Question by Avocado: Are there any good allergy-free dessert cookbooks for young children?
Here’s the deal. I have a 4-year-old nephew who’s been a very good boy this year, and I want to get him something super special for Christmas. He’s allergic to EVERYTHING. This includes:
-Wheat gluten
-Oats
-Corn
-Soy
-Dairy
-Sulfates (he can only eat organic and sulfate-free fruits and dried fruits)-
-And his system is very sensitive to red meats, and less so white meats. He can’t eat red meat at all, and can only have poultry once in a while and fish up to three times a week or his poor tummy gets all upset and he breaks out in a rash.
-Sugar cane
Luckily, though, he’s not allergic to any nuts that we know of. He basically can never have any desserts at all, despite the fact that he has a sweet tooth. When he comes to visit me, he’s able to eat a lot of what I bake because I’m a vegan and avoid wheat and soy, but his mom (my sister) is a terrible baker and all her kitchen dessert concoctions are disastrous (despite the fact that she’s a wonderful cook). He’s had cake TWICE in his life, and only because of me, and this one wheat-free vegan bakery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (where, I might add, the cupcakes are the size of baseballs but cost !).
SO, I was thinking what would be awesome for him and my sister is if I got both of them a dessert cookbook for allergy-prone children. That way, my sister won’t have to look all over the internet for random recipes, and she’ll have a whole bunch of lovely recipes right there with clear instructions (because it’s pretty disastrous trying to substitute chickpea flour in recipes that call for wheat, which is what she’s tried doing). Furthermore, she’s also a working mother and tight on money, so if she’s able to have a cookbook that revolve around some basic ingredients, that would pretty much save her life (not really).
I spent a large part of today doing some Christmas/late Hannukah shopping, some of which is online. I’ve looked all over the internet and in bookstores all over New York City, but can’t find anything for allergy-prone children. I found some goofy stuff like “raw desserts” but come on; children don’t generally like “raw carob pie” or some crap like that. If you can recommend a SPECIFIC dessert book for children with allergies, and for parents on tight budgets, that would be AMAZING! My sister spends twice as much on her son’s food than she does on her two daughters’ food combined since she has to get all of it at freakin’ Whole Foods, even though she works as a gym teacher.
I just want my nephew, who’s such a total sweetheart, to be able to experience eating a cupcake once in a while without having to automatically say “I’m allergic” (which is his kneejerk response to any food offered to him). He totally deserves it!
Thanks for reading this ridiculously long question (there were a lot of specifics that had to be mentioned), and have a Happy Holidays!!!
Best answer:
Answer by pelican
I would make her the cookbook. Do the research and put together a collection of recipes that will work for him. You can go in to an office supplies store such as Office Depot and they will print it for you and bind it, or you could get supplies at a craft shop such as Michaels and make it yourself. As you would know, there are tons of sites where you can find recipes and adapt them. When I read your question, one cookie I thought of that my niece loves is macaroons and she has a lot of allergies. You probably know these sites, but just in case you haven’t seen them.
http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/free_food_allergy_recipes.html
http://www.northshire.com/siteinfo/bookinfo/9780470448465/0/
He might be able to eat this cake.
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/desserts/r/chocpecantorte.htm
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=9106
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