Skinny Bitch Bakery

I am new to the S.B. books and the S.B. craze, in general (mostly because I was turned off by my perception of their crass nature...cursing doesn't make you more hip, after all) but was lured by the fact that this is a baking book (I love to bake).With that said, I am NOT new to baking, or vegan baking for that matter (been baking vegan for over a decade...and to rave reviews by omnis), so my baking skills are not the issue.I will admit: I have only made one recipe so far, but it has been a failure..and that is not starting off on the right foot, in my book!I have hundreds of vegan cookbooks, many of which are baking books. What I expect from those recipes is greatness. I want them to work. I want books that give consistently good results (I HAVE books like that in my collection). I don't want to waste VERY EXPENSIVE ingredients on a flop. That makes me angry...as in, who is gonna pay for those wasted ingredients??So, I tried the quinoa avocado muffins (which have 1 cup each of almond flour and quinoa flour...both very pricey!)....I have now baked them for over twice the recommended baking time....and, still, they are a pile of goo in the middle. Granted, it is tasty goo...but goo nonetheless.No, it isn't my oven (I have oven thermometers and I bake all the time in my oven); yes,I know how to properly measure ingredients; yes, I followed the directions....etc.... but still they are a gooey mess. I have never had muffins seem to utterly refuse to bake up, but these do just that!So, after about 45 minutes or so of baking....I have given up and finally taken them out of the oven for good. As I said, the flavor is good, but (even after cooling) they are too oily and they are the texture of spoon bread so I am calling them "spoon muffins."So, probably 8-10 dollars worth of muffin ingredients (half the price of the book), WASTED! To think I almost made these to take to a potluck!I really grow weary of people putting out cookbooks with (seemingly) untested recipes and/or typos....where is my compensation for lost product and time?This happened with D. Peterson's "Sticky Fingers" bakery book, too. First three recipes I made had BIG issues (some of which I was able to save, but not without some trouble). I shouldn't have to "rescue" someone's bad recipe....that isn't why I pay for a book.Isa's books, K. Holechek's "Have Your Cake and Vegan Too", "Chloe's Kitchen", Julie Hasson's stuff, etc....those have become go-to resources.I sincerely hope that this was just a fluke but, after this waste of good ingredients, I am reluctant to try again.If this turns out to be an anomaly, I will adjust this review accordingly.P.s. yes, the book is lovely, has nice photos, interesting looking recipes, etc...but none of that amounts to a hill of beans if the recipes don't turn out. (Another pet peeve: people who rate a cookbook with four or five stars without ever having made a single recipe from it!)UPDATE: I hoped against hope that it was just an isolated recipe that was a disaster....but such is not the case. I have now made my second and FINAL recipe from this book.Just as in the first recipe, the flavor is great....but the baking chemistry UTTERLY FAILS!sAnd, ya know, after the first disaster, I questioned the Chewy Oatmeal Cookie recipe not having ANY flour in it. But, I told myself (trying to convince myself that the author knew what she was doing) that the cornstarch would hold it together. Wrong! [They needed some flour so that they would have some body to them...and, without more dry ingredients, they "cookies" - such as they are - are too greasy]The sad part is, the batter was so tasty I was tempted to just eat the batter...maybe freeze up batter balls. Oh how I wish I had because, once baked, they were a disaster.I have rarely had baked goods fail so miserably like these two recipes have. These cookies basically melted into a puddle across the baking sheet and dripped off onto the bottom of my oven... great, more work for me! I have never seen anything like it. They weren't even cookies anymore; they were a melted sheet of oatmeal cookie goo. I have baked many a vegan cookie and never had any cookie do anything like this. I have had cookies that spread a lot but this was insane! Clearly, these needed some flour (and probably a little less butter).The pictures look good...the recipes SOUND interesting (so what? I am not going to rate 5 stars for THAT!) but then they fail. There is no way these recipes were tested (let alone tested by more than one person). I think, with some time, effort and wasted ingredients, I could go through this book and fix these recipes, but I am not in the mood to do someone else's job.I am only ticked off that I can't get reimbursed for my ingredients! I have now wasted the equivalent of the cost of the book on ingredients for these failed recipes. This lady owes me a refund, as far as I am concerned!I have never been this harsh on any cookbook that I can remember, but the fact that the TWO recipes I randomly picked from the book failed to bake up properly tells me something is dreadfully wrong.This is going back to Amazon tomorrow!! DON'T BUY!!! Save your money. Buy something by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Buy Kris Holechek's books. Buy Chloe Coscarelli's books (I have only made a couple things from these but they have all been great....not just baked goods)

I am learning to cook with more healthy items. I have a daughter in law who is gluten sensitive and a vegetarian, some of these recipes will be fun to try with her. I, too, have switched my eating to more of an Ayurveda style. The only thing I don't like, is some of the language used, but it might just be me.

I have been a vegetarian for nearly 40 years and having been eating vegan (except when dining out which we do not do often) at home. Nice recipes and ideas. Funny book.

Great cook book! So many vegan cookbooks are filled with strange ingredients that you have to go on a massive hunt for. This is not one of those books. I have tried a bunch of the recipes and really like the majority of them. It's very informative and well written.

Very interesting how she explains the science behind baking and how you can substitute traditional ingredients for healthier options.

I love this book. It has really great recipes in it and it has very helpful tip for substitutions if you're wanting to change a baking item from a recipe you already have to make it vegan, gluten free, or sugar free.

Nice and no nonsense sweet treats

Good read packed with excellent ideas to have more reasonable baking. Her language and prose may turn some off. She needs to keep us grouch old bastards in mind for he next book! LOL

I am loving this cookbook! I have tried 5 recipes so far and I am very pleased with the results. The chocolate ding dongs, chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal cookies are so amazing. I am not a great cook but I found the recipes very simple.Note: Be sure to read the publisher's errata. The oatmeal cookies and chocolate chip cookies recipes have slight errors.

its an ok book, lots of prep its gluten free and vegan If I remember right, there are a couple recipes I think ill try but so much prep that its not really my thing, I don't have time to slave away cooking, maybe a weekend thing.