Share your favorite recipes for gluten free holiday treats!

[CI Mama]

This will be our first Christmas since DP was diagnosed with Celiac's. I usually make cookies to take with us to our family holiday gatherings, and I'd like to have some really yummy GF options. Cookies, brownies, candy...whatever you can recommend in terms of "treats." I'm looking for something that travels well.

So share your recipes here! And/or your tips for adapting regular recipes to make them GF.

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

[puffingirl]

Our DD is gluten-free.  We make chocolate chip meringues and they are always a hit. I got a recipe for linzer cookies last year and didn't get to make them but will this year. I make lemon bars with gluten-free flour in the base (I use the Jules brand) and the Double Lemon Bars recipe from epicurious.com.  Really tasty!  I've made brownies with coconut flour and teff but, honestly, the King Arthur GF brownie mix in a box tastes better. Peanut butter buckeye candies are gluten-free and delicious.  

[catnip]

The cookbook Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar has a recipe for a flour mixture to make GF versions of almost every cookie in the book. I've personally used it successfully in the brownies, gingerbread, and Mexican chocolate snickerdoodles. The recipes don't use specialty ingredients like egg replacer powder, and most don't use margarine either.

[BubblingBrooks]

We avoid all mixes like the plague, as t\most of them contain way too many additives, as well as raw bean flours that wreak havoc on our gut health. Lets just say pepto had to be served in quantity last time we used a Bobs Red Mill brownie mix.

Anyways!
take your standard favorite brownie mix, and sub the regular flour with Ivory Teff Flour.
And then dare anyone to taste or feel a difference!

For cake, the black bean chocolate cake is amazing.
Beans are either canned or soaked and cooked prior.

Black Bean Chocolate cake.

24 hours prior to making this cake, soak 2 cups of black beans in water, with a little bit of raw whey added.
Cook and cool the beans in fresh water, prior to making the cake.
(Beans may be cooled quickly by rinsing with cold water)
This method assure that your beans will not cause gastric issue of any kind.
If you do not have dry beans available to you, you can use one can of rinsed black beans,
However, I cannot vouch for their not causing gastric distress.

On to the recipe!
In your blender, combine the following.
1 1/2 cups of cooked and cooled beans
3 farm fresh eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
1/2 tsp of sea salt
6 Tbls of cocoa powder
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda.

Blend until smooth.
Add the following ingredients.
3/4 cup of honey
7 tbsp of warmed butter
2 eggs.

Blend again till smooth.

Pour into a buttered pan that has also been "floured" with a bit of cocoa.
Bake until center just springs back when pressed.

Allow to fully cool, and ideally, let sit for a few hours prior to serving.
Serve with a dollop of fresh raw cream and a few sliced strawberries, or a raw coconut oil fudge or your fav sugary icing.

And one other yummy desert.

 

http://www.cheeseslave.com/2009/02/10/chocolate-pots-de-creme-french-chocolate-pudding/

[BubblingBrooks]

As mentioned above, Ivory Teff Flour is a fabulous way to replace standard flour in recipe.
You can make regular pancakes with that being the only ingredient swap.
Or, you can use rice flour and triple the amount of eggs normally called for.

Banana bread also adapts perfectly to either rice or teff flour as the only sub.
Use any recipe that suits your taste buds.
Though I would advise not using any shortening or oil versions, and stick with butter based.
Much healthier and the taste is much more pleasing!

[CI Mama]

Thanks for all these great suggestions!

[SundayCrepes]

Visit www.elanaspantry.com. Her website and her book are part of why I've put on some weight since we went gluten free. She mainly cooks with almond flour. She uses agave syrup as a sweetener, but I usually use an equal amount of honey instead. She has lots of cookies, cakes, muffins, well about everything baked. She even has a cookbook that is only cupcakes.

[moss]

i've found that a lot of the celiac recipes are really high on the glycemic index and really unhealthy.  i dont want my gfcf son to end up with diabetes from cooking with gf flours that have a higher gi than sugar.  we rarely bake but when i do, i use nut flours, and lower glycemic index/higher protein ingredients like sorghum and coconut flours, ground flax. (ie no more potato starch, rice flour, etc!!)

i've had good luck with recipes from http://www.dessertstalker.com/ and http://www.healthyindulgences.net/

[CI Mama]

Originally Posted by BubblingBrooks 

We avoid all mixes like the plague, as t\most of them contain way too many additives, as well as raw bean flours that wreak havoc on our gut health. Lets just say pepto had to be served in quantity last time we used a Bobs Red Mill brownie mix.

Anyways!
take your standard favorite brownie mix, and sub the regular flour with Ivory Teff Flour.
And then dare anyone to taste or feel a difference!

For cake, the black bean chocolate cake is amazing.
Beans are either canned or soaked and cooked prior.

Black Bean Chocolate cake.

24 hours prior to making this cake, soak 2 cups of black beans in water, with a little bit of raw whey added.
Cook and cool the beans in fresh water, prior to making the cake.
(Beans may be cooled quickly by rinsing with cold water)
This method assure that your beans will not cause gastric issue of any kind.
If you do not have dry beans available to you, you can use one can of rinsed black beans,
However, I cannot vouch for their not causing gastric distress.

On to the recipe!
In your blender, combine the following.
1 1/2 cups of cooked and cooled beans
3 farm fresh eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
1/2 tsp of sea salt
6 Tbls of cocoa powder
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda.

Blend until smooth.
Add the following ingredients.
3/4 cup of honey
7 tbsp of warmed butter
2 eggs.

Blend again till smooth.

Pour into a buttered pan that has also been "floured" with a bit of cocoa.
Bake until center just springs back when pressed.

Allow to fully cool, and ideally, let sit for a few hours prior to serving.
Serve with a dollop of fresh raw cream and a few sliced strawberries, or a raw coconut oil fudge or your fav sugary icing.

And one other yummy desert.

 

http://www.cheeseslave.com/2009/02/10/chocolate-pots-de-creme-french-chocolate-pudding/

I really want to give this cake a test run. Have you ever tried making cupcakes with it? One more question:

What is raw whey and where do you get it? And how much is a little bit...a pinch? a spoonful?
 

[kitchensqueen]

Rice crispy treats! You can cut them out with cookie cutters and frost them for the cookie decorating experience too. 

[BubblingBrooks]

raw whey is dripped off of cultured plain yogurt or raw kefir. About a 1/4 cup is needed. Soak for 24 hours and your beans will be gasless!

[BubblingBrooks]

Teff flour is very good as well.

[naturekate]

Try gluten free goddess (http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/) she has a billion and one AMAZING recipes and is very sensitive to additional allergies (egg, dairy, etc) or lifestyles (vegan, low gi grains, raw).  I also simply love her witty posts that accompany her recipes.  I've made so many of her deserts I wouldn't know which one to tell you is my favorite, but one tip.  If a recipe seems too complicated, search for other versions on her site.  She has like 4-5 recipes for pumpkin pie (vegan, crustless, sweet potato etc) and I just usually go with the one that most closely matches the ingredients in my cupboard.

Happy Holidays :)

[BubblingBrooks]

The glycemic index has been debunked. Lots of good info out there. What makes most recipes bad is the super high amounts of refined sugar and very low amounts of good nourishing real fats.
On top of that they usually contain binders and other additives that are not needed.
All grains, legumes, seeds and nuts should be soaked, sprouted or fermented to reduce phytic acid, just like everyone did prior to industrialization.
In fact, if you use sprouted grains, you are using a product that is naturally 75% lower in carbohydrates.

Use evaporated cane juice for sugar needs, and use honey as much as possible, like my black bean cake calls for.

Originally Posted by moss 

i've found that a lot of the celiac recipes are really high on the glycemic index and really unhealthy.  i dont want my gfcf son to end up with diabetes from cooking with gf flours that have a higher gi than sugar.  we rarely bake but when i do, i use nut flours, and lower glycemic index/higher protein ingredients like sorghum and coconut flours, ground flax. (ie no more potato starch, rice flour, etc!!)

i've had good luck with recipes from http://www.dessertstalker.com/ and http://www.healthyindulgences.net/

[CI Mama]

Originally Posted by BubblingBrooks 

raw whey is dripped off of cultured plain yogurt or raw kefir. About a 1/4 cup is needed. Soak for 24 hours and your beans will be gasless!

Thanks for the tip! Looking forward to giving this a try....I usually avoid black beans (even though I love them) because of the, er, gastric effects, so it will be nice to enjoy them again!

[CI Mama]

I made the Black Bean cake recipe this weekend. So delicious! I am getting rave reviews from my family & neighbors. I used canned black beans and so far, no ill effects. I put them into mini-size cupcakes, which worked well. For frosting I made a cream cheese frosting with a couple Tbs. of cocoa powder in it. Yum, yum, yum!

On another note, can anyone recommend a source for ivory teff flour? We have found the regular teff at our co-op, but no ivory teff. I think we'll need to special order it. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[Gina Peterson]

Thanks for this discussion about gluten free holiday recipes. I do want to add, though, that one does not get type 1 diabetes from eating sugar or high glycemic foods - it is thought to be caused by a virus or something in the environment in addition to having the right genetic disposition. Type 2 is thought to be caused by being overweight and not exercising and also has a genetic predisposition to it.

Gina

[Shantimama]

Straight chocolate is my favourite gluten free treat 

[Mulvah]

Here are a few that may hit the spot:

• These are amazing chocolate chip cookies.  I have tried many different recipes and this is a simple recipe that seems to stay fresher longer than most.
• This is a tasty flour-less chocolate cake (I double the recipe).
• These peppermint patties are divine.

I also agree with the above recommendation on Gluten Free Girl's blog!    And, I'm a big fan of Googling a favorite holiday recipe and seeing if anyone has successfully converted it to GF.  I have had a lot of success doing that. 

I'm not even going to get into the healthy discussion that tends to plague threads like this.

[Megan73]

This recipe is easy and delicious (if evil) and I presume gluten-free because it contains only shredded coconut, butter, whipped cream and chocolate: http://www.styleathome.com/food-and-entertaining/recipes/recipe-martha-stewart-s-crisp-coconut-and-chocolate-pie/a/34855
Please correct me if I'm wrong - I'm planning to make it for my Celiac uncle over Christmas!