Lactose Allergy? Don't Worry. You can still have your cake and eat it too!

Just because you have chosen to live a vegan lifestyle or you have a dairy allergy, does not mean you shouldn't be able to eat the foods you love the most.  An old grade school pal of mine that I recently reconnected with (thank you facebook!) has been doing great with most aspects of her new dairy free diet, but she really misses the sweets.  After all, everyone deserves  to have a good brownie or piece of cake after a really tough day.

In recent years, there has been a lot of new information and recognition about food allergies. Along with that, a lot of cookbooks, recipes, and bakeries have become available to those living with food intolerance. The results in many cases are very good. 


The hardest part of eliminating dairy is learning what you can use in place of eggs, milk and butter while still getting similar results in your favorite treats. Here are some great posts about easy substitutions you can make to convert your recipes to lactose free/ vegan versions:
1) The savy vegetarian's notes on   Vegan Baking Substitutes & Dairy Free Desserts
2) The post punk Kitchen has some good ideas after trial & error on how to Lose the eggs ,milk & butter from your favorite recipes
3) Here's another great article I found on about.com  on baking without butter

Nervous about converting over your own recipes and want to try some that have already been tested? Never fear, there are a ton of great cookbooks out there. So take a trip to your local Barnes & Noble or peruse the online shelves at Amazon to find some of these great books.  The easiest wat to find themis to look for Vegan baking books.  One of the most popular, now that they have bakeries across the country and are frequently on national television is Babycakes bakery. They specialize in vegan and gluten free yumminess.  Here is a recipe for banana bread from their website that I thought turned out surprisingly well:

Babycakes NYC Banana Bread Recipe

from the Babycakes website

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour (gotta be Bob's, no sub)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup rice milk
2 tablespoons of good quality vanilla
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brush your loaf pan with oil and set aside.

In a medium bowl, measure in flour, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, cinnamon and whisk. Add oil, agave nectar, rice milk and vanilla and then mix again. Fold in bananas until nicely distributed.
Pour batter into loaf pan (only halway!) and set in the oven. After 20 minutes, check on the loaf and continue baking until it passes the toothpick test. Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes.






Don't have room for more cookbooks? (Much to my husband's chagrin, mine are taking over the apartment), there are a ton of specialty blogs out there. One of the best ones I've found is Vegan Baking.net . they have a huge wealth of information, a ton of recipes & even a bake-off contest. It is definitely worth your time to check it out. I'm looking forward to making the Tropical Paradise bars. 

I know this is a lot of new information for many of you to swallow but once you restock your pantry with a few new ingredients, dairy free baking is fairly easy to do and still tastes great. Since I 'm a chocoholic and peanut butter addict  I'll leave you with one of my favorite dairy free dessert recipes:

Peanut Butter Agave Cookies

adapted from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar 

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romera

1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup creamy or chunky salted peanut butter
2 tbsp nondairy milk
1 tbsp ground salba ( or ground flaxseeds)
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the agave nectar, brown rice syrup, oil, peanut butter, nondairy milk, salba/ flaxseeds, and vanilla and almonds extracts until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Sift in flours, baking soda, and salt and mix to form a soft dough.
3. Drop large, generously rounded tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets.  Flatten the cookies to about 1 inch using the back of a measuring cup.  Lightly spray the back of the cup with non-stick spray if the dough starts to stick.  Then use a fork to press a crosshatch pattern onto the tops of cookies.
4. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges are golden.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.  Store in a tightly covered container.