Holiday Baking: The Allergy Challenge
It's Advent, the start of the Christmas season! Such a happy time, especially if children are involved.
Let the baking begin!
I love sugar cookies cut into holiday shapes and decorated with that icing that dries to a smooth, shiny surface. However, the usual array of baked holiday treats contain ingredients which are known to trigger an allergic response in some people.
Food aversions are one thing; life threatening allergies are quite another.
A child in my granddaughter's class has severe food allergies...EpiPen level allergies...to wheat, eggs, nuts, and dairy. In fact, due to the almost ubiquitous allergy in young children to nuts, all nuts are banned from the school premises. The Grandparents Club at the school hosts bake sales as fund raisers throughout the year, offering for 25 cents cookies and cupcakes. It has to be sad for kids who cannot participate with their friends in picking out homebaked treats. I know as Meme it breaks my heart. So I did something about it (I love a challenge) and baked sugar cookies without any of the usual suspects: wheat/gluten, soy, nuts, egg, and dairy. Substitutions are readily available and the results are delicious!
FLOUR: Standard all purpose flour means wheat and gluten. There are several brands of gluten-free flour out there so there is no need to reinvent the wheel but I encourage you to read the labels! I tried one made mostly with garbanzo bean flour (who knew such a thing existed?) and my baked goods tasted like bland hummus. Also, you or your loved ones may be sensitive to one or more of the ingredients. Some baking mixes may include powdered egg, dry milk, or nut flours (my daughter is allergic to powdered egg...we found out the hard way after an encounter with a "high protein" smoothie). You may elect to mix your own flour blend.
Alternative flours are quirky beasts. The trick is to use a blend of flours. The idiosyncracies of one can be balanced by the attributes of another. I have to give credit where credit is due: Erika at alittleinsanity.com created a perfect flour blend and she graciously shares her recipe on her site. I have substituted millet or sorghum flour in place of the brown rice and have had no problems.
DAIRY: Allergies/intolerance to dairy includes milk as well as butter. Alternative milk products run the gamut from nuts to grain. Due to cross sensitivities, stay away from almond milk and almond extract, soy, cashew, hazelnut, and coconut milk blends. Again, read labels! Many alternative milks include carrageenan, a seaweed extract added to prevent separation and to give products a "creamy mouth feel." All well and good, but in some folks, carageenen can also cause intestinal inflammation and acute "distress." I go with rice milk. Soak 1/2 cup raw rice (brown or white, whatever is in your pantry) in enough water to cover. Refrigerate at least a couple of hours (overnight if you have the time). In a blender, combine the soaked rice and 2 cups water. Blend a couple of minutes and strain. That's it. If you plan to drink it, you may want to "doctor it up" with sweetener and perhaps vanilla, but for the purposes of baking, plain is fine. Shake or stir before use.
Butter substitutes are also plentiful. Some recommendations are applesauce or mashed bananas, but these work better in moist "quick breads" or muffins, not so much in cookies which need to be crisp. I really hate "margarine." Hate. However, without mentioning a specific brand, an organic buttery soy-free stick works well. I also experimented with coconut oil, which is a solid at room temperature. The cookies were crisp and delicate. The only down side was no buttery flavor.
EGG: For cookies, I substitute the egg in my standard recipe with 1/4 cup...wait for it...canned pumpkin! It binds the other ingredients together without adding any discernable flavor, and seems to be very harmless otherwise. Pumpkin comes in 14 oz cans. With the leftovers, I measure out 1/4 cup increments into a muffin tin and freeze. Once frozen, the pumpkin nuggets can be bagged and kept frozen. Just thaw before use.
ALLERGEN-FREE SUGAR COOKIES
1 cup soy-free buttery sticks (softened, or at room temperature) or solid coconut oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder (read the label: some have gluten!)
3 cups gluten free flour blend
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream sugar and "butter." Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Add flour mixture one cup at a time (dough will be very stiff). Roll out dough in a lightly "floured" surface to approximately 1/8 inch. Cut into shapes. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet, or one lined with a silicone mat, until lightly browned 8-10 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and cool completely.
SUGAR COOKIE ICING
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp corn syrup (optional...can be omitted if corn is an issue)
2-3 tsp milk substitute.
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix thoroughly, tint as desired. I spoon this icing glaze onto the cookies, spread to the edges and lay the cookies flat to dry. The glaze settles and dries to a hard, shiny surface. Sprinkles are optional but this icing dries fast! If you wait, the sprinkles will not stick!
Let the baking begin!
I love sugar cookies cut into holiday shapes and decorated with that icing that dries to a smooth, shiny surface. However, the usual array of baked holiday treats contain ingredients which are known to trigger an allergic response in some people.
Food aversions are one thing; life threatening allergies are quite another.
A child in my granddaughter's class has severe food allergies...EpiPen level allergies...to wheat, eggs, nuts, and dairy. In fact, due to the almost ubiquitous allergy in young children to nuts, all nuts are banned from the school premises. The Grandparents Club at the school hosts bake sales as fund raisers throughout the year, offering for 25 cents cookies and cupcakes. It has to be sad for kids who cannot participate with their friends in picking out homebaked treats. I know as Meme it breaks my heart. So I did something about it (I love a challenge) and baked sugar cookies without any of the usual suspects: wheat/gluten, soy, nuts, egg, and dairy. Substitutions are readily available and the results are delicious!
Alternative flours are quirky beasts. The trick is to use a blend of flours. The idiosyncracies of one can be balanced by the attributes of another. I have to give credit where credit is due: Erika at alittleinsanity.com created a perfect flour blend and she graciously shares her recipe on her site. I have substituted millet or sorghum flour in place of the brown rice and have had no problems.
DAIRY: Allergies/intolerance to dairy includes milk as well as butter. Alternative milk products run the gamut from nuts to grain. Due to cross sensitivities, stay away from almond milk and almond extract, soy, cashew, hazelnut, and coconut milk blends. Again, read labels! Many alternative milks include carrageenan, a seaweed extract added to prevent separation and to give products a "creamy mouth feel." All well and good, but in some folks, carageenen can also cause intestinal inflammation and acute "distress." I go with rice milk. Soak 1/2 cup raw rice (brown or white, whatever is in your pantry) in enough water to cover. Refrigerate at least a couple of hours (overnight if you have the time). In a blender, combine the soaked rice and 2 cups water. Blend a couple of minutes and strain. That's it. If you plan to drink it, you may want to "doctor it up" with sweetener and perhaps vanilla, but for the purposes of baking, plain is fine. Shake or stir before use.
Butter substitutes are also plentiful. Some recommendations are applesauce or mashed bananas, but these work better in moist "quick breads" or muffins, not so much in cookies which need to be crisp. I really hate "margarine." Hate. However, without mentioning a specific brand, an organic buttery soy-free stick works well. I also experimented with coconut oil, which is a solid at room temperature. The cookies were crisp and delicate. The only down side was no buttery flavor.
EGG: For cookies, I substitute the egg in my standard recipe with 1/4 cup...wait for it...canned pumpkin! It binds the other ingredients together without adding any discernable flavor, and seems to be very harmless otherwise. Pumpkin comes in 14 oz cans. With the leftovers, I measure out 1/4 cup increments into a muffin tin and freeze. Once frozen, the pumpkin nuggets can be bagged and kept frozen. Just thaw before use.
ALLERGEN-FREE SUGAR COOKIES
1 cup soy-free buttery sticks (softened, or at room temperature) or solid coconut oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder (read the label: some have gluten!)
3 cups gluten free flour blend
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream sugar and "butter." Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Add flour mixture one cup at a time (dough will be very stiff). Roll out dough in a lightly "floured" surface to approximately 1/8 inch. Cut into shapes. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet, or one lined with a silicone mat, until lightly browned 8-10 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and cool completely.
SUGAR COOKIE ICING
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp corn syrup (optional...can be omitted if corn is an issue)
2-3 tsp milk substitute.
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix thoroughly, tint as desired. I spoon this icing glaze onto the cookies, spread to the edges and lay the cookies flat to dry. The glaze settles and dries to a hard, shiny surface. Sprinkles are optional but this icing dries fast! If you wait, the sprinkles will not stick!
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