Q: I have a friend who has become sensitive to wheat. I'd like to bring her some wheat-free baking as a gift.
Can you recommend any good recipes that don't require special ingredients like xantham gum?
Sent by Jan
Editor: Jan, our experience with gluten-free baking is that you usually need at least one or two specialty ingredients. This is because even ostensibly gluten-free ingredients (such as oats) aren't processed in completely gluten-free environments, and so it is advisable to buy certified gluten-free oats, rice flour, or other baking ingredients.
Having said that, if your friend does not have celiac disease, and has a more mild sensitivity to gluten, it might be fine to use conventional oats, rice, and corn flours, without worrying too much about how pure they are. But this decision is up to you.
And one last note on the specialty ingredient discussion: Xanthan gum is actually quite cheap and easy to find in the bulk section of your local Whole Foods or health food store. I buy it in tiny amounts (you usually only need a teaspoon or less) for less than a dollar.
Here are a few gluten-free recipes from The Kitchn. The first two recipes are perhaps the closest to what you asked for.
• The Best Chewy Chocolate Cookies Ever (& Low-Fat Too)
• Recipe: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Monster Cookies
• Gluten-Free Chocolate Whoopie Pies & Marshmallow Cream
• Chocolate Cupcakes (Vegan! Gluten-Free!) & Coconut Icing
Readers, any more recipes or ideas for Jan?
Related: Can You Recommend Good Gluten-Free Resources?
(Image: Faith Durand)
How to Make Easy 3-Ingredient Energy Bars at Home
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
TW Salt Mill by Wil...
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Marisa and Peter's Playfully Eclectic Home
I've had this one 2x now and I love it, love it, love it. It's super simple too.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/homemade-starbucks-orange-cake/
Hint: it's best if it's chilled.
Faith makes an important point. We all should be mindful of food allergies when gifting food items. It is a big responsibility when serious complications - anaphylaxis - occurs. I've seen it twice and both times it was in social settings, pot luck, if you will. We were lucky each time but it was frightening.
Personally it is a risk I choose not to take.
Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook, A Seasonal Vegetarian Cookbook by Leslie Cerier, yours truly, was just published and uses all gluten-free grains and flours without xanthan gum potato starch or other strange ingredients:
to read more about it, please visit:http://lesliecerier.com/cookbooks.html
There are loads of great pastries, main dishes, sides dishes, sauces, even a Sushi Making chapter
my best friend has celiac and i've learned a lot about gluten free baking/cooking in the past 3 years. there are many ways to just remove the gluten without having to substitute the flours & add xanthan gum. the BEST ever gluten free item is plain & simple flourless chocolate cake! easy, rich & delicious with no risk to your friend!
while there isn't the risk of anaphylaxis with celiac or most wheat sensitivities there are many other complications present. i've also noticed that people are sensitive to different things (like the oats mentioned earlier...my best friend has no sensitivity to regular Quaker oats, but another friend does).
I know this is cheating, but I bought a box of Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil's Food Cake mix and it made the moistest GF cake I've ever had.
I use olive oil instead of butter to keep it moist. Made some fluffy milk chocolate frosting--a hit last night.
Safe, easy and affordable gift! Cupcakes?! Mini cake?
good luck!
As one with Celiac, I will tell you that I very much appreciate it when someone makes the effort to try to make something for me that's gluten-free. That said, gluten lurks in the most unlikely places (soy sauce, broths, oats, etc.) and avoiding cross-contamination is imperative. I thought the whole cross-contamination thing was ridiculous overreacting hooey when I first heard about it, but even the smallest amount of gluten can do serious damage to the intestinal tract of someone with Celiac. I had to almost completely reoutfit my kitchen and wound up replacing my wooden mixing spoons, mixing bowls, measuring spoons and cups, mixer, toaster, cutting board... the list goes on and on. Because of the cross contamination issue, it's just not a good idea to buy anything in the bulk section.
GF baking is not unlike a chemistry experiment. Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum are pricey ingredients, but if you want things to hold together in gluten-free baking, they're needed ingredients for binding. If you'd like to avoid buying a bunch of different flours and binders, and assuming that you may not have a practiced eye for spotting wheat, rye and barley ingredients or ingredients that are derived from them when reading packaging, I suggest you clean your tools well in a dishwasher and just use one of the gluten-free mixes on the market. There are a number of good ones from Betty Crocker to Bob's Red Mill.
When I was first diagnosed, one of my bosses who happens to have a sibling with Celiac brought me a gift basket of gluten-free mixes, gluten-free oats and ingredients like wheat-free tamari (soy sauce replacement). This touched my heart to no end and I knew that I could make all of these things safely in my newly detoxed kitchen. You might want to consider this as an option. In any regard, I am certain your kind thoughts and support of your friend will be the greatest gift of all. Good luck!!!
You have a kind heart and are a good friend. zuzupetals is spot on about her detoxed kitchen, and the gift basket of ingredients would be the best and safest route. We deal with life-threatening food allergies in our home and can not accept anything baked or prepared outside our safe nest (unless it is from the safe home of a same allergens friend)
Unless you yourself struggle daily with the intricate rules of food safety be it celiac, anaphylaxis, or whatever, it is hard to explain cross-contamination, manufactured on shared equipment, invisible residue on utensils, cutting boards, etc etc etc. It is a whole 'nother world for us.
Your compassion is genuine. Tell your friend you would never want to make her ill, even though you would like to try your best to make her safe food it is just a risk you can't take. Instead, buy her safe and expensive ingredients so she can safely make her own. It is so uncomfortable when close friends offer edibles and we have to explain why we can't eat them (but it does separate the genuine from the superficial friends, our real friends don't go there.)
i found some pretty baking nice mixes (cookies, muffins, cake ...) and gluten-free snacks at whole foods for a gift basket i was making. the mixes help simplify the task of buying special ingredients while still being thoughtful. if your friend is not sensitive to cross-contamination, you can bake the mixes yourself! good luck ....
http://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Chocolate-Heartache-Harry-Eastwood/dp/0593062361/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278767305&sr=8-1
This book is amazing, most of the recipes are gluten free and wierd-ingredient free. The recipes turn out fantastically well, a gluten-eating friend of mine uses them for her catering business and nobody ever knows they're wheat free!
Hi Jan! Check out these gluten-free cookies for your friend, they do not require any special ingredients and they are delicious! http://www.dolcettoconfections.com/blog/2010/07/07/monster-cookies/
These have become my favorite cookies to make (I avoid all grains, not just gluten-containing ones) and the only "special" ingredient you'll need is almond flour, which is readily available at most grocery stores.
http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/05/09/grain-free-recipe-chocolate-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Hi! Everyone is making really good points. Cross-contamination is a beeyatch.
My favorite, easiest, most simple ingredient GF cake recipe is this Black Magic Cake recipe found here:
http://www.celiac.com/articles/527/1/Black-Magic-Cake-Gluten-Free/Page1.html
I usually make cupcakes w/ this recipe to bring to parties and picnics and it's a big hit w/ everyone. Very moist and no one can tell they're GF.