Friday, December 20, 2013

Letter from Santa

This is such a cute idea from FARE, I had to share! It's a letter from Santa to a child with food allergies that you can personalize.  I'm printing one for Cody now.

http://blog.foodallergy.org/2013/12/06/a-letter-from-santa-to-your-child-with-food-allergies/

Allergy Friendly Chocolate Cookies with Peppermint Icing

I saved my favorite holiday cookies for last. I can't think of many things that go better together than chocolate and peppermint! I started making these before Cody came along and adapted them to make them allergy friendly.
You'll need crushed candy cane for this recipe. TruJoy Sweets makes a good one that is allergy friendly.

This will probably be my last post for the year. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

See you back here in 2014!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Chocolate cookies with peppermint icing

Cookies
1 1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing
I use this recipe: "Best White Icing Ever"
Use peppermint extract instead of vanilla, and I used pomegranate juice instead of water to make the icing a little pink.
Crushed allergy friendly candy canes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt.
In another bowl combine the shortening, applesauce and vanilla.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
Roll dough into one inch balls, place on a prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly.
Bake 8 -10 minutes.
Let cool completely and use a knife to spread the icing on each cookie.
Sprinkle crushed candy canes over the top.

Makes about 20 cookies.




Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Allergy Friendly Ginger Cookies

As promised here's another recipe for holiday treats. We all love these and Cody asks for them all the time!

The first time I made these, I had another one of my baking misadventures. I love using parchment paper. It makes baking so much easier. I use it to line baking sheets and to roll out dough, but this time I accidentally used wax paper instead of parchment paper on the baking sheet. Not good! I knew something was wrong when it smelled like the kitchen was on fire. I opened the oven and it was full of smoke. Luckily nothing was on fire, but it made for a smelly kitchen and most sad of all is that the cookies had to be tossed. The moral of the story is, don't confuse wax paper with parchment paper!

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Ginger cookies

2 cups oat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons fresh, grated ginger
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
In another bowl mix the remaining ingredients.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients. 
Place the dough on a surface with parchment or wax paper and roll out using a rolling pin.
Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes.
Place on a prepared baking sheet.
Bake 8-10 min only. Don't overcook. These cookies will harden as they cool.
Let cool and decorate with the icing.

Here's the link to the recipe I use for "Best White Icing Ever".

To make drop cookies using maple syrup instead of sugar:
Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups
Replace sugar with maple syrup
Don't add water.
Combine ingredients and place spoonfuls of dough onto the baking sheet. 
Cook as directed above.



Thursday, December 12, 2013

Allergy Friendly Caramel Apple Pie

Hi, I'm back!

I wore myself out with all of the Thanksgiving recipes, so I took a little break. Below is a picture of Cody at the table with our top 8 allergen free Thanksgiving meal. We had a great day and it made me feel good to know Cody could try everything I made, even if he didn't like it. :) 

I am just going to post a few recipes for holiday treats I wanted to try.

The first is apple pie. Apple pie is my husband 's favorite, so I wanted to come up with a good one. Plus I really wanted to use some of that great caramel I made and posted about earlier. He thinks this came out delicious and so do I. So far Cody will only try the topping. He didn't spit it out, so that's a good sign!

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Caramel Apple Pie

Pie Crust
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chilled vegetable shortening (I like Spectrum Organic shortening)
4 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling
10 apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons oat flour

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup shortening 
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Crust
In a food processor, combine the flours and salt until well blended.
Chop the chilled shortening into pieces, add to the food processor and blend until you have small clumps (like breadcrumbs).
Slowly add the cold water 1 tablespoon at a time until a ball starts to form.
Test by pinching some of the dough between you fingers. If it stays together it's ready.
Place the dough in the pie pan and use your fingertips to press the dough evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Filling
In a large pot combine the apples and other filling ingredients (except caramel). Stir until apples are coated.
Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples are softened.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Melt the caramel (if not already melted) in a small saucepan.
Stir caramel into the apple mixture.

Topping
Put all of the topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse until just combined.

Pour apple filling into the pie crust and sprinkle topping over the apples.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 30 - 40 minutes until topping and crust are golden brown.