Monday, May 11, 2009

Lick It! (A Review)


A new vegan ice cream cookbook is on the market! Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love, by Cathe Olson, is sitting here on my desk. Overall, I recommend the book, but I'll go into the positives and negatives:

Positives: The first thing I noticed that I know many readers will love is that nearly all of the recipes can be made with agave syrup instead of sugar. I've been asked many times about using non-sugar sweeteners, and this book has plenty of options. In most cases, you can use an equal amount of granulated sugar or agave syrup.

There are also lower-fat options, alongside the really decadent recipes. And a bunch of sorbet recipes, which I have to say are going to tempt me away from ice cream for a little while. So you've got ice creams, frozen yogurts, sherbets, and sorbets.

And the book also has recipes for ice cream cakes, ice pops, and other frozen treats. Plus recipes for sundae toppings. I am particularly happy about the butterscotch sauce recipe. Mmmmm...butterscotch.

Yeah, so all the recipes look amazing and you could spend all summer making a wide variety of frozen yummies. This book will rock you.

Negatives: I feel so nitpicky with my list of negatives. But I want to get them out of the way. The most unfortunate thing about the book is the design. There are stock photos all through the book, as well as on the cover. The pictures of coconuts or coffee beans are fine, but the pictures of happy people eating ice cream are just...meh. They look kind of goofy and somehow already dated, even though the book just came out.

And the title. Lick It! I mean, maybe I'm the only person with a filthy, filthy mind, but ice cream isn't the first thing that pops into my head when I hear "Lick it!"

Finally, I'm not a fan of the shades-of-purple interior design--text, pictures, etc. It's just not very attractive.

The verdict: All of the negative things I have to say about this book are cosmetic. Which makes me a shallow husk of a person, I suppose, and one with a filthy mind. But I can look past the cover (maybe slap a book cover on it) and re-label the title (something like, "Vegan Ice Cream That Doesn't Remind You of Oral Sex in Any Way, Thank You"). Because the recipes are gonna rock you. Your (my) filthy mind will be so distracted by the (potentially orgasmic) recipes that you won't even think of other, more adult pleasures. Despite the title, which I really must cover up.

Stop thinking about the title. Think about the recipes! The glorious plenitude of recipes!!!

So despite my filthy mind and nitpicky habits, I heartily recommend Lick It! It's here just in time for summer.

13 comments:

  1. I just received a copy of this unfortunately-titled book for my birthday last week (and also a copy of the new Wheeler's ice cream book)! I haven't flipped through it yet, so the interior aesthetic issues have yet to blind me. I agree whole-heartedly with your take on the cover and title, though.

    As an aside, instead of making ice cream from this or Wheeler's book to christen my ice cream maker, I'm going to make your Barack-y Road ice cream instead! I can't wait to try it.

    I hope you're feeling better. :)

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  2. Hahaha, thanks for the hilarious review. The stock photo thing would bother me too, I think. It seems silly that they would waste so much space on happy people photos -- because in the end, the reader probably pays for all those extra pages!

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  3. The picture on the cover looks like it was pulled from an episode of Saved by the Bell. The recipes might rule, but it's too bad the publisher didn't spend the time or money to hire a good photographer or graphic designer.

    Also, a vegan ice cream book? Why isn't this yours?

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  4. Hahaha, great review! My issue with stock photos? They're not vegan items being shown!

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  5. The recipes in this book do look great, but I completely agree with you on the design. My husband and I made a couple of Beverly Hills 90210 jokes about the cover when we first saw it, and I was a bit turned off by the stock photos of (most likely) non-vegan ice cream inside.

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  6. lol...good description!! I really wanna get this book because I'm obsessed with my ice cream maker.

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  7. you're not the only one w/ a dirty mind. that is not a good title :)

    butterscotch = mmmmmmm... drool homer style.

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  8. awesome book title..makes our minds play, but it's cool and I love ice cream.

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  9. Anonymous4:48 PM

    This is one of the funniest book reviews I've ever read! I didn't buy the book when I found it on amazon because of the horrible not vegan ice cream on the cover & the title. It didn't look as though anyone had taken the time to make a quality book, so I didn't imagine the recipes would fare better. Thanks to you I know better. & hopefully will get it soon.

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  10. I received this book for Christmas and I've made three ice creams out of it so far:

    Chocolate and Raspberry
    Cookies and Cream
    Lemon icecream with Strawberry topping

    They were all delicious!!
    Highly recommended!

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  11. My mother used to buy every vegan ice cream cookbook release. But now, she enjoyed reading ice cream cookbook in the internet.

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  12. Anonymous7:18 PM

    Hilarious comments on the filthy mind! I guess if I think it is funny, I have one too.

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  13. Anonymous11:45 PM

    So i searched for this book on Amazon and i'm sure you'll have a giggle when you see the top 4 results i received. I'm still laughing my head off!!! seriously aren't marketing people supposed to think of this when trying to find a name for a book? results shown when searched?? muppets.

    <3 Betheney
    1.
    Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love by Cathe Olson

    2.
    Erotica: Lick It! Tales of Sex by Lillian Snow

    3.
    Lily Lick's Love Signs by Lily Lick

    4.
    Leslie Licks Herself by Lexie X

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