The Gluten-free Gourmet Makes Dessert: More Than 200 Wheat-free Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Pies and Other Sweets (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Actually this is a chapter about the gluten-free diet and how to live it..." (more)
Key Phrases: rounded teaspoon xanthan gum, book title abbreviations, dust with rice flour, Four Flour Bean Mix, Featherlight Mix, Butter Flavor Crisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

With four previous books on the topic to her credit, Hagman is the authority on cooking for those with celiac disease and others allergic to wheat. This time she provides more than 200 recipes for sweet baked goods, from Lemon Spice Cake to Mock Oreos (for Oreo-deprived kids) to Mud Pie. Some of the recipes are appropriate for those with other dietary restrictions as well, and there's also a separate chapter of recipes that require no special ingredients (such as the special flours, xanthan gum, etc., with which many gluten-free baked goods are made). Sure to be in demand, this is highly recommended. Reilly, host of the PBS series New England Cooking, is a former chef who trained at the esteemed Le Netre Petissier in Paris. She first started preparing wheat-free recipes for some of her catering clients and continued when her son was found to have many food allergies. Her book includes both savory recipes, such as Spinach and Pepper Quiche, and sweet ones, from Walnut Orange Biscotti to Tarte Tatin. Reilly writes well, and she offers invaluable information on baking techniques, along with somewhat more sophisticated recipes than Hagman's. Her book, too, is highly recommended for subject collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Anyone suffering from celiac disease already knows Bette Hagman's previous cookbooks. Her latest, The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert, brings her to the meal's final course. For the celiac, exposure to gluten, a principal protein in wheat, can be a life-threatening experience. And avoiding gluten is nearly impossible in most cooking. Wheat flour and bread are nearly ubiquitous, offering real obstacles to those condemned to avoid them. Hagman, a celiac sufferer herself, offers dozens of gluten-free recipes for desserts, from cakes and pies to cookies and puddings. Many of the recipes call for food substitutes generally available in health food stores. For those not fortunate to have a specialized store close by, Hagman has a section of simpler recipes for cookies, etc., that call for only common baking ingredients. Expect demand for this book if Hagman's previous volumes have proved popular. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805072764
• ISBN-13: 978-0805072761
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,472 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #36 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Meals > Sweets
  #43 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Special Occasions > Gourmet
  #63 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Diets & Weight Loss > Special Conditions > Gluten-Free

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For all gluten-free cooks -- especially kids!, May 11, 2002

By	Linda Blanchard (Midland, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Gluten-free Gourmet Makes Dessert (Hardcover)

Those of us following a gluten-free diet often feel something akin to claustrophobia when it comes to food. Every day we're faced with so many goodies that we can't have. It's a great comfort to have a resource like this one at home when you walk past the bakery section of your local grocery store. Just knowing you *can* go home and bake something sweet and tasty
opens up your world a little.

And these recipes do work; some are complex, many are very simple, which means the book answers a range of cook's skills.

While it is true that the recipes are based on mixes made from a wide range of sometimes exotic flours -- usually available through an American health food store -- it's not fair to condemn any of Bette's books for this. You're just not likely to find most gluten-free flours for cheap in your grocery store, at least not this early in the millennium.

My 11-year-old daughter has adopted this book as her kitchen companion. She turned out a wonderful cake on her first try. For those of you with children stuck with a gluten-free diet for life, there is no more essential skill to pass on to them than cooking -- and no better passion than a love of cooking -- that will support them through a lifetime on a specialized diet. This book makes a great starting place for cooking with kids, as well as being a suitable cookbook for adults of all skill levels.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just desserts, August 11, 2006

By	T. K. Kenyon "Author of CALLOUS and RABID" (www.tkkenyon.com) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have celiac disease, which is essentially an allergy to wheat protein, and I've been GF for 5 years now. (Why does that sound like I'm at an AA meeting?) Bette Hagman's books are the first couple of books that I got, and I still use them every day. "Dessert" is one of the best for the extra information it includes.

While all of the books have the GF mixes, this book has a great table of the protein, fat, carb, and fiber content of many of our "funny flours" (p26-7). It's fantastic for figuring out what flours to try substituting with if you're trying to increase the protein or fiber content of a recipe. It also has an example of how to take an ordinary cake recipe and make it GF, and suggestions for how much xanthum to use (p30-1). There's also a great troubleshooting chapter that starts on page 33.

The "cakes from mixes" chapter is less than exciting. It's where you take a GF cake mix and then add so much stuff to it that you could've started from scratch.

Steer clear of the brownie recipe on page 138. It was rock hard on the edges and underbaked in the middle, and it didn't have nearly enough chocolate in it. I just use a regular recipe and, with the help of the guidelines on page 33, make good cocoa brownies.

Favorite recipes:

Pumpkin cake p64
Banana cake p61 (These are both like really good breads.)
Toll House cookies p157
Chocolate Mousse cake p282 (One of the better flourless choc cakes I've had)

TK Kenyon
Author of Rabid: A Novel and Callous: A Novel

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recipes so good, even non-celiacs savor them!, February 19, 2006

By	Kathryn Reebz "Kate" (Burlington, VT USA) - See all my reviews

I was recently given this book by my celiac mother-in-law, and I am so grateful. My sister and I are both celiacs, and desserts like cake and cookies have been missing from our lives for years. (I mean, REAL cakes and cookies that taste like their gluten-laiden counterparts.) From the very first recipe we tried- frosted macadamia nut bars (p.145) to my 25th birthday treat- whoopie pies (p.118), my entire family has devoured the outcomes. Including those who can eat wheat. This book explains evey detail about gluten-free flours, right down to thier protein contents, and how and why they work. This is an absolute must for anyone who wants to enter back into the realm of heavenly desserts, or anyone catering to their beloved celiac. Just be prepared to stock your shelves with a bunch of new flours, and you'll be on your way!