Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays: 60 Recipes for Traditional Festive Treats

by Jeanne Sauvage, Clare Barboza (Photographer)

The holidays are a time to celebrate and indulge in baked goods warm from the oven. Unfortunately for the gluten-sensitive, seasonal pleasures such as sugar cookies and mincemeat tarts have been off-limits. Not anymore! Jeanne Sauvage, author of the popular blog Art of Gluten-Free Baking, has perfected 60 gluten-free recipes with all the flavors of their wheat-filled counterparts. Also included are tips on how wheat-free ingredients work and Jeanne's own gluten-free flour mix. With favorites like apple pie, plum pudding, rugelach, bûche de Noël—even a gingerbread house—everyone can pull up a chair to the holiday table with comfort and joy.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Christmas

168 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2012

About the author

In addition to being a writer, I am a wife, mom, wine-drinker, urban chix owner, organic gardener, voracious reader, knitter, canner and preserver, and a PhD In Performance Studies.

I am a lifelong baker. Baking is in my blood. I need to bake to be happy. I've baked since I was old enough to stand on a chair and reach the kitchen counter.

When I was diagnosed with gluten-intolerance in 2000 (after the birth of my daughter), I thought I would never be able to bake again. After feeling sorry for myself for awhile, I picked myself up and decided to learn how to bake gluten-free. My goal has always been to bake things that taste and feel the same way they did when I baked with wheat. And I have succeeded! I am thrilled to be able to share my success with my readers!

Reviews

[Punk]

This has so many of my holiday favorites that it can almost be forgiven for using a custom flour blend and not having enough pictures. It has like five different spice cookies including speculaas, which I have been looking for. It also has cakes, pies & tarts, breads & crackers, and deep-fried things. In addition to traditional holiday items like pumpkin pie and rugelach, there are also standard favorites like chocolate chip cookies, lemon bars, and cannoli, as well as dinner rolls, scones, and skillet cornbread. Stuff you'd be happy to eat on an end-of-the-year holiday morning or in the evening when the whole family piles in the door and asks what's for dinner.

The recipes all have extensive introductions and, my favorite, storage advice. Measurements are in U.S. volume and grams, and the index is super helpful. I just wish there were more pictures. Only about a third of the recipes have them, which is a shame. There's stuff in here I've never seen before, like the benne cookies from East Africa or the stollen that's supposed to be formed into a "loose crescent"—all the stollen I've eaten was round. And, I'm sorry, but I need to see a picture of your gluten-free sandwich bread or I'm not interested.

The custom flour mix is made of brown rice flour, white rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, and xanthan gum. And it looks like she'll have you add more xanthan if you're making a bread, so the mix isn't overloaded with the stuff. She does give advice on substitutions for the flour blend, as well as for dairy products, and she admits that you can replace eggs with other things, but then she immediately changes the subject, which is fair. I just read an entire book chapter of a book on egg replacers and that shit is complex.

I'm going to hold onto this for as long as the library will let me.

[Heather]

This is a great gluten free baking book for any occasion. I particularly enjoyed the first chapter in this book which deals with gluten free ingredients and even gives a recipe for making your own all purpose gluten free flour. There are gluten free baking tips, substitutions for common ingredients, and information on how to store your baked goods. Since I do not bake strictly gluten free this section was particularly helpful to me.

The book is then broken down into five sections: cookies, cake, pies/tarts, breads/crackers, and deep-fried treats. Each recipe lists the serving size, the ingredients, and the directions. Each also includes a paragraph or two about the recipe. The photographs that go along with the recipes are beautiful as well.



The instructions are easy to follow and the recipes I've made so far have been delicious. I've tried the lemon bars and gingerbread cookies. A few of the recipes I have on my "to make" list include the pumpkin pie, pound cake, stollen, and cannoli.

This is a wonderful cookbook for anyone who loves to bake and is either gluten free themselves or is baking for someone who is gluten free. This is the perfect time of year to purchase this book because there are many holiday recipes included.

[Queer]

Fantastic selection of recipes showing both breadth and depth. The recipe for the all-purpose flour is amazing as are the recommendations for substitutes.

[Linda Hartlaub]

Jeanne is a wizard when it comes to gluten-free cooking. She has perfected, what I think, is the perfect gluten free flour mix, with ingredients easily found either online, at your neighborhood natural foods store, or a store like Sprouts. Her recipes are well-researched and always produce delicious results. There are two minor errata - the fortune cookies produce 15 rather than 30 and the preferred pan size on the Buttermilk biscuits is 8 inches rather than 9. You can find these on her blog http://www.artofglutenfreebaking.com

I bake exclusively gluten free and I highly recommend this book! I just wish there were more photos...

[Mikaela]

Lots of traditional recipes that you almost never see adapted for GF baking

[Gwyneth Terry]

Excellent for folks wanting to make the switch. Great master flour recipe and follow on recipes

[Tabitha]

Looks like things I will actually be able to bake. And her GF flour mix is so easy to put together & store.