Vegan a la Mode: More Than 100 Ice Creams, Gelatos, Granitas, and Other Frozen delights [Hardcover]

I think when one becomes vegan, they don't stop to think what how that is going to affect desserts at times. Sure, you can get blondies, cookies, cakes and pies, but when it's sweltering, and you want to have a cup (or cone) of ice cream....

Banana "soft-serve" won't cut it.

Enter: Hannah "Queen of Desserts" Kaminsky. I got her second cookbook (Vegan Desserts) for the ice cream recipes and the meringue. I demanded an ice cream maker for this cookbook alone.

What Hannah excels at is that she doesn't just make "traditional" ANYTHING. It's exotic and different and pushes you (and your taste buds) to explore a whole new world of eating. So unlike "The Vegan Scoop", "Lick It" and "Vice Cream" which has (soy milk, coconut milk, and cashew cream as bases) but the recipes all follow the same path:

Vanilla - add extract, sugar, milk, blend, cool, churn
Strawberry - add berries, sugar, milk, blend, cool, churn
(and so on)

Hannah makes French Vanilla ice cream. Not your basic Cookie Dough, but Cookie Dough Monster. Not just Strawberry but Strawberry and Lemon Curd. and so on and so forth. Its the simple tweaks on classics, and things you'd never think about (watermelon sorbet? heck, yeah! (never would have thought of it). Banana Pudding? Blueberry Muffin? Cinnamon Graham? Check,check and check.

I've now made several recipes, and they are VERY easy, and pantry friendly (things that you may not always have on hand would be Agar, Vanilla Beans/Paste (Necessity for the French Vanilla), Citric Acid (optional).) that I can re-call off hand.

Most of these equal a quart of ice cream so the cost of making it vs. buying a store brand is comparable (for fruit etc).

The ice creams I've made are:

French Vanilla. Hands down my go to favourite thing. French Vanilla is my favourite pre-vegan, and I thought I'd never see it again. Hannah has now saved my life, and gave me french vanilla.

Strawberry Lemon Curd Ice Cream. DO make. (I used fresh lemons for the curd, instead of lemon juice).

Spring Blush Sorbet - super easy and gives you a use for all those rhubarbs you can't think about doing.

I wanted to make one "basic" one to see how it worked. (amazing) one multi-step one (not that time consuming) and one sorbet. (delish). The instructions are clear, and easy to follow. the only downside is the cooling time. (I tend to make mine wait 24 hours and let my ice cream bowl freeze for 36 for optimal ice cream pleasure).

DO follow Hannah's ice cream eating suggestions (weird, I know, but I feel like it does enhance the experience). She even has mixins and goodies at the back :)

Allergy Alert: there is not a lot of ones that call for tofu, vegan cream cheese/sour cream or creamer. (so those are easily bypassable).

Health Alert: these DO contain a lot of sugar. I know it's easy to say "it's ice cream!!!" but it's also the food science about it. Sugar is pretty much needed for homemade wares. (Hannah does use agave in some recipes, and other kind of sweetners as well - not overwhelmingly).

Presentation: i love the book, it's the same style as Vegan Desserts, so every recipe has a picture, which is as delicious as the wares you are making.

Repeat: there is ONE recipe that made it over to Vegan A La Mode from Vegan Desserts and that is the French Vanilla Ice Cream. (I am now kind of wishing that the other ones made it over too so I have them all in one place). But if you were curious if you could make do without it? heh.. no.

This is a must buy for ANYONE wanting to make ice cream, vegan or not (you can use any milk but rice, Hannah suggests) and seriously they are great for any time of the year.

Also, as an aside, I find you don't eat AS MUCH of it. they are all so thick and creamy and delicious, unlike store bought where you just pile it all on, this is really just a scoop here, and a scoop there. :)

Hopefully Hannah makes a sequel soon! :)

My kids and I have been deliciously making our way through this book this summer, and LOVING the tour!
The recipes are great; my 12-year-old has done most of the "cooking" and I'm pleased that the directions are easy for her to follow.
If you have a modestly stocked vegan pantry, there isn't any need to hunt down special ingredients - I don't shop any specialty/gourmet/health-food stores and was able to find everything easily, if I didn't already have it.
The pictures are beautiful and mouthwatering, causing my kids to drool for hours over "what we're going to make next"...
One note: This IS a dessert book. We all realize ice-cream is dessert before purchasing it, right? Sugar can be vegan and we vegans like our desserts just as much as the rest of the world.
Whether you think you'll be making ice cream every week or just once in a rare while, this is a valuable and informative book to have - and the pictures are great, just for browsing. I can't say enough about Hannah's book, I love almost everything she creates anyway, but I think ice cream has to be at the top of my list!

Hannah is an amazingly talented young chef and photographer. I am a huge fan of her blog and other books and this book is of the same high caliber as her work always is. I received the book and that day made the Shirley Temple Sorbet and Mouse Tracks ice cream. I had all the ingredients on hand and had them made for dessert that night. The Shirley Temple Sorbet brings back all the nostalgia and memories of the drink I remember as a childhood favourite. My five year old was in love with it as well! The Mouse Tracks ice cream has a delicious fudge ripple through it and the BEST peanut butter cup pieces ever sprinkled in! My husband devoured it but I luckily got to have some too! The recipes are inventive and inspiring and I am looking forward to a summer (and who am I kidding, year) of new flavors! And the photos, which there are tons of by the way, are beautiful and make you want to reach into the page and take a bite. I also love that Hannah uses different bases so if you don't like one kind of non dairy milk or have an allergy there are lots of other choices. There is also a vast amount of information in the front of the book on ingredients and technique as well as troubleshooting. Definitely a book that every ice cream lover should own!