Allergy Friendly Baking WINS
Since my last post went on and on about the perils and pitfalls of allergy friendly baking, I thought it’d be only fair to talk about my allergy friendly baking wins.
With some trial and error, I have gotten much better at this skill and have even found some recipes where I like the allergy friendly version better than the standard!
Quick disclaimer: I was avoiding cow’s milk and eggs, so those are the allergens I’ll be discussing. However, I promise you can find the same success with your allergens!
#1. Caramel Popcorn
The same recipe that brought me to tears when I tried to sub coconut oil for butter, has become on of my favorite recipes! I used Miyokos vegan butter in place of the coconut oil and, like magic, the recipe came together.
Why?
Well, regular butter contains a small amount of water, whereas coconut oil is completely fat. Good vegan butters have a similar composition, allowing them to work in something as technical as caramel.
Bonus, my mom and I prefer the clean taste of the non dairy version, so even though I can safely eat dairy, we go out of our way to buy vegan butter for this recipe.
#2. Homemade Cake
Even though I’m a veteran baker, I will never EVER judge someone for using cake mix. It’s surprisingly hard to get from-scratch cake to achieve that moist lightness we expect from a box of Duncan Heinz.
In an effort to help and cheer the newly diagnosed Katie, my parents bought me America’s Test Kitchen’s cookbook, Vegan for Everybody. (#notsponsored but I SUPER recommend this book for anyone with a dairy or egg allergy.) I used there vanilla cake recipe to make a fun-fetti Mother’s Day cake and was blown away by the soft and flavorful sponge.
TO THIS DAY it is my go to cake recipe, allergies or no.
#3. Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Did you know you can make your own ice cream??? Just grab yourself an ice cream machine and go to town.
That’s precisely what I did many times when I was dealing with food allergies. It’s a great way to customize flavors and be much more sure that a product won’t contain your allergen. (cough, sesame, cough, cough) Finding a good dairy free vanilla ice cream is surprisingly tough, so I started making my own with coconut milk. However, the coconut flavor did poke through.
When I discovered that dousing the ice cream base with mint extract and mixing in vegan chocolate chips obliterated the coconut, I was hooked.
Well, Folks,
I could go on and on about allergy friendly food, but I’ll stop there for today. I hope this gives you some hope and inspo! Go have an awesome day.