For nearly 80 years, William Greenberg Desserts has been baking the kind of desserts New Yorkers know by heart. So when owner Carol Becker set out to create vegan versions of the bakery’s classics, there was one requirement: they still had to taste like William Greenberg.
Jewish Press of Tampa recently featured Carol and her cookbook, William Greenberg Desserts Bakes Vegan, looking at how she adapted familiar recipes without losing what made them favorites in the first place.
The book began, in part, with requests for more parve desserts from customers who wanted something special to serve after a meat meal. That led to a larger challenge: could the bakery’s familiar recipes be made without dairy or eggs and still have the flavor and texture people expected?
Carol spent more than a year finding out.
The result is 50 plant-based recipes, including Cinnamon Rolls, Linzer Tarts, Chocolate Pound Cake, Peanut Butter Brownies and Sour Cream Blueberry Coffee Cake. The point was never simply to substitute one ingredient for another. Each recipe had to work on its own—and be good enough to carry the William Greenberg name.
That balance between tradition and change has always been part of the bakery. Recipes may evolve and tastes may change, but the standard remains the same.
On Sunday, November 1 at 2 p.m., Carol will speak about William Greenberg Desserts Bakes Vegan at the Shanna and Bryan Glazer JCC in Tampa as part of the Jewish Book Festival. The afternoon will include a conversation with Carol, along with a tea and tasting of select vegan recipes from the book.
A fitting way to talk about the book, we think: with something sweet on the table.