You will notice I use certain ingredients in most of my baking. I do not use pre-made gluten free mixes, as I am unable to tolerate certain ingredients. I like to keep my ingredient list small, not a million different types of flours/starches/gums/stabilizers/etc. I have found that gluten free baking can be quite successful without them. I like to stay true to my french pastry training as much as possible, so I never fail to include butter and eggs. I know that there are many substitutes for those if you have allergies, but I can’t guarantee success in my recipes using them, since they have not been tested. If you do try replacing things, please comment on how they turned out for others to know. In addition to all of my recipes being gluten free, you will also notice they are soy free, grain free, sugar free and lactose free. Many of my recipes are also SCD and low carb friendly. This website is designed to help people with all different types of allergies, health conditions or for those pursuing a more natural/clean diet.
Here is a list of common ingredients I use:
Honey– High in antioxidents, flavonoids, vitamins, minerals and amino acids, this super sweetener boosts immunity, nourishs our skin, reverses aging, and increases energy without producing a high insulin spike. Because this substance is pre digested by the bees, it aids in digestion and is easy to break down.
Store the honey in a cupboard or dark place between 70-80F. The shelf life of honey is pretty much forever. Don’t worry if it crystalizes, it is still fine to use.
Coconut Flour– This is one of the key ingredients to successful gluten free baking. I use this flour in everything! Not only does it improve the texture and flavor in baking, but it the most nutritious GF flour. It is high in dietary fiber which helps support blood sugar health and helps to maintain a healthy weight. Its properties support the immune system, while facilitating better digestion and absorption of minerals and vitamins. Since coconut is a non- digestible fiber, it is also free of calories. Need I say more??
I purchase coconut flour in bulk. I use Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Flour. I keep a canister of it on my counter for daily/weekly use. It is important to store extra flour in the refrigerator for up to 6 months or in the freezer up to 1 year. It does not have a long shelf life stored at room temperature.
Almond Flour– This flour is extremely versatile because it has a delicate flavor which can be used in anything. Savory or sweet. Though it is high in fat, it is the right kind of fats- mono saturated fats, which help reduce the risk of heart disease. It is high in vitamin E, magnesium and potassium which help improve blood flow and maintain a normal blood pressure. This protein packed food is of course gluten free and readily available for use.
For baking, I only use blanched almond flour because its fine quality creates a better texture and flavor. I can not guarentee the outcome of my recipes using almond meal. I purchase my almond flour in bulk from Honeyville online. I trust this resource because it is certified gluten free. I keep a small canister on the counter, and like coconut flour, it is important to store bulk almond flour in the fridge – up to 6 months and in the freezer- up to 1 year. It will go rancid if kept at room temperature for a long period of time.
A suggestion to making these flours more affordable is purchasing them in bulk. However if you are unable to store that much flour, consider going in on a 25 lb box of flour with a couple other local gluten free friends.
Yogurt– You will find yogurt in a lot of my recipes. It is a great source of probiotics which supply beneficial bacteria to the gut. It provides nourishment through its abundance of protein, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. I make my own yogurt. It is quite simple. By fermenting it for 24 hrs, it becomes lactose free! I use the Yogourmet Electric Yogurt Maker. In some recipes I use “dripped yogurt” which is achieved by using a yogurt cheese maker. I have found that you can easily substitute the homemade yogurt with a thicker greek style yogurt or even sour cream (if tolerated). If you are lactose intolerant, I highly suggest making your own yogurt, as it will expand your recipe capabilities.
I hope this information helps you better understand why I choose certain ingredients over others. If you have any questions or feedback, I would love to hear it!
SO helpful. Thanks Michelle.
Hi Michelle,
Is there any other type of flour you could use instead almond, I can not use that because of Jennifer’s nut allergy.
Julie
Julie, I don’t know of something that would work as an exact replacement. Is she allergic to all nuts? I will try posting more recipes just using coconut flour, I have more.
Hey Michelle,
If I wanted to use honey instead of Karo syrup do I use the same amount, or do I need to change the ratio?
Thanks!
Allison, I am pretty sure you could equally substitute one for the other. The texture and sweetness level are about the same. Let me know how your pie turns out! Hope this is helpful!
You really do not want to use Karo syrup as it is made from corn, and probably a GMO product.
What good info, Michelle! Thanks.
People, investing in the flour is worth it, especially if you find someone to split it with! Most of us on a GF folks know other GF folks. You’ll end up realizing how much you can do with it, not just in the recipes here, but in replacement when you cook too. And the chocolate chip cookies ALONE are worth the investment. They’re so insanely tasty!
I’m excited to try some new recipes without grain; I find I struggle with the time it takes to do stuff and things with grain always seem to be easy and fill in the gap when I am starving. I see you mentioned lactose free, and how to make yogurt lactose free, but I saw the mousse recipe with heavy cream, how do you make that lactose free? I have trouble with dairy; it creates mucus in my system, and I get bags under my eyes in the morning from eating it the previous day, and my son gets squishy poop – but I do not know if it’s lactose or just dairy in general. I’d rather stay away from it for a few reasons.
Hey Joelle,
Thank you for checking out my site! This lifestyle requires a bit of planning ahead, but it is definitely worth it when you feel 100% better :) I am able to tolerate heavy cream in small doses, as it is very low in lactose. I do plan to continue sharing all recipes (that I enjoyed before) that are all gluten free, even if I can no longer enjoy them because of my newly discovered intolerances. When I figure out how to make a dairy free mousse I will definitely post it!
To butt in on the conversation, Elana’s Pantry has a dairy-free mousse, but it uses eggs. Just saw it posted last week. Share and share alike, right?
BTW, Michelle, I am LOVING this site. I’ve recommended it to several other people who are gluten free. THANK YOU for creating baked things that have a short recipe list. It makes life so much simpler.
Happy New Year!
I make a mousse like recipe with the creamy part of a can of coconut milk. You can stick it in the fridge before opening and then turn it upside down to drain the liquid. Mix that with cocoa and a little sweetener and refrigerate for awhile and you have mousse. I usually will do 2 cans at a time.
I just learned about your website thanks to Dr. Osborne on http://www.glutenfreesociety.org :)
I will have to try your recipes they look very good!
Thank you!
Thanks Shelly! Be sure to leave feedback on the recipes you try :)
I love your recipes. Have you considered a published cookbook, or do you have one?
Thank you Cynthia, I would love to publish a cookbook. Maybe one day :)
Michelle,
I just found your website and I am bubbling over with excitement.
I love that you don’t use any grains, I can’t wait to start cooking GF and try some new things. I have celiacs and my diet is SO BORING………you put a smile on my face for sure, now to decide which items to contribute to Thanksgiving this year! TY!
Do you have a nutrition and calorie count for your recipes ??
Sorry Toby, I do not have that information for you!
~Michelle
I am concerned about the sugar levels Might try Agave instead of Honey you can use less
Just a quick help for you….if you are going to cook with honey or agave, you should go ahead and use the stuff from the stores shelves, it is already cooked(pasturized), and also cheaper.
If you are going to use either in a raw form, use organic as the enzyemes will still be usable and therefore much better for you.
Michelle, I am new to your site, a friend sent me for the peanut bread. Sounds delish!We are doing GAPS diet right now, so when we are able, we will try it out. Have you tried it with almond butter? So glad you have a pastry background!
Just saw the date of the first comment. Oh well.
Michelle,
I love this site! Thanks so much for all your great recipes. I was wondering what size of eggs you usually use. I’m getting ready to make your Yellow B-Day cupcakes and I want to get them right. Yummy…
Oh and by the way, your kids are so cute :)
Just have to say that your blueberry muffins are wonderful, your pita really helps me when I need to have something that resembles and tastes like a sandwhich, the pumpkin seeds are a great snack and awesome for traveling and I just made your snickerdoodle cookies !!! Thanks so much, I have Parkinson’s, colitis, and wheat sensitivity and all of these recipes are a god send !!!!!
I am so glad you are enjoying my recipes Toby! Thank you for the wonderful comment :)
~Michelle
Thanks for the suggestion to use almond flour and not almond meal. I’m new to the gluten free diet and love to bake. I’m taking your recommendation to buy Honeyville.
Do you know of any success stories of repigmentation on vitiligo patients who pull gluten from there diet? Anyone?
Hey thanks for the great recipes! I have Ulcerative Colitis and decided to heal thru a holistic route like you did. After spending a hell-ish week in the hospital (because of a bad reaction to my immuno suppressant meds) My parents decided it was best to forget the doctors and use diet. I started with the GAPS diet which is basically all beef, chicken, veggie, and fish stocks and boiled vegetables. After a month of this,I got sooo sick of these soups, I refused to even eat. I did some research and found your website! I was sooo excited to see it! I cant belive I can now eat bluberry muffins or chocolate cake!! Thankyou very much!I`m soo exited to get cooking!
Hello , Happy New Year best wishes for 2013
That said I’m a 74 yr old diabetic ,stumbled on your site via Wheat Belly book have the time so I’ll definitely try out some of your recipes….thanks from Canada
I just found your site through Andrew and the pita bread looks wonderfully. Like your self I had to change my diet due to health. I however am alergic to all nuts and intolerant to soy. Do you know which flours I could substitute and try your recipes
Hi there, all of your recipes look amazing! I am on the candida diet and alot of your recipes are very close to what I am allowed to have. I know you said you have tested substitutes, but I was wondering if you knew if stevia or xylitol would work. Thanks for your time.
What about oat flour? Have you tried using that? I am new to the gluten free diet and your site is going to help me a ton especially sense I have young children too!
No oat flour for gluten free, unless you make your own from certified gluten free oats. And I believe the recipes here are specifically grain free for gut issues.
Melissa,
I am a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and my work focuses on supporting people making the transition to gluten free eating. There is a large concern about the use of oats in a gluten free diet. Oats are harvested, stored and milled with the same farm machinery as other three gliadin-rich grains, so contamination is inevitable. Even when oats are labelled gluten free, and not are stored in silos shared by wheat, there is concern. Oats cause abnormal changes to white blood cells in a test tube, and many celiacs develop symptoms in response to oats. The research on the safety of oats in a GF diet is not conclusive, so I encourage you to use the one’s in Michelle’s recipes. Take Care, ~Kathy
I just heard about you from a gentleman in The Virginia Diner this weekend. I was on my way to the OBX and stopped by for nuts. I was disappointed to find all of their nuts contained wheat flour even though the cashier said they were gluten free. This guys was at the counter and mentioned your site. If I remember him correctly, he referred to you as his sister. Glad I ran into him. I love your site.
Thanks so much for taking time to post all these recipes! The ones we have tried have been delightful. I was wondering what type of chocolate you use for the cookies and cakes? Do you use unsalted unsweetened almond butter? Which brand?
With Thanksgiving near, once again I am in search of a great dressing/stuffing recipe. My family enjoys dressing/stuffing with cornbread, eggs, white bread. I would really love any ideas. I used flax last year. It was ok, but if anyone has any ideas on what to use instead of cornbread I would love to try it. I am going to use Michelles chedder busicuts in place of the white bread:)
So glad I found your site. Planning to make my family eat more healthy!!
Hello,
Thank you for all of the information and recipes but I was just wondering if the coconut flour has a strong taste and/or of coconut? I really just despise the taste of coconut and the smell alone makes me feel sick. If you are able to taste it through the desserts, is there something else I can use?
Thank you for your time!
Stephanie,
I usually use only a small amount of coconut flour in most of my recipes. A little bit goes a long way and I do not notice an overwhelming coconut flavor, if any at all. Let me know if you try any recipes!
~Michelle
I am trying to find the aloha nu coconut flour you recommend. Amazon is out of it and simply coconut has a broken link to purchase it. Where do you purchase yours? I noticed on the Honeyville site they have a coconut flour as well as the almond flour. Is that one good?
Thanks so much for your time. I appreciate your blog greatly!!!
Hi Jennifer,
Sorry I have not updated my links in a bit. I have been using Tropical Traditions coconut flour —> click here and it will take you to their page. I just noticed that honeyville has been carrying coconut flour, but have yet to try it, so I do not have any input as far as their quality.
Take care,
Michelle
I’m glad I found your website too! I have found out over the last 11 months my old allergies from when I was a kid are back with a vengence. I have more now than when I was a kid. I’m now gluten intolerant, verified this by trying other gluten flours like rye which I used to eat as a kid, no such luck, got the same butt drag me out of bed tiredness that you just can’t shake for days. I’m also allergic to all tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, dairy, and chia seeds. Without these foods in my diet, I’ve lost 18 lbs so far and feel so much better. I dragged out mom’s old non-allergic recipes(as we called them) from the cabinet and started to look at them again. I’m slowly building a new list of recipes that I can have that taste good. Like pizza dough.
So thank you for what you are doing. It helps us all
I just made your pita flat bread. First try batter was very runny. Second try reduced water to one tablespoon , batter was now the correct consistency. Recipe called for oil or butter. I used coconut oil. I did not have coconut flour so sub’d to brown rice flour. The sub results were; very intense coconut flavor, with a “grainy” texture. I would not recommend coconut oil. Also watch out for almond flour. I used Bob Mills which is a reliable brand but I believe the grind is too course thus explaining the grainy texture. Hope this helps for those of you who have to learn how to cook all over again. I have been cooking for sixty years, but GF meal preparation is very challenging.
Bob’s Red Mill’s almond flour is coarser. That’s one of the reasons people like Honeyville. Coconut flour absorbs liquid like a sponge so that’s why you had to reduce the liquid when you used the brown rice flour. Nut flours and coconut flour are difficult to substitute for. I enjoy the taste of coconut oil but it does give a subtle coconut flavor in some things – it’s more hidden in others.
Michelle,
I love your website. What a Blessing you are . Your website came highly recommended by Mely O’ Campo.
Was wondering what type of honey ( flavor) do you use, do you buy in bulk and where do
you buy it from.
Thanks,
Maureen Norton
I’ve just found this site and I can’t wait to try every single one of them! I had coconut flour before but couldn’t find any recipes that I could use it in. What I have read is fantastic and I can’t wait to get back into my kitchen
Great blog! I’ve looked at some of your recipes – look great, can’t wait to try them. With my own French background I really love that you were trained as a French baker and now you’re cooking not only gluten-free, but grain-free and starch-free. In fact, your ingredients are the SCD or GAPS diet, not GF. Why the emphasis on gluten? I almost dismissed looking at your blog because “gluten-free” usually means chock-full of other nasty gluten-replacement stuff.
Michelle,
I am so grateful I found your blog. Despite being “young” and healthy and doing (I thought) everything right, I developed severe postpartum complications with my daughter 16 months ago and have had nonspecific, recurrent health problems since. After a myriad of tests, medications and specialists, I am researching and attempting to go gluten-free to see if my ailments resolve and/or improve. Baking is my therapy, and I’m so happy to find gluten-free recipes that are also delicious – especially loved your “perfect brownie” recipe!
One quick question – do you buy your honey in bulk? If so, where? I try to buy local honey, but I can only seem to find it in smaller quantities. I ordered coconut flour online in bulk and was hoping to do the same for honey, but would love some insight on this.
Thank you so much – love your site!
Hello, can you please give me your yogurt recipe? Thank you!
I just discovered your website and I can’t believe it took me this long. I have been wheat free for about 2 months now and I have been craving delicious wheat free sweets, but I am not interested in purchasing lots of different flours and ingredients for a batch of cookies. I love that your recipes are very simple and straightforward. i cannot wait to start making them and all of your delicious treats!
are your recipes wheat free also ? Thanks, Adrienne
Hey Michelle,
My husband is gluten intolerant but I, and my kids are not. He’s absolutely obsessed with your recipes! I was wondering… instead of coconut and/or almond flour, could I use homemade oat flour for my kids and I?
Thanks,
Yoly
Michelle – This is wonderful information. Thanks for sharing it.