Sweet Laurel Bakery. - Sweet Laurel cookbook: recipes for whole food, grain-free desserts

RESOURCES

Almost all of our ingredients can be found at major retailers (Walmart, Target, Costco, and Whole Foods, for instance), but these are our favorite sources.

Almond Flour: Finding affordable organic almond flour can be a challenge, but Nuts.com is a great source for it, along with conventional almond flour and whole nuts.

Apple Cider Vinegar: Bragg makes a fantastic unfiltered, unheated, and unpasteurized apple cider vinegar.

Arrowroot Powder: Bobs Red Mills large bag is much more affordable than the small jars youll find in the spice aisle.

Baking Soda: Bobs Red Mill makes a lovely natural baking soda. Its mined from the ground rather than synthetically created.

Cacao (100% Unsweetened Cacao Powder and 100% Cacao Unsweetened Baking Chocolate): There can be a lot of confusion about what cacao actually ischocolate is made from cacao. So if you arent sure, reach for the 100 percent unsweetened chocolate bar and read the label. If the ingredients consist only of cacao, and no sugar, milk, or additives, youre good to go! ChocoVivos bean-to-bar chocolate factory in Los Angeles is our favorite, but you can find 100 percent bars from more accessible brands like Ghirardelli and Bakers.

Coconut Aminos: This is a delicious gluten- and grain-free substitute for soy sauce made from coconut! It can be found online or at major grocery stores.

Coconut Flour: Bobs Red Mill has a lovely organic version.

Coconut Milk: Finding coconut milk that can whip into thick coconut cream can be a struggle, and a lot of it comes down to picking the right brand. Be sure the coconut milk is in a BPA-free can, is full fat (about 18 percent fat), and contains no additives (these will hurt the milks ability to whip). We love Natural Value organic coconut milk.

Coconut Oil: For a more delicate flavor and higher cooking temperature, we love Nutiva Refined Coconut Oil. Its steam refined, so no chemicals are used in the process.

Eggs: We always recommend purchasing local, pasture-raised, organic eggs. Our favorite brand is Lilys Eggs, from the Santa Monica Farmers Market (they are available regionally).

Gelatin: We like Great Lakes Unflavored Beef Gelatin, Collagen Joint Care, the best. It works great and has many nutrients.

Grass-Fed Ghee: 4th and Heart (fourthandheart.com) makes a delicious ghee.

Himalayan Pink Salt: Any brand of pure Himalayan pink salt works for us, as long as its fine grind.

Honey: We recommend sourcing a local honey from your farmers market, and raw if noted in recipe.

Maple Syrup: We source our maple syrup from a small Vermont farm, Butternut Mountain Family Farm.

Matcha: Matcha Source (matchasource.com) makes the best matcha latte in town, and their Gotcha Matcha is perfect for our baking needs.

Medjool Dates: The Date Lady (ilovedatelady.com) is a great source for all things dates, including date sugar.

Nut Butter: We make our own nut butters in-house, but love the Once Again brand (onceagainnutbutter.com) when we need to grab a jar for the pantry.

Parchment Paper: We always opt for natural and unbleached parchment paper.

Probiotic Capsules: You can find probiotics in the refrigerator section of health food stores. Be sure to purchase capsules that can be opened, releasing the powder on the inside, and be sure not to use probiotic capsules containing prebiotics, as the fermentation will not occur properly. We like a gluten-free brand called Flora.

Rubber Spatula: For getting into the tight corners of our blender, the silicone spatula by Le Creuset cannot be beat. Its tiny and gets into all of the tight spaces.

Silicone Molds: For cake molds and mats for baking sheets, check out the durable, well-made silicone products from Le Silicone.

Vanilla Bean Powder: Terrasoul makes a great vanilla bean powder; find it online or at health food stores.

Vanilla Extract: If you dont want to make some yourself, try our very own Sweet Laurel grain-free Paleo Vanilla Extract (sweetlaurel.com).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Amanda Englander and the Clarkson Potter team, Laurel and I consider ourselves so fortunate to have you behind us. Thank you for letting us feel like we could take chances and create a cookbook from the heart. Youve all been so attentive and collaborative, we couldnt imagine a better team to guide us through creating the first Sweet Laurel cookbook. Alison Fargis, youve been such a fabulous advocate for us from the beginning, and thank you for having our backs every step of the way. Youve helped us up our learning curve and encouraged us to create the book we have hoped for since our first phone call, thank you!

From Laurel:

I am grateful for my loving, sweet husband, Nick, and my supportive family, who were my original taste testers and have encouraged me every step of the way throughout lifes baking adventures. Id like to thank my parents for teaching me the value of eating whole foods and how to appreciate the simple beauty found in nature. I would also like to thank Eleanor Womack, MD, who originally diagnosed me, put me on a strict grain-free, refined-sugar-free, and dairy-free diet, and helped me see how attainable healing through food actually is. Id also like to thank Margaret Floyd (eatnakednow.com), my nutritionist, who continually maneuvers me through the healing process. As a result of her guidance, my autoimmune disease is in remission and I have a healthy and happy baby, Nico. Id like to thank Sweet Laurels dedicated customers and fans, who let us know every day that our baked goods have found happy homes (and bellies). And most important, thank you, Claire, for partnering with me in the early stages of Sweet Laurel and sculpting it into the beautiful brand it is today through your creative vision and photography that is unmatched.

From Claire:

I know Im biased, but I think I have the best family in the world. Mom and Dad, thank you for being so supportive, creative, and encouraging. Amanda, Pat, and Henry, thank you for taste-testing practically every recipe. Aunt Tina, thank you for your help beta testing, and for being my cake inspiration. An especially big thank-you to my husband, Craig, my favorite taste tester and the best partner. Youve helped us build Sweet Laurel from an idea to a company with a vision, I couldnt do it without you. I love you. And, even though you were in my belly for most of it, thank you to my son, James, for making the days of recipe testing, shooting, and tasting even more fun.

Kathryn Mauger and Sam Redinger, thank you so much for all of your hard work. You helped make this cookbook the best it could be, and held me up when I was nine months pregnant and still working. Laurel, who could have imagined where that one slice of cake would take us? You are a blessing to me, and not only an amazing partner, a dear friend.

LAUREL GALLUCCI s world was rocked when she was diagnosed with an aggressive autoimmune disease and told she would never eat cake again. The lifelong baker and dessert lover refused to accept that, which led her to discover the beauty of baking with whole food ingredients. When Laurel shared a slice of grain-free, refined-sugar-free, dairy-free, soy-free, gum-free, filler-free fudge-frosted chocolate caramel cake with her friend Claire Thomas, Sweet Laurel bakery was born.

CLAIRE THOMAS is the creative director and photographer of Sweet Laurel. She is also the cook, writer, and photographer behind The Kitchy Kitchen.

THE SWEET LAUREL METHOD