Sometimes, being gluten-free feels like being food-free. It’s even harder to avoid flour around the holiday season, when pretty much everyone is sharing baked goods and cookies are as ubiquitous as air. But there are lots of holiday treats that are easy to make and don’t need gluten to be delicious.
Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut butter cookies are made without flour. Mix 1 cup of peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar and 1 egg, throw in a teaspoon of baking soda and bake it all together at 375 for about 7 minutes. These cookies are tasty and they’re gluten-free.
Meringues
They’re classic and they’re simple, and they look decadent and difficult even though they aren’t. Meringue is basically egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar whipped into a frenzy and then baked in the oven for just a few minutes. Meringue is a popular pie topping, but you can bake dollops of them alone for soft, sweet little treats.
Fudge
Fudge is already a gluten-free treat by most recipes. All you really need to make excellent fudge is sweet condensed milk and chocolate chips, peanut butter, white chocolate or whatever you want your fudge base to be. You can make butterscotch fudge or flavor your fudge with just about anything else you can melt down. Melt it, mix it, pour it into a shallow pan and put it in the fridge to harden before you cut it up into sweet little chunks of gluten-free goodness.
Pralines
A classic holiday treat, pralines are always made without flour. Mix 3 cups of sugar, half white and half brown, with 1 cup of evaporated milk. Add a quarter cup of butter, melt it all together and throw in your pecans. Place spoonfuls on wax paper and allow your pralines to harden to create a decadent holiday treat.
Marshmallows
You clearly can’t serve plain marshmallows as a holiday treat, but you can dress them up so that they’re positively fabulous and totally gluten-free. Just take ordinary marshmallows and brush melted butter over them. Roll them in a combination of white and brown sugar with a little bit of cinnamon to give them a sweet, crisp candy coating. You can also cover marshmallows in melted chocolate and let them harden into sweet treats.
Brittle
Melt three quarters of a cup of butter and blend with 3 cups of sugar and 1 cup of light corn syrup to make a delicious brittle base. Add your peanuts, almonds or some other kind of nut you like and let the whole thing harden into golden tastiness. Break up your brittle into uneven chunks, fill up a holiday tin and suddenly you’re the most popular person at the Christmas party.
Gluten-Free in December
Maintaining a gluten-free diet doesn’t mean passing up all those tasty holiday treats you know you want. There are lots of gluten-free holiday goodies that are easy to make and totally safe to eat. Have fun making gluten-free candies and treats that everyone can enjoy, and you’ll have plenty of fun eating them as well. This is having your holiday and eating it, too.