Help with safe cookies

[stephienoodle]

So, DS is 2. He's blissfully unaware sometimes, but noticed yesterday that I was making cookies for DH. He then wanted cookies... but the cookies that I used to make for him are no longer safe. I need some help to figure out if there is a cookie that I can make for him.

We used to make almond butter cookies (ingredients: almond butter, eggs, sucanat). He's lost egg and he's never been ok with flax. We can't use egg replacers or xanthan gum because of corn and the other couple of things that I hear of folks occasionally using as binders (banana and applesauce) are also not safe. I have no clue what might bind the cookies together.

He can't do gluten, corn or rice... but according to some recent testing he may be ok with oats, sorghum, teff, or millet, though all would be on a trial-basis. Coconut, tapioca, and arrowroot would also be a trial. He's definitely ok with almonds and pecans, so flour/meal from one of those may work. He's also safe with potato starch and chickpea flour.

Fat-wise, he can do lard, tallow, olive oil, sunflower oil, and any oil that may come with almonds or pecans. He cannot do butter and coconut oil would be a trial.

Sugar-wise, he can do sucanat and honey, but maple syrup and dates are a no-go.

So, is there any hope to make cookies? The poor little guy is down to so few foods (between reactions and being a picky toddler) that I'd really like to have something else as an option. I'd love it if you wonderful mamas could give me some ideas!

[JaneS]

Maybe a shortbread type of cookie that doesn't require eggs?

[stephienoodle]

Thanks for the idea, Jane. I'm going to try tallow, potato starch, chickpea flour, and sucanat tomorrow. I'll report back. My fingers are crossed!

[rhesp1212]

What about a chewy granola bar kind of cookie.......I used to make some for DS all the time. Puree 1 1/2 raisins with a tablespoon of water, throw in some oats (about 1-2 cups until it holds together nicely) and 2 tsp baking soda. You could throw in some of your safe nuts and whatever else you want really. Coconut is yummy in them as well. Spray square brownie pan with olive oil or other safe oil, press mixture into pan and bake until brown on edges. Slice and store in airtight container.

I've also made egg free, flax free, wheat free cookies using coconut flour and oat flour. I followed a basic cookie recipe for the amounts of ingredients and just subbed whatever ingredient I needed to leave out. I take the eggs out completely, use coconut oil or you could use tallow, use whatever safe sweetener you can use, and I used oat flour and rolled oats instead of wheat flour. For levening, I use equal parts of baking soda, cream of tartar and tapioca flour. They are cakey cookies when they first come out of the oven, but eventually get hard....DS used to love them!

[somegirl99]

Can he have soy? I have sometimes successfully used tofu as an egg replacer in cookies.

[kjbrown92]

have you tried guar gum (legume) or karaya gum (gum tree)? We're okay with karaya all the time, and guar gum on rotation (once every 4 days). I wonder if gelatin would bind things.... there's got to be a way to do it with the tapioca gluey stuff.

[stephienoodle]

We might be able to do the granola-type cookies, but with prunes instead of raisins. I'll have to see if DH is willing to eat those if kiddo can't/won't eat them.

We don't do soy, so tofu as a replacer won't work.

Kathy, where do you get the gums? We might need to try one of those. I also requested for one of the local HFS to order grass-fed gelatin, and it is supposed to be in this week. We might try and see if that'll help hold things together.

The chickpea flour, sucanat, potato starch, and tallow cookies were a bust. They tasted ok - not great. They didn't hold together well. They got really flat and brittle and crumbled with the lightest touch. Oh... and kiddo wouldn't even try them. Urgh.

Back to the drawing board sometime in the next couple of days...

[kjbrown92]

I get Wilton's Gum Tex (karaya gum) at Joann Fabrics (a big craft store chain), in the cake decorating section. Usually with a 40% off coupon since it's about $10 a can.

We get pork gelatin from Great Lakes Gelatin (they sent me a sample, since I said that I wanted to test my kids to know if it was safe for them before ordering a bunch, and they sent me a sample that lasted for months) since DD2 can't have beef.

Personally, I'm not a fan of chickpea flour in sweet applications, only for savories (like zucchini fritters). The bean-y taste throws the taste "off" for me on sweet stuff.

Can he do pear or peach? You could puree either of those and use it like some people use applesauce and banana (one of my kids couldn't do banana and the other couldn't do apples, so we've pureed different things over the last few years).

[True Blue]

There is a cookbook from Enjoy Life foods that we have...they are all vid of the top 8 allergens plus sesame, potato, and something else. Here it is. http://www.amazon.com/Enjoy-Lifes-Co...2698212&sr=8-1 It might be of some help.

[deditus]

Chia seed can be used as an egg replacer, too. Make like flax goop, but use 1/3 to 1/2 as much as it holds more water than flax.

[EmTheWife]

can you son have yogurt? It works well as an egg substitute in cookies, brownies and pancakes. (vanilla flavored tastes best, plain works but sometimes needs more "sugar" added)

[Thystle]

Originally Posted by True Blue

There is a cookbook from Enjoy Life foods that we have...they are all vid of the top 8 allergens plus sesame, potato, and something else. Here it is. http://www.amazon.com/Enjoy-Lifes-Co...2698212&sr=8-1 It might be of some help.

And getting some of their cookies for quick snacks or when you are out of other ingrediants works too!


My suggestion is to take the top five recipes you used to use and see how many of the ingrediants you can replace creatively. Write it out like a graph or chart and see if you can salvage any of them. If it's a no go then start trying to find a replacement.

[stephienoodle]

Ok, so I'm going to attempt cookies again in the next day or so. I haven't figured out exactly what I'm going to try, but I'm thinking that I might just do our almond butter cookies but trial chia seed as the egg replacer in them. I'm also going to hit our Michael's and see if they've got the karaya gum in their cake section. Kathy, do you know if cold-dissolve (non-gelling) gelatin will work? We just got a huge container of grass-fed cold-dissolve gelatin that we're going to trial... wondering if that might hold things together or if I need the hot-dissolve gelling gelatin.

We can't do yogurt and have so many restrictions at this point that it is pretty hard to go off of old recipes and swap out ingredients. We've hit a point where our ingredients don't behave like the ones that they're replacing, so things end up as a disaster.

Is the Enjoy Life book heavy on corn and rice? We can't have any of their store-bought cookies either, between rice, grapes, pears, and dates...

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by stephienoodle

Ok, so I'm going to attempt cookies again in the next day or so. I haven't figured out exactly what I'm going to try, but I'm thinking that I might just do our almond butter cookies but trial chia seed as the egg replacer in them. I'm also going to hit our Michael's and see if they've got the karaya gum in their cake section. Kathy, do you know if cold-dissolve (non-gelling) gelatin will work? We just got a huge container of grass-fed cold-dissolve gelatin that we're going to trial... wondering if that might hold things together or if I need the hot-dissolve gelling gelatin.

Not sure. The Great Lakes Gelatin that I have has directions on it, and the first one is room temperature liquids and teh second one is for hot liquids. So I don't know what the difference is. It's just an idea to hold it together so I don't know how much you'd use or when you'd add it. It's not something I've tried yet.

We can't do yogurt and have so many restrictions at this point that it is pretty hard to go off of old recipes and swap out ingredients. We've hit a point where our ingredients don't behave like the ones that they're replacing, so things end up as a disaster.

At some point, if you trial coconut, we make coconut milk yogurt. Just to keep in mind.

[stephienoodle]

Report back... I chia seeds! They put flax to SHAME as a binder. I did kiddo's almond butter cookies using them as the egg replacer (1 T chia seed with 3 T water that sat for 15 minutes before mixing with 1 cup almond butter and about 1/3 cup sucanat) and the cookies turned out intact and so soft. They're definitely a different texture than they were with real eggs, but the taste isn't that different. Kiddo not only is willing to eat them, but it seems that chia is now on our safe food list. I also tried them and I think that chia passed for me, too!

The recipe turned out so soft that I'm thinking that I can adapt it for use in muffins or cupcakes. I might try adding some blueberries or something and tossing the same batter into a muffin tin.

As long as we keep tolerating chia, I am NEVER going back to flax in place of eggs!

[ASusan]

Thanks for the update about chia. I bought some a while back, but haven't had a use for it. I will start using chia in place of flax seed for a while.