allergen free icing

[Panserbjorne]

I hope this doesn't get moved to nutrition, because this is really geared to people with kids who have allergies.

I'm looking to make some nice holiday cookies this year.  I really want the kids to be able to have some pretty and interesting things from which to choose, not just my standard almond flour cookies (which are great, but no longer treats if you know what I mean.)

I would LOVE to do a shortbread type cookie that we could cut with cookie cutters and then decorate.  I suspect I can find a recipe for the cookies fairly easily (but if you have one please do share!)  The tough one is the icing.  My regular icing for cakes won't do.  If anyone has any ideas for dairy free/soy free icing I'd love to hear them!  I'm baking for my family as well as my sister's family and would like to suprise her as she's 6 weeks pp and can't do dairy or soy, much to her chagrin.  I want her to have a happy holiday!  (My little nephew too!...no more throwing up for him!)

Thank you!

[lyterae]

I'm hoping to attempt icing this weekend using coconut oil (in place of the butter/shortening) and rice milk, the real problem comes with the sugar as dd is also corn-free...

[deditus]

I have made some pretty yummy icing with coconut butter, thinned with coconut milk and sweetened with honey, but honestly I just played around with it until it was the right consistency.

I think you could also do something coconut oil based as long as where you store them won't get too warm. I'm in MN so I don't have to worry about it being too warm until about July.

I just made some co fudge with 1/3 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 cup coconut oil, 3T. honey and it was a nice icing consistency when melted but not spreadable with a knife, but maybe with coconut butter added it would thicken up to a nice frosting consistency.

[Panserbjorne]

I've done the coconut oil/rice milk frosting with maple syrup before!  Good  luck!

[tanyalynn]

I just use the recipe from one of the Gluten Free Gourmet books, I think it's about 1/3 cup palm shortening (maybe 1/4?--yeah, I wing it a lot), optional cocoa powder, vanilla extract or another flavor that you like, powdered sugar, and once that's sorta together (obviously very powdery) add enough boiling water to get the consistency you want.  Not really healthy, no, but it's just like the frosting I grew up with and the recipe is forgiving.  If you over-do the boiling water (yes, I wing it a lot ) you end up with something that almost pours on and just forms a pretty flat surface, and then it cools and hardens some.  If you get the consistency the way it's supposed to be, it's a normal spreadable frosting, the kind that you can see the lines due to spreading with the knife.

[scsigrl]

Powdered sugar and rice milk for icing.  Works very well, just add a little milk at a time.  You can pipe it when it's thick and use it to drizzle when thin.  Very easy.

Also, Spectrum palm shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla and rice milk works well for cakes.  Thinning it would be easy enough.

As a side note, I was told that Whole Foods powdered sugar is corn free.

[True Blue]

Try this, her recipes never let me down!  http://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2010/12/gluten-free-dairy-free-egg-free-cut-out-sugar-cookies/

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by lyterae 

I'm hoping to attempt icing this weekend using coconut oil (in place of the butter/shortening) and rice milk, the real problem comes with the sugar as dd is also corn-free...

You can make your own, using tapioca or potato starch and regular sugar. Use 1 tsp starch for each cup of sugar, and blend until fine.

If you find a gluten, casein, nut, coconut and egg free shortbread, PB, could you let me know? I miss shortbread! I've given up and decided I'll settle for sugar cookies, if I can find a decent recipe.

[lastrid]

I've made this recipe for shortbread every year for Christmas presents and it gets raves.  I've even added cocoa powder and made a chocolate one for my brother.  It's from "Out Of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens" and it's called Hogmanay Shortbread for the Scottish New Year's Eve.

1/2 cup almond flour

3 cups rice flour

1 tsp xanthan gum (you could use guar gum or do without this, they just have a slightly nicer texture with it)

1/2 cup fine fruit sugar (I've used powdered sugar in the past but intend to just pulverize sugar in the blender this year)

1 cup chilled, hard butter

Sift flour and sugar together and rub butter into the mixture.  (The butter must be hard, because the texture depends on long working with the hands.)  In about 15 minutes, the crumbs should be soft enough to  be kneaded into a ball.  Knead for about 5 minutes until the  ball of dough is smooth.  Shape into two flat, round cakes about 1" thick.  Place into 9' pie plates.  Pinch edges and prick all over and right through with a fork.  Bake at 250-275 about one hour or until lightly browned.  Leave in tins until completely cooled.  Serve in pieces broken off from cooled cake, or cut in wedges while hot.  Store in tightly covered tin in a cool, dry place.

You could also make smaller forms and adjust the cooking time.  They usually take a little longer than an hour for me done as described.

[lastrid]

I just realized that the recipe below that one is for Scotch Cakes which are small shortbreads:

1 cup butter (unsalted)

4 tablespoons brown sugar

2 cups all purpose flour.

Cream butter until very light.  Add the brown sugar and blend together until fully dissolved.  Adld the flour gradually.  Toss on a very lightly floured board and knead, adding only enough additional flour until the dough shows cracks as you knead it.  Pat gently to a 1/2' thickness, and cut into shape.  Place on lightly floured cookie sheet and bake in a 325 deg oven foe 20-25 minutes or until delicately browned.  Cool on racks.

I've not tried to sub the butter in these, but I'm sure you could  I imagine lard would be good.  I strongly recommend against replacing the flour with a bean flour.  We started calling it shartbread after my first attempt. 

[Amandamarie]

Whole Foods powdered sugar is corn-free. It's made with Tapioca starch

[kjbrown92]

my shortbread recipe has almond flour in it, but I'll bet if you just did more sorghum flour, it would be pretty good (haven't tried it since DS went off almonds).

1/2 c. tapioca starch

1/2 c. corn-free confectioners sugar

1/2 c. almond flour (I'd sub with 1/2 c. sorghum flour)

1/2 c. sorghum flour

3/4 c. palm shortening

scant 1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 vanilla bean, scraped

Mix. Chill. Spread in greased 9x9" pan. Bake at 300F for 25-30 minutes. I thought it would be good with melted chocolate layered on top, but never tried it.

For icing I just use powdered sugar (Trader Joes used to be corn-free as well, haven't been there in a while though) and rice milk. For buttercream frosting, I use palm shortening, rice milk or coconut milk yogurt, and corn-free confectioners sugar. When it's something DS will eat, I have to make my own beet sugar confectioners sugar, so I use the blender for that. You have to do it for a while to get the right consistency though.

[Koalamom]

Here is a super good chocolate icing I made the other day.

Palm shortening

cocoa powder

maple syrup

hemp milk

tapioca flour (no more than a tablespoon- a little goes a long way)

- heat over med low heat till starting to thicken, but not too much as the tapioca flour can get gummy/rubbery.  Refridgerate for an hour and it is the best frosting.

I bet you could leave the cocoa out and add vanilla for a white frosting.

[lil_miss_understood]

Thanks, Kathy. I'll give those a shot as soon as I manage to get some tapioca flour again.