable and perfect for beginners of raw desserts.The contents are divided into categories that I find very easy to navigate, and my favourite thing though is that below the recipe title, she has little pictures of tools you will need in order to make that recipe. This is very helpful to glance and know if you are able to make it or not (for example the first recipe of the Pineapple Icebox Dessert has images of a food processor, a blender, and a loaf pan.) So its nice to glance and know if you have the tools/time to make something.I wish every recipe had a picture, although I do understand it was likely done due to a size limitation from the publisher I can only assume. I would recommend this book especially to people who are new to raw foods, as it does not come across as overwhelming and its very user friendly.

I am reviewing this review after 4 months to add a warning: read the book's introduction. The recipes are very good and easy to make,the chocolate cake with the raspberries was delicious and the icing tasted heavenly, but it was not holding together as the picture suggested even after sitting overnight in the refrigerator. After reading the introduction I realized that it was because I was using a different type of date (deglet noor instead of medjool). Soaking the dates briefly, as Phyo's suggests, resolved the issue the next time I tried the recipe. My only concern is that many recipes use agave syrup, that is getting a bad rap recently. However, I am still giving 5 stars to the book because it is great to be able to quickly slap together a delicious and mostly guiltless dessert that even my diabetic husband can sample, there is no baking, and it is easy to tweak the recipes to one's taste. The "cheesecake" is surprising similar to the real thing. The "tiramisu" (completely different from the Italian dessert except for the creaminess) uses ripe bananas my family won't touch, and, if one replaces the various cocoa nuts and cinnamon dustings with a dusting of cocoa (an improvement in my opinion), it comes together in a few minutes and is becoming a staple in my house. I think even people not interested in raw cuisine can use this book.

Have you ever wished that you could eat an entire bag of cookies and it would be the health equivalent of eating a bag of apples? Well now you can! (Well, kinda..) These treats are all so delicious (even to a junk food junkie like me) and they're totally guilt free! I was amazed to find that pure cacao has 30 times more antioxidants than green tea, so when I made the "Chocolate (insert your favorite fruit or nut here) Bark" (I made "Chocolate Almond Bark") I was able to eat as much of it as I wanted without feeling any guilt! The coconut ice cream was great and her liquid chocolate topping is amazing! I can't wait to make the Key Lime Ice Cream for my bf and the Almond Cacao Nib Cookies for myself! (I need to buy a food processor first.. which you need for many/most of the recipes, fyi.)The most surprising part of these recipes is how EASY and QUICK they are to make! I mean, you have directions like "Combine agave nectar, cacao powder, and coconut oil in a mixing bowl. Add nuts. Pour onto a tray lined with wax paper and chill for 5 - 10 minutes." HOW EASY IS THAT?! Anyway, great book! I'm buying another copy for my mom for Mother's Day.

I have a lot of respect for the author that's why I regret to give this book 2 Stars. When I started on my raw foods journey, I looked for books that taught me how to make edible meals in a snap instead of dehydrating everything for hours. As two previous posters mentioned, there are 'alot of measurement errors' and the recipes appear 'amateurish and rushed'. I do believe that she has a healthy lifestyle but I can't believe that she finds these recipes good.For example, take the Liquid Chocolate recipe on page 74. The recipe is:1 cup of coconut oil1/2 cup cacao powder1 tbsp. mesquite powder (optional)1 tbsp. agave syrup (optional)First of all, it's far too much coconut oil. When we used this recipe to make Chocolate Raisin Bark which is on the following page, it reeked of coconut oil and wasn't sweet at all. Therefore, I re-melted it and here are the following alterations:1/4-1/2 cup of coconut oil1 cup cacao powderI never used the mesquite powder1 tsp. vanilla1/2 cup agave nectar OR maple syrup (whichever you are comfortable with),or Stevia TT.Follow the directions to mix.Secondly, the ice creams recipes are, again, very amateurish. My first ice cream recipe was the Key Lime Kream Bars on page 25. When I tried the recipe, they came out as hard as a rock. There was no need for 4 cups of cashews.Try this recipe:1 cup almond or lite coconut milk (I prefer the coconut milk)1 cup cashews1/3 cup agave nectar or maple syrup (whichever you are comfortable with)1/2 cup lime juice2 tsps. vanilla1 tbsp. soy or sunflower lecithin1/2 tsp. saltMix well in your blender until smooth. You should not feel the grit of the cashew. A high powder blender is good or just blend until it's the right consistency. If you are using an ice cream maker, chill the cream until it's cold. If you are not using a maker, pour into a pie dish. Freeze and cut into squares. This recipe is adapted from the Sweet Gratitude recipe book.As far as recommended books, I suggest Raw for Desserts by Jennifer Cornbleet, Sweet Gratitude by Matthew Rogers and Tiziana Alipo Jamborra.I hope this helps.

If you haven't tasted raw desserts before, this book is a nice place to start. It contains really tasty recipes for an array of desserts: frozen treats, cakes and tartlets, chocolates and fudge, crisps and cobblers, puddings and parfaits, cookies, dehydrator desserts and much more. All the recipes are well explained and quite simple, and in the beginning of the book there is a whole chapter about the ingredients and their benefits and the kitchen tools "necessary" to create the desserts (think basic kitchen tools like a blender, a processor, ...of course you could chop or grind everything by hand also). A high speed blender and a dehydrator are preferably used to make a some of the recipes, but they are never a necessity, so don't get put off if you don't have those on hand! Not every recipe has a picture of the end result, but many do have - which I find rather important. It also contains a lot of tips on living greener and healthier, as well as some nice beauty tips (how to care for your skin for example). If you have a nut allergy, you should know that most recipes in this book are made with nuts.I guess I would have loved to see a picture of every recipe, and sometimes I got the feeling that the author could have been a bit more creative and a bit less repetitive (although she does state that she want you to spend as little time as possible making the desserts), but all in all this book will definitely motivate you to get in your kitchen and start making wonderful guilty-free desserts!

Bought this after reading other reviews regarding the ease, speed, cost effectiveness of the 85 inspirational recipes. I found differently.85 Recipes includes 'Melon with Salt' 1) Slice Melon 2) Sprinkle with Salt. Or 'Apple with Rosemary' or 'Pineapple Sauce' ( Blend a pineapple with a spoon of syrup). Hmmmm...Speed: Takes as long to blend the ingredients for the frozen raw food desserts as it does to blend any list of ingredients for any dish. However the frozen desserts then go to the Freezer for hours then the fridge to thaw out. Cleaning the blender is a time consuming nightmare after blending mixes such as half a kilo of nuts, quarter kilo cocoa nibs, 15 dates. Had to leave mine soaking for hours to get the gluey marsh like gloop out of all the nooks and crannies)Cost Effectiveness. Not a hope. Perhaps costs are lower outside of Europe but being enthusiastic to make what looked like a nice chocolate cake in the photo I ran out to buy the ingredients as a once off treat. Three quarter Kilo of nuts, (15€/20$) couple hundred mls of agave nectar (10€/13$), two packs of medjool dates (6€/8$) 550 grms of cocoa nibs (6€/8$), raspberries (4€/5$) etc etc. The ingredients for this small dense heavy concoction with a consistency of loam soil came to almost €50/$68 even after I substituted some carob for cocoa powder. It didn't taste absolutely awful but considering the price it was truly awful. And the texture was identical to the pulp you have left after you make almond milk and just squeeze the pulp together ie it sticks together when you press it together but falls apart to dust easily. The photo showed what looked like a gateaux.Finally as a warning to potential buyers, check your blender will do the job. I have a pretty high spec one from the leading manufacturer and it struggled with some of the recipes. So test yours first by throwing about 15 dates 1/3 cup honey (or malted barley if you are vegan - the suggested agave nectar is mighty costly ) an avocado and about 200 grams of cocoa nibs into it and see if you end up with chocolate sauce. I had to keep using a fork to clear the blades and go again and again for about ten to fifteen minutes. The blender was crying from whipping air as the mush just got lodged to the sides or blades.There are credits in the book for an agency that allowed the author a residency and it does seem to me that the book was prepared by somebody who had to pay no consideration to the cost and availability of ingredients and who possibly had state of the art industrial strength ultra high spec equipment at their disposal. (of course all ingredients are available online but at extra cost - the major flaw with this book)If you have absolutely no idea whatsoever where to start with raw food desserts you could buy it as a spring board for your inspiration and if you consider it worth the price there are a handful of workable recipes if you fancy spending in the region of €20 for the cashews, agave, coconut oil and you would need to make a small portion of Ice Kream the size of the pack of cashews you started off with.However I would look forward to a more thoughtful volume two that would rely on cheaper superfoods and raw foods such as oats, flax, malted barley etc.....or perhaps I'll write my own!

Gorgeous book, I love it, really really like it... Thank you Ani Phyo! This book, apart from the fact that it has some divine recipes, is really pretty and it makes you want to start using it & trying the recipes out. It's nice to see a raw food book presented that way, showing it doesnt always have to be the "heavy" approach that some people have & nothing more than drinking greens.The book is very simple in design & you don't have to sit for an hour to be able to pick & plan a recipe.Ani has very thoughtfully included symbols under each recipe title that tell you exactly what equipment you would need so you can just pick something fast without having to read through the recipe instructions only to find you don't have a bit of kit. Some recipes need a blender or food processor, others need small things such as a cookie cutter or cupcake cases but others need nothing more than your own two hands or just a knife.There is an introduction which gives some explanation of raw foods, vitamins, ingredients and equipment which anyone familiar to raw food probably wont need so much but it's nice that it has been included & again is presented in small easy to read & understand sections.Throughout the book there are also little notes & side pages with info & tops relating to skincare & beauty/ green living/ other healthier lifestyle, these are quick, light reading and nicely compliment the foods and recipes that are used in the book.The pictures that are so sumptuous they could be straight out of a Nigella book but thankfully these are all raw & wheat, gluten & dairy free so you don't have to sit around getting fat & feeling heavy from all the butter, wheat flour etc! Lovely to have all these raw desserts in one small book. I think there are some great ideas in there both for when you just want something sweet after your meal but also many very delicious treats that could be made for family, friends etc. I can't wait to try out some of the recipes at the weekend. A fantastic present for anyone who is raw, gluten/wheat free and/or vegan. I'd be happy to recommend this book to anyone wanting to make raw desserts or indeed to anyone looking for a way to have fun with sweet stuff but in a healthier way.

The book looks like it was designed in 1985. It has weird sentences above the recipes that explain what certain foods are good for-like 'lime has anti ageing properties' to distract you from the vat of agave nectar you just used perhaps? (a wee bit patronising) but some may like that. Some good recipes and mostly straightforward to make...

Evrything is said in the title. I highly recommend this book, the recipes are amazing and she gives some beauty and environement tips if you want to know more about your food and be greener. I'm planing on buying her other books now :)