Orlando - Allergen-Free Desserts to Delight Your Taste Buds: a Book for Parents and Kids

Copyright 2015 by Amanda Orlando All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design by Mary Belibasakis Cover photo credit: Amanda Orlando ISBN: 978-1-63220-337-3 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-787-6 Printed in China

DEDICATION

For Aunt Marilyn Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

F irst of all thank you to my brother for tasting every single recipe in this book multiple times, especially within the last few years. Humans everywhere envy your metabolism. Thank you to Brandon for your love and encouragement when I was feeling overwhelmed and unable to look at sugar anymore.

Thank you to my parents for trusting me to use the stove as soon as I was old enough to reach it and for tasting the many strange creations I came up with as a kid. Also, thank you for my first camera, this book wouldnt have been possible without it. Thank you Karrie, Joella, Maddie, and Rya for volunteering to be my professional taste testers and for the positive encouragement! Although Im finished writing the book, the care packages will still keep coming. Karrie especially, thanks for being an amazing best friend and providing me with mounds of support. Thank you Michael and Nicole for being fantastic models! Thank you so much Bruce for writing the foreword, I really appreciate that you took the time to do that. Many thank yous to my agent, Haskell Nuss-baum, and my editor, Catherine Kovach, who made this all possible.

Thank you to Sarah Labrie, Kelvin Kong, Jason Hackworth, Jenny Lass, and Stella Grasso for the professional advice. To all my friends and family, thank you for your ambitious and gracious support! From the moment I found out that my dream of becoming an author was becoming a reality, I was overwhelmed with congratulatory emails, calls, and messages of pride and promise to support my work. I truly appreciate it.

FOREWORD

T hank you, Amanda, for putting this very valuable cookbook together. Speaking for those of us whose families live with food allergies, I appreciate any resource that helps with this day-to-day challenge. Food is the spice of life and this book is full of healthy, safe alternatives.

Delicious!!! Bruce Croxon

INTRODUCTION

B ake sales are a fun and tasty tradition at elementary schools all over, but not necessarily so for kids who have food allergies. Usually restricted to the baked goods prepared by their parents, allergic kids are not able to fully enjoy the ritual of lining up single file and marching over to the bake sale, tables lined with proud moms and delicious treats. Birthday parties and classroom parties are a similar story. Oftentimes, children with allergies will feel left out of the experience because they cannot fully or as freely participate or interact in social situations involving food. When one of the highlights of a party is the big birthday cake or the table of treats, it is hard for kids who are allergic to those things to get excited or feel included. The effects of food allergies are not simply physical; it is important to remember that they also affect children emotionally and psychologically.

The goal of this cookbook is to promote inclusivity at home and at school, and to help parents and children who do not have allergies discover that allergen-free baking is a simple and delicious way to promote social inclusion and understanding. Id like you to know that I am speaking from personal experience. I have had severe allergies to dairy, nuts, peanuts, legumes, and high concentrations of soy, for my whole life. As many parents know, schools are now taking precautionary measures to reduce the threat of reaction by banning peanuts, nuts, and other common allergens. A measure that allergic kids (the numbers of which are on the rise) greatly appreciate. I understand that this can be difficult to accommodate for someone who has never encountered food allergies before, and that many find it a contentious issue to tiptoe around.

If youve picked up this book I think its pretty safe to assume that you or someone you know has food allergies or intolerances. Maybe youre a pro at being an allergy parent, or maybe dietary restrictions are a whole new experience for you. Either way, I hope you find this book to be a helpful and delicious tool to add to your allergen-free repertoire. For someone new to the allergen-free scene, its hard to know what exactly contains gluten or dairy, if nutmeg is actually a nut, or if coconut milk and butternut squash are hereby barred from the school on two counts of threatening an allergic reaction. Thats why I have included allergen information for each recipe, so that you and your kids can be confident in the kitchen without having to question each ingredient. It is understandable that people who are not accustomed to food allergies will shy away from allergy-friendly baking.

If youve abandoned the idea of baking something yourself for your childs birthday, class party, or bake sale, you may decide to buy something allergy friendly from the store. After picking up any box in the grocery store you will probably come to realize that packaged foods are laced with various dairy, wheat, corn, and nut products. Even in small amounts these ingredients can be very dangerous for a person with allergies. You may come to find products that claim they are allergy friendly but still do contain many common allergens (oh the lies!). Understandably, this can leave you stumped. How do I make substitutions in my decadent-French-pastries cookbook to accommodate the kids with allergies to dairy and nuts? Do not despair! I have taken the liberty of putting together a quick guide to baking using simple and fun recipes that you can do with your kids and that will impress at any event, and that can fool the taste buds of the masses.

This collection of recipes is a great resource for kids or families with allergies to dairy, nuts, peanuts, legumes, eggs, and citrus. All of the following recipes were designed for kids to do with their parentsa great alternative to watching TV or sitting online. They are laid out in a clear, easy-to-follow way, so that even your kids can take charge of the kitchen! Before you begin your baking adventure, here are some helpful tips First, I advise that you inform yourself of the allergens that are off-limits in your school, and if any of your kids friends have any other allergies that have not been banned but may be life-threatening to them (this will also be helpful when birthday parties roll around). Its best to write them down so you can refer to them at any time and have them at the ready for when your kids tell you at 11:54 p.m. that you have to bake 35 cupcakes for their class the next morning. It is also a good idea to search the allergens online to see if they go by any other names, and to see which foods commonly contain them.