Easy Gluten-Free Baking

I started a gluten-free diet about a month ago and, as a serious baker, was gravely concerned about my ability to reproduce all my favorite foods. I researched and purchased many books to help me with the transition. This book has been, by far, the most successful and reliable. There has not been a single failure, and several recipes have become fast favorites, competing with or even exceeding past baking favorites made with wheat. Also, the book has a helpful lay-flat spiral binding and some lovely, always appreciated pictures. I'd say two things cause this book to stand out above the competition. First, the recipes are obviously exceptionally well tested. Second, these recipes are carefully calibrated to produce foods that very closely resemble the classic baked goods most Americans were likely familiar with before a gluten free diet. If you're craving chocolate chip cookies, pancakes, or chocolate cupcakes, this book will give you versions that, frankly, no one would guess lack wheat. The author herself is not gluten-intolerant, so she eats and compares 'regular' versions and gluten free versions. I think this perhaps gives her a leg-up in reproducing wheat based foods so exactly, without letting wishful thinking or shifting taste buds influence her judgments. There is even a chapter devoted to replicating store-bought products like twinkies, oreos and graham crackers. Although this book would be perfect for a family with celiac children, or all-american tastes, the basic recipes and techniques are so well-tested that it would be very useful to the celiac gourmet looking for help adapting the base recipes in his or her favorite creations. [The author also has a paid web site with more well-tested recipes and some product reviews. Although somewhat expensive, I have ultimately found this to be a good value given the quality of the recipes.] The 'classic american' focus of the book is it's main virtue, because most celiacs will be craving just these kinds of foods. However, this is not the book to turn to if you are looking to make healthy, low-calorie, or 'whole-grain' type recipes, multi-component five star restaurant style desserts, or want to experiment with the newest, most unusual or health-food-store type ingredients like stevia, amaranth flour, or mesquite. Most recipes use some combination of white rice flour, cornstarch, sweet rice flour (and also xanthan gum)-- i have often substituted brown rice flour with great success, just to avoid a totally refined sugar/starch bomb (and I have found that purchasing finely ground rice flour does make a difference for products like cakes). Otherwise, most of the ingredients are pretty standard ones: butter, sugar, eggs, baking powder, cinnamon etc.. There are occasional uses of ingredients like shortening and jello (in poke cake), but not very often. Except for those who object to refined products like sugar and cornstarch, it's hard to imagine a gluten intolerant baker who would

I have been Gluten Free for over 25 years and prior to my diagnosis, spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen baking lovely goodies that were making me sick. Once I went GF, I suffered through years of "just not being able to get that cake, cookie, bread just right." That has changed. In the past few years, I have been baking only out of necessity and for my own needs as why should I subject friends to my many substandard creations. Then I bought this cookbook and everything changed! The first coffee cake I made brought tears to my eyes when I tasted it. This was the real thing reflected in both texture and taste. Not only are the recipes great, they are beautifully presented in this book. The ingredients are simple and are things I always have on hand. I am now baking for friends again and loving it. Thank you Elizabeth!!

You cannot go wrong with this cookbook - it's worth every single penny!! In August 2008, my youngest son was diagnosed as being allergic to wheat and put on a gluten free diet. This makes cooking a lot tougher, since the rest of us don't need to be on this diet. So when I'm cooking I not only have to keep his diet in mind, I have to know that ALL of us are going to like it. I have spent hundreds of dollars buying cook books, various ridiculous ingredients, hoping that the meal I just made would taste even a little bit normal. Unforutnately, without fail, everything would come out tasting like cardboard or wouldn't come out at all. Until now... This book came along and I haven't looked back since. Every recipe I have made by Elizabeth Barbone has come out right the very first time. The ingredients are reasonable. The instructions are easy to follow. (Even my 13 and 10 year olds made items from this book) I made the brownies for my sons 2nd grade class - they even ate the crumbs. The chocolate cake is to die for. My husband LOVED the pizza. The sugar cookies tasted just like grandma's! =) NONE of these recipes have failed me yet! I would, without hesitation, buy any cook book by Ms. Barbone. I even joined her web site, well worth it!

If you are going to get only one gluten-free book, this is the one. Elizabeth Barbone has created wonderful recipes that taste like the old favorites that you remember before going gluten free. Before I had this book my family would always ask me to bring a gluten-free dish to family events--and I was basically the only one who ate it. Now I bring food from this book, and my family begs me to leave the leftovers with them. I recently brought the Classic Chocolate Cake (which is actually the same as the cake recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa box except gluten-free) to my mother's birthday, and my family raved. My mother went on and on about how it tasted just like her grandmother's chocolate cake--which, of course, was full of gluten. One thing that I love about these recipes is that they come out every time. The author has tested every recipe 30-40 times before publishing. My one daughter doesn't eat dairy, so I have exchanged soy milk for regular milk in some recipes and shortening for butter, and the recipes are still fantastic. There is a wonderful recipe for sugar cookies that actually roll out and taste great. I have made these and brought them to baby showers, birthday parties, and church events, and people always say the same thing to me. The comment on how pretty the cookies are and how great they taste. Many, many people have told me that their experience with iced sugar cookies is that they look great and taste awful--not these cookies--they taste as good as they look! Although the book is called Easy Gluten-Free Baking, there are also recipes for main dishes like meatloaf and chicken and pizza. Our family favorites from this book are: No-Bake Peanut Butter Balls, Classic Chocolate Cake, Molasses Crackle Cookies, Chocolate Pixies, Rosie's Pumpkin Bread, Applesauce Bread, Snowball Cookies, Pie Crust II, Sugar Cookies, Thin Crust Pizza, Chicken with Apple Cider and Onions, Meatloaf and Cod Cakes.

I own at least 15 other gluten-free cookbooks and this is one of the two best. The waffles are better than the best wheat-flour ones I used to make.