Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I haven't left many reviews but I was so disappointed in this book that I felt obligated to set the record straight. I've recently had to go on a low-sugar, gluten-free diet and was upset that I was going to miss out on all the Christmas baking this year. However, a friend of mine made me a delicious gluten-free cake and I realized that I could make delicious desserts that everyone would like if I did some research. And so, last Christmas was full of cakes and cookies all gluten-free, made from "regular" recipes I modified through a lot of research and a lot of trial and error. Success! But I don't always have time to hunt down new recipes so I figured I'd buy a cookbook to help me out. The reviews on this cookbook seemed very positive so I purchased it. Well, what a disappointment! Many of the recipes are oily and bland tasting. The author uses Agave as a sweetener in most recipes and despite what the book says, this ingredient is NOT good for diabetics (you'd be better off using a sugar alcohol like xylitol). Sure, the author would probably say that Agave is "natural" unlike sugar alcohols (which are known for being more processed) however, Agave isn't 'natural' like maple syrup, it' is also highly processed sweetener that has more fructose than high fructose corn syrup. I also assume she is trying to be "healthy" by staying away from milk, butter, and eggs in her recipes. Unfortunately, this ends up doing the recipes a lot of disservice. The use of grapeseed oil (light and relatively flavorless oil) makes her desserts taste heavy and (for lack of a better word) oily. The chocolate chip cookies I made came out as flat as a pancake... if she used ingredients like eggs it would help bind her recipes together better. Another alternative to help the texture (which I tried) is to add coconut flour which gives the dough more shape (but I understand that this is an almond flour cookbook so why bother adding in ANOTHER expensive flour to the shopping list). I just feel like the author's quest to be 'healthy' and 'natural' most of the recipes flat and tasteless. What's even worse is that her approach isn't necessarily healthier. Many people can eat dairy and ordinary sweeteners (although we should all try to keep sugar to a minimum). A better approach would have been to give us some alternatives in these recipes and let the reader decide. For instance saying "3/4 Cup Agave nectar OR 1/2 Cup Sugar + 1/3 Cup Water" (or whatever liquid was needed to make up for the missing moisture when omitting the Agave). I'm sure some of these recipes would be better substituting in butter or another type of sweetener, but if I'm going to go through the trouble of doing that then I'd rather do it from a 'normal' recipe that I already know tastes good. Out of 7 dessert recipes I tried in this book, I didn't like any of them. The bottom line is that the desserts contained in this book fall short and some are inedible which is really disappointing when you're spending a lot of time (and ingredients) making them.