The Two Spoons Cookbook: More Than 100 French-Inspired Vegan Recipes

by Hannah Sunderani

Overview

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 TASTE CANADA AWARDS*

French-inspired vegan recipes worth sharing—and best served with two spoons!

While living in France, Hannah pursued her passion for vegan cooking. Inspired by the food, culture, and burgeoning plant-based scene, her blog, Two Spoons, was born.

In her debut cookbook, Hannah shares over 100 vegan dishes inspired by her time in France and nearby cultures. A stunning collection of recipes made simple for every day and any occasion including:

Breakfast and Brunch: Classic Flaky Croissants, Buttery Brioche, Buckwheat Crepes with Cashew Cream Cheese and Greens
Milks and other Drinks: Golden Turmeric Latte, Chocolat Chaud, Wally’s Chocolate Coffee Freakshake
Sweet Treats, Cakes, and Bites: Sweet Sablés, Cannelés, Chocolate Almond Torte
Appetizers and Nibbles: Herb and Garlic Cheese, Luxurious Baked Brie, Crispy Baked Frites, Super-Seedy Crackers
Soups and Salads: Hearty Moroccan Lentil Soup, Chickpea Salad Niçoise, French Lentil and Walnut Soup
Entrées: Mushroom Bourguignon with Buttery Mashed Potatoes, Summer Rainbow Ratatouille, Balsamic Mushroom Risotto
Darling Desserts: Pear Tarte Tatin, Sweet Cherry Frangipane Tart, Kryptonite Chocolate Lava Cakes

The Two Spoons Cookbook is a show-stopping blend of traditional recipes and trendy plant-based creations that reflect Hannah’s journey as a plant-based foodie in France, including everyday recipes that have made her blog so widely followed. The book also features menu ideas to create brunches, sweet assortments for an afternoon tea party, memorable dinners, and unforgettable charcuterie boards with colourful dips, spreads, finger foods, and fauxmages that all eaters will adore. Whether you are vegan or simply trying to incorporate more plants into your diet, this is a must-have cookbook from a rising food star in the plant-based community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735241282
Publisher:	Penguin Canada
Publication date:	05/31/2022
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	433,714
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

HANNAH SUNDERANI is the creator of the popular blog Two Spoons. She is an editor at the feedfeed, a contributor to Best of Vegan, and a recipe contributor to THRIVE and One Green Planet. Her recipes have also been featured in numerous magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Simply Gluten-Free, VegNews, House & Home, and Hello! Fashion UK.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

I would first like to take you back to the beginning, to when I started my blog, Two Spoons, in a quintessential French city called Lille, in 2016. My husband, Mitch, was offered a work transfer that uprooted our life from downtown Toronto and into la vie en France.
 
It is during these major changes in life, when we are pushed outside our comfort zone, that we realize our true desires. This was the push I needed to pursue my passion for sharing plant-based recipes—a diet that was so successful in my struggle with gut health issues and irritable bowel syndrome.
 
What better place to pursue my passion for cooking than in France? With its daily farmers’ markets teeming with vendors calling out “Les pêches délicieuses!” for “deux euros!,” endless cafés and clanking verres de vins, and the smell of freshly baked bread on every street corner, it is no secret that the French way of life revolves around good food and drink at every occasion.
 
And what better place to pursue my passion for plant-based cooking than in France? Surely I could have chosen a better location. In a culture where fromage, foie gras, and charcuterie are everyday staples, a plant-based diet was not always celebrated. Calling ahead to restaurants to inform them of my diet was often met with displeasure, and one time resulted in being served half a cooked carrot as my main course. What they did with the other half, I will never know.
 
It is no surprise that the world of plant-based eating has exploded over the past few years, and during my time in France I watched it unfold. I made friends with the early adopters, the movers and shakers of this small plant-based community, from chefs and café owners to cashiers at petits magasins. I witnessed their twists on French classics, like cashew-based cheeses and vegan mousse au chocolat, and discovered their trendy new recipes for the more adventurous. We would chat about their changing menus, new products of theirs that I had tried and liked, and everyday things like which market vendors had the freshest produce, which boulangerie baked the best bread, and where to buy decently priced coconut yogurt.
 
I got to know them well. Of course, my poor French accent made me an unforgettable étrangère (foreigner). “Combien ça coûte?” (how much does that cost?) has a much different meaning than “combien ça cul?” (how much is that butt?). I also exasperated a baker once by mispronouncing “plus” when wanting more bread. I repeatedly pronounced it “plu” (without the “s”), interpreted as wanting less of their bread, instead of “plus” (pronounced with the “s”), meaning more. It was a rough go dividing the tiniest piece of bread between four friends later that day.
 
However, over time I understood better la vie en France. Here are some takeaways for you to nibble at:

- Any limb on the body that can bend is prime real estate for holding a baguette. Most popularly tucked under the armpit.

- Potatoes grow from the ground, so expect to buy them dirty. A vegetable scrubber will soon become your most used kitchen accessory.

- There is no hope of finding berries in October, so pick from the endless supply of apples and bake a tart.

- There is nothing more insulting to the French than adding orange juice to Champagne . . . oops.

- There is no occasion that cannot be improved with a glass of wine, a baguette, and fauxmage.
 
 
About this Book
 
This cookbook is meant to be taken lightly. By no means should it intimidate you. It is not a cookbook for French cooking enthusiasts or masterful chefs. It is a cookbook for the everyday home cook, one who wants to add more plant-based recipes into their diet without compromising taste. In addition, it is populated with recipes that pay tribute to my time in France and that are now on regular rotation in my kitchen, as well as lots of healthy and wholesome dishes that you can always expect from me.
 
I encourage you to adopt the elements that are special to the French way of life—enjoy your dishes as an occasion to be celebrated no matter how big or small, even if just for a moment. Even if it is a tiny piece of bread cut four ways.
 
In addition, I encourage you to enjoy the process from beginning to end. Start by taking joy in gathering your ingredients, whether by visiting your local farmers’ markets or simply making a connection with the cashier at your grocery store. Maybe it is growing some simple vegetables in your garden if that is available for you or herbs on your windowsill if it is not. Giving a story to our ingredients makes cooking more pleasurable.
 
Finally, I encourage you to cook what is in season—a mantra that the French strongly live by but one that is less adhered to by North Americans. It was a great lesson for me in expanding my range of recipes. Savour fresh berries in the summer, and bake with apples in the fall. Cook with sweet potatoes in the winter and asparagus in the spring. Eating seasonally will open doors to more recipes that you might not otherwise try. It will make your shopping experience so much more enjoyable, and less expensive, and your food will taste better.
 
I have organized my book to take you through the day from beginning to end, to give you a real taste of what to eat in a day, starting with breakfast and ending with dessert.
 
Enjoy a vegan Classic Flaky Croissant (page 33) for breakfast, savoury Buckwheat Crepes with Cashew Cream Cheese and Greens (page 55) for brunch, a healthy Chickpea Salad Niçoise (page 207) for lunch, Madeleines (page 117) for an afternoon snack, and my Balsamic Mushroom Risotto (page 251) for dinner. These are recipes I enjoy cooking for friends and take pleasure indulging in at local restaurants. As for dessert, choose from your favourite flavours: Mousse au Chocolat (page 281) if you are a chocolate lover, or Pear Tarte Tatin (page 267) if you love fruit.
 
You will also find dishes inspired by the younger generation of French plant-based foodies, which I treasured at the trendy cafés. Enjoy tucking into wellness lattes like a Golden Turmeric Latte (page 86) and wholesome bowls like a Winter Bliss Bowl (page 233). Sink your teeth into gourmet toasts (pages 70 to 77) and devour Wally’s Chocolate Coffee Freakshake (page 93), inspired by my friend Wally’s café hyper chouette (super-cool café).
 
You will find recipes for some of my favourite healthy dishes, some inspired by Moroccan and Lebanese cuisine, such as my Hearty Moroccan Lentil Soup (page 203) and Oven-Baked Falafels (page 231), and wholesome bliss bowls and curry. A blend of traditional recipes, modern plant-based ones, and flavours from nearby cultures so perfectly captures what I enjoyed as a plant-based foodie in France.
 
I have also included recipes for dairy-free basics done right. My recipes for quality plant-based milks are great go-tos if you cannot find those ingredients at your grocery store. Or perhaps they are too expensive, or do not measure up to the quality you are hoping for. Whether you need it quick (try my Super-Quick Oat Milk, page 82) or you have ten minutes to spare for Creamy Dreamy Almond Milk (page 81) to sip like a fine wine, you’ll find them here. In addition, there are recipes to make an array of easy vegan cheeses (starting on page 155) to share at l’apéritif (cocktail hour).
 
I have provided a selection of menu ideas for breakfast or brunch, afternoon tea, l’apéritif, and dinner to tie together tastes, textures, colours and sensations for a well-balanced meal. This is something that the French consider for every meal to give a complete experience from beginning to end. A Sunday brunch is served with at least three courses, whether at a café or a friend’s house, all carefully selected so that you get the full dégustation (tasting). Even busy morning bakeries offer a small menu of fresh orange juice, coffee, and a pastry.
 
Perhaps it is not common in North America to think through a menu so carefully for each meal, but it is certainly something to consider for special occasions. Whether you’re entertaining a crowd, having brunch with your besties, or serving a romantic dinner for two, let my menu ideas be an example of what you can pair together for a memorable meal. Use them as inspiration to create your own.
 
In offering a taste of my life in France as a plant-based foodie, I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I have enjoyed creating them. I hope this cookbook will transform your experience of cooking, and that these recipes will bring stories to your ingredients and help turn monotonous tasks, like scrubbing a dirty potato, into a thankful moment. It is a lesson I am so grateful to have learned from my time in France.
 
Most of all, I hope you enjoy these plant-based recipes to the fullest and that you are proud of what you create—a delicious dish or meal worth sharing. Whether you are making a simple smoothie or a bubbling ratatouille, it is time to be cherished.
 
Bon appétit!
 
Hannah xx

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Cooking Tips 7

Kitchen Tools and Equipment 11

Pantry Staples 17

Petit Déjeuner Breakfast and Brunch

Brunch Menus 26

Cinnamony French Toast with Apple Compote 29

Oaty Banana Pancakes 30

Classic Flaky Croissants 33

Buttery Brioche 39

Parisian Crepes with Chocolate Hazelnut Spread and Banana 43

Maple Pecan Granola 44

Creamy Chia Pudding with Red Fruits 47

Blueberry Muffin Overnight Oats 48

Heavenly Coconut Quinoa Porridge 51

Savoury French Toast 52

Buckwheat Crepes with Cashew Cream Cheese and Greens 55

Mushroom and Spinach Quiche 57

Chickpea Eggy Muffins 61

Chickpea Omelette with Ricotta, Grilled Asparagus, and Tomato 62

Veggie Tofu Scramble with Roasted Baby Potatoes 65

Raspberry Chia Jam 66

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread 69

Avocado Toast with Pink Beet Hummus and Granola 70

PB&J with Fried Banana Toast 73

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread and Strawberry Toast 74

Tofu Eggy Scramble on Whole Wheat Toast 77

Du Lait et des Boissons Milks and Other Drinks

Creamy Dreamy Almond Milk 81

Super-Quick Oat Milk 82

Barista Cashew Coconut Oat Milk 85

Golden Turmeric Latte 86

Matcha Latte 89

Chocolat Chaud 90

Wally's Chocolate Coffee Freakshake 93

Supreme Blueberry Smoothie 94

Green Detox Smoothie 97

Immunity Boost Juice 98

Energizing Green Tonic 101

Salon du thé Sweet Treats, Cakes, and Bites

Sweet Assortment Menus 104

Sweet Sablés 107

Pretty Petites Meringues 110

Chocolate Macarons 113

Madeleines 117

My Darling Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies 118

Raspberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies 121

Ginger Snap or Chewy Cookies 122

Cannelés 125

Baked Beignets 127

Pain d'Épices 129

Healthier Millionaire Bars 133

Brookies 135

Pumpkin Chickpea Blondies 139

Chocolate Almond Torte 140

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread 143

Sneaky Zucchini and Walnut Bread 144

Feel-Good Raspberry Muffins 146

Chocolate Hazelnut Swirl Muffins 149

L'Apéritif Appetizers and Nibbles

Platter Menus 152

Dreamy Cashew Cream Cheese 155

Blue Cheese 156

Herb and Garlic Cheese 159

Luxurious Baked Brie 160

Ooey Gooey Cheesy Fondue 163

Refreshing Ricotta Cheese 164

Sprinkle-on-Everything Parmesan 167

Pink Beet Hummus 168

Golden Roasted Carrot Hummus 171

Roasted Eggplant Baba Ganoush 172

Creamy Avocado Mousse 175

Faux Gras 176

Crunchy Curried Roasted Chickpeas 179

Cheesy Kale Chips 180

Super-Seedy Crackers 183

Crispy Baked Frites 184

Broccoli and Potato Croquettes 187

Les Soupes et Salades Soups and Salads

Chunky Vegetable Soup 193

Creamy Carrot and Ginger Soup 194

Butternut Squash, Apple, and Sage Soup 197

Gourmet French Onion Soup 199

Hearty Moroccan Lentil Soup 203

Chilled Tomato Gazpacho 204

Chickpea Salad Niçoise 207

Herby Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad 208

French Lentil and Walnut Salad 211

Autumn Wild Rice Salad 212

Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Coconut Bacon, Pomegranate, and Parmesan 215

Creamy Crunchy Kale Caesar Salad 216

Entrées Delicious Mains, Sharing Plates, and Wholesome Bowls

Dinner Menus 220

Green Beans Amandine 223

Grilled Asparagus with Cherry Tomatoes and Parmesan 224

Balsamic Roasted Beets with Toasted Pine Nuts and Blue Cheese 227

Maple Spiced Roasted Carrots 228

Oven-Baked Falafels 231

Winter Bliss Bowl 233

Super-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Chickpea Chili 237

Roasted Cauliflower with Pesto and Tahini Drizzle 238

Moroccan Stuffed Eggplant with French Lentils and Parmesan 241

Ultra-Cozy Sweet Potato, Chickpea, and Spinach Curry 242

Crispy Peanut Tofu Bowl with Roasted Broccolini 245

Mushroom Bourguignon with Buttery Mashed Potatoes 247

Balsamic Mushroom Risotto 251

Summer Rainbow Ratatouille 253

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells 257

Cauliflower au Gratin 258

Baked Potatoes with Mushrooms, Spinach, and Gravy 261

Le Dessert Darling Desserts

Lemon Tart 265

Pear Tarte Tatin 267

Sweet Cherry Frangipane Tart 271

French Apple Tart 273

Level-Up Chocolate Mousse Tart 277

Kryptonite Chocolate Lava Cakes 278

Mousse au Chocolat 281

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles 282

Raspberry Clafoutis 285

Just Peachy Crumble 286

Winter Poached Pears with Spiced Syrup 289

Blueberry Ginger Galette 291

Classic Crème Brûlée 293

Crème Caramel 297

Chantilly 298

A Note from Hannah 300

Acknowledgements 303

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 TASTE CANADA AWARDS*

“Hannah has curated a beautiful collection of classic French dishes and made them simple and achievable for the home cook. I love that I can make flaky croissants, buttery brioche, quiche, crepes, and beignets all from the same cookbook! The recipes and photography are so inviting that you’ll be inspired to make everything.”
—Lauren Toyota, creator of hot for food and bestselling author of Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics, and hot for food all day

“In The Two Spoons Cookbook, Hannah delights us with decadent plant-based recipes inspired by her years living and cooking in France. I love that she takes us on a dreamy culinary tour from breakfast through dessert, offering indulgent yet completely doable recipes.”
—Angela Liddon, award-winning author of the bestsellers Oh She Glows for Dinner, Oh She Glows Every Day, and The Oh She Glows Cookbook

“In The Two Spoons Cookbook, Hannah proves that plant-based French food is beautiful, decadent, and most importantly, delicious! This stunning book is jam-packed full classic and newer dishes that are sure to impress everyone, whether they are vegan or not!”
—Sam Turnbull, bestselling author of Fast Easy Cheap Vegan

“I love that these recipes pay tribute to Hannah’s time in France while also celebrating her own unique cooking style. These recipes will invite you to be fully present to your enjoyment throughout the cooking process: from obtaining ingredients, planning the menu, the cooking itself, to sitting down to eat with loved ones. The wholesome and plant-based takes on croissants, madeleines, macarons, brioche, and even artisanal homemade cheeses are not to be missed!”
—Laura Wright, award-winning blogger and bestselling author of The First Mess Cookbook

“Packed with Hannah’s gorgeous recipes and thoughtful menu ideas, The Two Spoons Cookbook is an essential resource for any plant-based foodie. Joyful and accessible, it will empower you to cook delicious, nourishing food for yourself, your family, and your friends.”
—Jeanine Donofrio, bestselling author of The Love and Lemons Cookbook and Love and Lemons Every Day

“[O]ne of the season’s must-have cookbooks.”
—ELLE Canada

“[P]acked with French-inspired (ooh la la) plant-based recipes that prove good-for-you food can actually taste good. But, like, actually.”
—Cosmopolitan

“Hannah Sunderani puts a plant-based spin on French classics. . . . In The Two Spoons Cookbook, Sunderani highlights some of the ways French classics can be reinterpreted and offers a window into a day in the life of a plant-based eater. . . . With The Two Spoons Cookbook, she set out to dispel the idea that French food and plant-based eating are incongruous. Even French pâtisserie, with its dairy-and-egg foundation, is possible.”
—National Post

From the Publisher