Want to bake your own gluten-free desserts for the holidays? It’s not as simple as substituting one type of flour for another, but it’s not as hard as you might think!
In a Care2 exclusive, Nicole Hunn, author of Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread: Biscuits, Bagels, Buns, and more, generously shares her secrets for homemade gluten-free desserts for the holidays.
1. Use a Gluten-Free Recipe.
Even though these days there is no shortage of gluten-free flour blends that call themselves a “cup for cup” replacement for all purpose wheat flour, great gluten-free baking still requires gluten-free recipes.
The ingredient balance (especially to control moisture) must be different, as gluten-free flour blends simply behave a bit differently than conventional all purpose flour. There’s nothing wrong with that!
Especially when you are baking for a crowd, you don’t want to start experimenting with your old recipes. Find a trusted source of gluten-free recipes and begin there. Early baking success means you'll want to keep baking!
2. Start With Drop Cookies.
Many people come to eating gluten-free never having baked much of anything before. All of a sudden, they not only feel the need to bake, but they have to do it with unfamiliar flours. It can be very overwhelming!
Whenever someone asks me what sort of baking recipe to select first, I always recommend a simple drop cookie, like gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. As long as there’s butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla, they’re going to be delicious and you'll feel like a rock star. And the winter holidays are all about cookies, so you’re right on time.
