Sweet and Natural Baking: Sugar-Free, Flavorful Recipes from Mani's Bakery

This cookbook has exactly the type of recipes which I've been looking for. Because I'm allergic to cane sugar, having easy alternatives given in recipes is great. Its a great cookbook.

I think this is a fantastic book for people who are sensitive to sugar and those who wish to increase their use of whole grains in baking. I found these recipes easy to use, including making my own Fruit Juice Reduction. An earlier reviewier noted that she was confused about the fruit juice reduction containing corn syrup. If I am reading Mani Niall's book correctly, the fruit juice concentrate should NOT contain corn syrup. All this means is spending a minute or two reading labels in the freezer section of your local market and making sure the fruit juice concentrate you purchase contains only 100% unsweetened fruit juice.

This is my favorite cookbook, not because every recipe in it is to my liking, but because some of the recipes are superb. The Cranberry-Walnut Scones and Chunky Carrot Cake recipes (the latter of which is truly vegan) alone are worth the price of the book. I get raves for them all the time. And not everyone likes Southern-style Cornmeal Waffles, but I adore them.Most of the recipes call for a fruit-juice concentrate sweetener. When I lived in the Northwest, I used the excellent one from Mystic Lake Dairy that's available in stores there. Fortunately, the author provides very easy instructions for making your own (involving only apple juice and either a microwave or a saucepan and stove).

This is such a great book, the whole thing is pleasing and wonderful to look at. And the majority of the recipes I've tried you'll die over! Even ones that don't require any sweetner in them at all. Such as the Banana-Nut Pancakes. Moist, tender and wonderful!My brother and I are very sensitive to even organic sugar and fruit juice is the only thing we've found that doesn't affect us so this book is a treasure!However, note that Fruit-Sweet is this chef's favorite sweetner. BUT he does tell you how to make your own concentrated sweetner with frozen juice concentrate. VERY NICE! Be warned, I thought I'd be daring and try pineapple juice and made the peanut butter cookies. Don't do it! White Grape Juice and White Grape & Peach Juice are the ones I've found that you can use for any recipe.Everything in here takes a little time. But if you want something sweet and can't get anything at the nearby grocery or organic store then invest a little and enjoy this book, it's well worth every penny.

I love to bake. I am not vegan/vegetarian or looking to lower my cholesterol. However, you can be any of those things and still use this book. I have a hyperactive 4 year old on the Feingold Diet. Even tho they don't suggest you eliminate sugar, I feel my son is less high strung when his sugar intake is low. However, he loves yummy baked things. This is where Mani's book comes in. The chocolate chip pecan cookies are really great! I have a jar full..actually not full anymore...downstairs right now. Mani lists substitutions for dairy free, egg free etc... so anyone could use this book. Just keep or add in what you like, and keep out what you don't. Personally, I love dairy and eggs but wanted to do without the sugar. I like that you have options with this book. So many other sugar-free baking books are vegan. The great thing about Mani's book is that anyone can use it and everything in it is fabulous!