Review: Are You Sure That’s Vegan Cookbook by Claire Gosse

Special update. This week’s review was created by my lovely wife, @maia_melissa. She’s the best!

Nutty Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Via “Are You Sure That’s Vegan” by Claire Gosse of vegancooking.com
@isitvegan’s review: 9.5/10

A few weeks ago @isitvegan mentioned that he had received a vegan e-cookbook. He was pretty excited to get into this new set of vegan recipes devoted to sweets. He mentioned that he could really get on board with author Claire Gosse’s personal baking philosophy, “I just want tasty vegan desserts that impress my friends and family, vegan or otherwise.” He also approved of the “non-hippy” ingredients: no milk thistle, rose hips, … After all, desserts need to taste delicious, whether they are vegan or not. My personal goal is always to make things that everyone can enjoy.

Anyway, he asked if I’d be willing to use one of these recipes to make some cookies. My response: “Of course!” Here’s a secret you may not know…@isitvegan and I have a bit of a deal going… I cook and he does the dishes. I think we instituted this deal back in college and it’s just something that stuck. His cooking skills may be a bit underdeveloped…but watch out Mr. Clean because his dish washing skills are unparalleled. To be fair, he was the chocolate grater, pecan chopper and errand boy for this recipe test. It’s very hard to make cookies when you have no margarine!

We decided on this recipe for Nutty Oatmeal Chip Cookies and were glad we did. All the deliciousness of a classic chocolate chip cookie married with chopped pecans and filled with the good for you fiber of oats.  

In the past, I have to admit to failing “vegan cookies 101.” They always seem to come out flat and oily. But not these cookies. I think the bulk of the whole wheat and oat flour plus the combination of baking soda and powder made these rise up nicely. They are not overly sweet, and the recipe makes a ton of cookies. I think we ended up with close to 50 decent sized cookies.

We actually made the recipe twice  The first time we shared them at our respective offices (with NO vegans), and they were given rave reviews. The second batch was shared at a house warming party with some vegans, and I can happily say we came home with empty plates. The one modification we made was to dial back the amount of chocolate and nuts from the original recipe, but thinking back I liked the packed-to-the-gills version better.    

I’m eager to try out a few more recipes from the cookbook. Boston Cream Cupcakes or Keylime Cheesecake may be next. Our collective advice…download it now or check out vegancooking.com for some of her other recipes.