Gluten-Free Recipe Books
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
In addition to being gluten-free, are your recipes...
Soy-Free: YES. We do not use any soy products in our recipes.
Dairy-Free: Depends on the Recipe.
E.g., many of these dessert recipes use the same types of ingredients regular desserts would typically use (like
butter, cream-cheese, cream, milk). We have successfully altered various recipes to be dairy-free and have
posted some of these variations on this website, but we suggest you create your own variations using your preferred
dairy-free alternative ingredients. If you are on a gluten-free, dairy-free / casein-free (GF/CF) diet, you
may need to still make appropriate substitutions within those recipes where we have not already posted a dairy-free
variation.
Sugar-Free: NO. Our recipes, especially our dessert recipes, were developed with the primary objective
of being gluten-free, and sugar-free considerations were not a motivating factor at the time. As such, the recipes,
especially the gluten-free dessert recipes, are generally sweetened like all mainstream equivalent products: i.e.,
using sugar, brown-sugar, molasses, and so forth.
If you are on a sugar-free diet, they can be adapted just like any other
recipes. We have successfully baked certain desserts using Splenda for ½ or more of the sugar, and they have
come out just fine. See next comment about "Reduced Calorie" also.
Reduced-Calorie: NO (generally). These recipes, and certainly the dessert recipes, are simply gluten-free versions of mainstream desserts and other recipes. You can alter the recipes to reduce fat and sugar content; we have posted some healthier diet gluten-free recipe variations here, and we have discussed methods to improve healthfulness of recipes on our Gluten-Free Blog too.
Trans-Fat Free: YES. There are no trans-fats in our dessert recipe ingredients. We do not use any hydrogenated oils, margarine, shortenings, or the like. When we call for oil, we use Canola or Olive oil (being desserts, we stick with Canola for our vegetable oil of choice simply because it has low flavor impact, while being considered a healthier oil), and there may be one or two recipes that call for Peanut Oil as an option (like, in PB cookies — to make a softer variety). So, there is just a small possibility, based on ingredients you choose to use (e.g., cream cheese), that you could encounter a product that included trans-fats, however unlikely.
Nut-Free: Depends on the Recipe. We have not made any effort to exclude nuts (e.g., almonds, peanuts, walnuts, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, etc.) from recipes that would traditionally include them.
Oat-Free: YES (all of our original Gourmet Desserts recipes are oat-free)
We avoided Oats completely in our Gluten-Free Gourmet Desserts recipe book due to any potential controversy over them.
But, much has changed since we originally published our first cookbook in 2006, and certified gluten-free oats enjoy a much
wider level of acceptance among the GF community — as such, recipes created after our original cookbook may
make use of oats if we feel it really helps the recipe quality, though we still rarely use them in published recipes.
Using Buckwheat: YES. We were one of the first widely-published gluten-free recipe authors to use buckwheat. The name of the ingredient (buckwheat) seemed to scare our predecessors that apparently did not understand that true buckwheat is not related to wheat, nor does it contain any gluten. Just be sure you are dealing with true 100% buckwheat and not some blend that contains wheat flour.
How do your books compare to others?
Our books employed full color photography throughout (of each and every recipe). We were the first GF cookbook on the market to do this and we set a new standard for such books by featuring gluten-free recipes with a full-color actual-finished-product photo of each and every completed recipe. Many other gluten free recipe books were/are black and white or had no more than a color cover, and perhaps a few color insert pages.
These extraordinary GF recipe books help you live an enjoyable gluten free lifestyle and diet. A few batches of cookies, or a cake or two, and the book will have paid for itself!
Can I purchase advertising space on this site?
Perhaps. But, to entertain individual advertiser requests, any potential ads would generally have to be for a product or service that is directly related to Celiac Disease and/or Gluten-Free living. No matter what, this site cannot act as any "endorsement" for any product beyond those which we have perhaps written product-review blog(s) about.