The main reason I blogged so little over the summer was that I became rather distracted with my little sister’s wedding. I hardly cooked or baked at all and so, quite stupidly, thought that I didn’t have anything much to blog about.

Well silly me – I should have, at the very least, posted a photo here and there. I’d previously taken a long absence from picture taking and had been wanting to get back to it for ages. I was very lucky to get a new DSLR (!) in time for the wedding and I thought I’d share a photo from the happy event in that spirit.

Note the red nail polish.

I’m off to roast a pumpkin for the first time, so wish me luck – I’m hoping for pumpkin cookies, cake, pie and, given enough puree, some pumpkin butter!

I recently received my copy of Hannah Kaminsky’s first cookbook, My Sweet Vegan.

My goodness, this is one great book – I really can’t say enough good things about it. One thing I should admit to is the fact that I have an incredible weakness for books of all sorts, shapes and sizes. It’s somewhat of a sickness really. My latest obsession within the obsession is cookbooks, vegan cookbooks specifically. And I have acquired many of them – each having something awesome to offer in their own right.

That said, Hannah’s creation is the closest and most perfect representation of my culinary tastes that I have ever come across. My Sweet Vegan is truly a collection of unusual and amazing desserts. There’s a lot of chocolate. This is good. But there’s also pretty much each and every favourite thing I’ve ever eaten represented in perfect vegan form.

There’s Golden Glazed Donuts. I love donuts. There’s Graham Flour Fig Scones. I love figs. French Toast – breakfast is my favourite meal. There are 77 recipes in total – some of my favourites: Black Bottom Blondies, Whoopie Pies, Marshmallow Mud Cake, Mexican Chocolate Tart, Coconut Custard Pie, Orangettes (dark chocolate covered orange peel), and Root Beer Float Cupcakes – the latter being recently honoured as one of Vegan.com’s Top 10 Recipes, 2008.

My heart smiled with nostalgic glee when I came across Hannah’s inclusion of Pfefferneuse. I nearly wept with joy at spotting the Black & White cookies – those NY classics. Ah New York, how I miss you.

But the proof is in the pudding right? It’s one thing to look at pretty pictures – and they are pretty, snapped by Hannah herself – but it’s another to have a recipe that actually delivers the goods. Based on my first foray into Hannah’s baking world, I’m pretty confident you won’t be disappointed. You can imagine how difficult it was for me to choose which tasty morsel to try first. Ultimately, hubby had to choose for me and he put his vote in for Peanut Butter Bombs.

As I write this I’m enjoying several of them with a giant mug of coffee. A symphony of chocolate and peanut butter, these bombs do not disappoint. Hannah’s instructions are very straightforward and easy to understand, the book is beautifully laid out, and each recipe is accompanied by a fabulous photograph that shows you exactly what you are aiming for.

To quote hubby, ‘MMMMmmmmm.’

Be sure to check out Hannah’s blog, Bittersweet. Luckily for us, this vegan is as generous as she is talented and shares eloquently penned tips, recipes, and crafts on a regular basis.