As a natural-foods chef, an important part of my business is to know the synergy between food and healing, and more specifically, the effects of certain foods on different people’s diets.
My line of baked goods, bethennybakes, was created to appeal to a captive audience: people with food allergies. I was running a health-food restaurant chain, and I was astounded by the amount of people who were allergic to wheat, dairy, and eggs.
Since so many of us have a sweet tooth and baked goods are such a delicious part of our lives, this is daunting to some people. Every birthday, holiday, and even many everyday meals end with something sweet. Allergies are even more devastating for children who may feel ostracized and “different” when they can’t have a cupcake at a Halloween party.
My goal was to create baked goods that taste delicious with no sacrifice in flavor or texture. Parents (even if they don’t have children with allergies) love these recipes, because they haven’t been corrupted by artificial, processed, and unhealthy ingredients.
Simply put, allergy-free baking is chemistry and substitution. Through a process of elimination and substitution, anyone can make almost any dessert they can dream of. More importantly, they’ll love it.
How to substitute
Take your favorite treat; let’s say it’s a chocolate chip cookie. Look at the recipe: Undoubtedly, white flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and chocolate chips are there. So what to do? One by one, make substitutions. Oat flour is an excellent substitution for white flour. Arrowhead Mills makes a great brand that I often use. Oats are high in fiber, don’t spike your blood sugar, and they keep you feeling full longer. If you can’t find this product, finely grind oats into a meal. Oats are often cross-contaminated with wheat, so for gluten allergies, this doesn’t apply—I’ll get to that later.
As for the eggs, I substitute with mashed bananas or applesauce. They act as a binder, add nutrients, and, as a bonus, keep the total cholesterol down. For one egg, use 1/3 mashed banana. Since you will be eliminating butter (if you’re allergic to dairy), then you need to use a non-flavored oil or a softened vegan shortening (found in health-food stores).
Health-food stores and most supermarkets sell dairy-free chocolate chips; look for semisweet or dark chocolate chips (for added antioxidants) without milk. If your recipe includes milk, substitute soy, rice, or almond milk.
Next page: Make small adjustments
Comments (3)
In reference to the allergy-free baking article on October 9th, 2008,you state that oats contain gluten which is not true. Some oats are processed in factories where wheat is also processed, so cross contamination can theoretically occur, but oats themselves do not contain gluten. Oats can be purchased which state they are gluten free, meaning they are processed where no wheat is also processed. This should be clarified on your website before a lot of gluten intolerant people stop eating oats.
While it’s true that oats do not contain true gluten there is still some controversy in the celiac community as to whether or not they are ok. Cross-contamination is not the only issue. Most doctors recommend being symptom free for at least six months before introducing oats. For some as yet unknown reason, some celiac’s systems do react to oats as they would to wheat, barley, or rye. For this reason the decision to consume oats should be made carefully after discussing it with your doctor and carefully introducing oats while monitoring symptoms. If there is ever any question about any food check with your doctor or an official website affiliated with the celiac sprue association or another medically affiliated group.
Thanks for all of your helpful tips.
I’m sure people who liked this post will love this Allergy Friendly Restaurant resource, which is a directory of restaurants, food retailers and food manufacturers who cater to people with food allergies.