Clockwise from top: Gingersnaps, Star Shortbread, Powdered-Sugar Lemon, Oatmeal, Oatmeal with Craisins, and (middle) Lemon-Flower Tarts Image ©2010 Jason Gift Enevoldsen
I baked 5 batches of cookies this week. Yum!
If you think holiday baking is harder with allergies, well, I don’t think it is. What’s hard is store-bought safe food. Here are some of my favorite recipes for the holidays.
Gingersnaps Shortbread Powdered-Sugar Lemon Cookies Oatmeal Cookies (add craisins for festivity) Lemon-Flower Tarts
Julekake Sugar Cookies Joulupiparkakut – Gingerbread Powdered-Sugar Mints (wheat free!) Blondies Pumpkin Bread And don’t forget about pie with the filling of your choice
Have a safe and yummy holiday season!
From Debbie Gift
Blend softened margarine and 8 ½ cups powdered sugar.
Add peppermint extract and food colorings (split mixture into portions for multiple colors).
Knead in the remaining powdered sugar until consistency allows you to make a “log roll” shape or small balls without cracks.
Cut slices from the log roll, cut slices in 4 pieces, then roll into small balls. Or scoop out teaspoon sized chunks from the mixture and roll into balls.
Dip candy mold in superfine sugar and tap out excess.
Roll balls in superfine sugar, press into mold, unmold onto waxed paper.
Let dry on waxed paper until candies can be lifted without breaking.
Store in covered container.
From Alice Enevoldsen
This recipe is a little more finicky than others. The creamed fat and sugar need to turn out just right for the cookies to turn out. Last time I made them the creamed fat and sugar looked (seriously) like beaten egg-whites – peaks and all. They turned out PERFECTLY.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
Cream both fats and sugar until fluffy. Then keep creaming them. Cream until it looks like butter and sugar creamed together. You want the sugar to be smooth, not grainy – so keep creaming. Stir in vanilla. Add flour all at once and mix only until mixed. Do not overwork the dough.
Smoosh out enough dough for one cookie and cut it in place on the cookie sheet with a cookie cutter. Before removing cutter, take extra dough from around the cutter and add it back to the rest. When you have a full sheet of cookies, chill them for 10 minutes then put them directly in the oven.
You can also put through cookie press and form cookies onto baking sheets. Do not overwork the dough.
Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. Glaze with a powdered-sugar/water or powdered-sugar/oat milk glaze.
Okay, this has to come with the warning to DO YOUR OWN research if you have allergies, but, after many many years of not eating Jelly Bellys because of cross-contamination with the peanut butter flavored beans, I just heard that that flavor was discontinued, and all Jelly Belly flavors are now safe for vegtarians, peanut-allergic individuals, and dairy-allergic individuals. Not to mention that they’re Kosher. Their non-Jelly Belly candy is made on different equipment. They still make licorice – one of my allergens – but cross contamination is less of an issue with that one for me. They do use cornstarch.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY I CAN EAT JELLY BELLYS AGAIN! Well, probably, I’ll be trying them carefully at first. I’ll let you know how it goes.
This is also true of their candy corn. I have been craving mallowcreme for a DECADE.
CAVEAT: Check the package of Jelly Bellys for cross-contamination warnings. As Jelly Belly’s have a long shelf-life, the store you bought them from might have some of the old peanut-contaminated batches.
Thank you Jelly Belly. Thank you!
Some of my standard substitutions for Asian-food staples:
From Jason Gift Enevoldsen
Bits to add
Add onions, ginger, steak, salmon (whole), Maggi, and beef broth. Bring to a boil, simmer 1 ½-2 hours until steak is tender and cooked through. KEEP COVERED, you’re not boiling it down. (Salmon will have disintegrated completely, but that doesn’t matter).
Soak rice noodles in hot water 10-15 minutes. Boil noodles for 1 minute, strain and rinse in cool water immediately.
After broth is done, cut steak in very thin strips – crossgrain if possible.
(*Listed Sriracha ingredients: Chili, Sugar, Salt, Garlic, Distilled Vinegar, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Bisulfate As Preservatives, and Xanthan Gum.)
(**Listed Maggi ingredients: Water, salt, wheat gluten, wheat, and less than 2% of wheat bran, sugar, acetic acid, artificial flavor, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, dextrose, caramel color)
Related posts: my standard Asian-food cooking substitutes.
I can’t believe I haven’t posted this yet. My go-to actually-for-real-egg-free egg substitute is Ener-G Egg Replacer. It is currently carried by Amazon.
Ener-G Egg Replacer
Their listed ingredients (but check your own box to be sure) are: Potato Starch, tapioca starch flour, leavening (calcium lactate [not derived from dairy], calcium carbonate, citric acid), sodium carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose.
I follow the directions on the back of the box. I always use it in baked goods, and have had luck in things like chicken nuggets as well which I wasn’t expecting.
When that’s not an option I use this recipe:
The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network keeps a good list of substitutes on hand as well.
From Jenn Purnell
Photo by Jenn Purnell
Salad
Dressing
Serving
Cook rice. Dice zucchini, parsnips, celery, onions, and finely chop the garlic. Clean and chop the spices. Dice the chicken.
Steam the zucchini and parsnips. Sauté garlic and onions in oil until soft. (Leave the celery aside)
Add chicken to garlic and onions along with tarragon and thyme. Sauté on high until outside of the chicken is white all over, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Stir every 5 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
Whisk dressing ingredients together. Serve on side.
Mix rice, veggies, chicken. Serve over spinach, top with flowers. Add dressing to taste.
Shave the carrots into nice thickish shavings – about 2-3 inches long. Toss them with the rice wine vinegar and olive oil. Let sit for 15-20 minutes.
Separate the prosciutto and turkey into individual slices, and slice in half.
Wrap a basil leaf and 5-15 carrot shavings in a cold cut. Lay out on a pretty platter.
Eat.
From Corinne Cooley
Before you turn on the oven, move the rack as far down as you can. Then preheat the oven to 475F. Use 4 tablespoons of oil to grease a cookie sheet. Season the pan with salt and pepper.
Cut the potatoes into fries. Soak the potatoes in the hottest tap water available for 10 minutes. Dry the potatoes completely, toss with 1 tablespoon oil, and lay out on cookie sheet. Cover with foil and tuck in tightly.
Bake 5 minutes. Remove foil.
Bake until the fries are beginning to get golden brown on the bottom (15-20 minutes). Flip – but make sure you still have only one layer of potatoes.
Bake until done – crispy (5-15 minutes).
Rotate the pan if the fries are cooking unevenly.
Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Salt.