Description:
If you are concerned about eating refined white sugar and white flour, dairy products, and other highly processed ingredients, Sweet and Natural will help you avoid them while enjoying incredible desserts. Author Meredith McCarty explains why these foods cause a host of health problems, from allergies to diabetes. Then, she describes the ingredients for making healthful desserts, starting with unrefined flours and sweeteners. Health and pleasure are of equal concern in this book. For baked goods, McCarty recommends using whole-wheat pastry flour. If you must avoid wheat, she explains how to use other grains and flours. In talking about ingredients, as well as in her recipes, McCarty is meticulously detailed. If you are already familiar with minimally processed ingredients, you will appreciate McCarty's recipes. They produce Martha Stewart-pretty results, as eight pages of color photos demonstrate. Even if you are used to cooking with brown rice syrup and agar (a thickener made from a sea vegetable), the creative ways McCarty uses them offer new possibilities, as in her maple-sweetened Pecan Pie. If this book is your introduction to naturally sweetened, dairy-free desserts, you may enjoy those made with fruit best, particularly the compotes and sorbets, such as Mango Coconut Sorbet. Sweet and Natural offers perhaps the widest range of recipes and most detailed information about techniques and ingredients for making natural desserts. If you want healthy sweets, this charmingly illustrated book is indispensable. --Dana Jacobi
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