I’ve really been loving experimenting with gluten-free and even grain-free. But we were recently doing an elimination test with eggs, and I found myself limited in recipes that I can try. Especially since we live at high altitude. Note, lack of gluten + lack of eggs + lack of oxygen = numerous baked good failures. Oh yes, and my husband is intolerant to almonds too. So almond flour is out for anything I want to share (lord knows I don’t need a pan full of brownies all to myself!).
But all is not lost. I have had some successful experiments, and I have certainly found at least a few recipes to learn from. My best and most recent find was Kelly Brozyna’s new cookbook, The Spunky Coconut Gluten-Free Baked Goods and Desserts. I would say that a little over half of the recipes call for eggs, but some don’t … and those my friends, are true gems.
Seriously, this is a gorgeous little cookbook with photos for most recipes, and easy to follow instructions. And though it doesn’t say it in the title (that would probably get pretty wordy), the recipes are all free of refined sugars too, and lower in sugar overall than your average recipes. A definite goldmine for our sweets-loving household.
Putting The Spunky Coconut Gluten-Free Baked Goods to Test
The first recipe I made from The Spunky Coconut cookbook was the Red Rock Rolls.
And then I moved onto the Cinnamon Raisin Bagels in small roll form (very similar recipe to the Red Rock Rolls, but with cinnamon and raisins instead).
My husband is loving the Cinnamon Raisin version as a sweet snack (only 1 Tablespoon of honey in the whole recipe and he enjoys them as a treat, woohoo!). But I am still partial to the Red Rock Rolls with oregano and onion. Okay, they’re both good.
Since our climate here is very, very dry, I’ll be adding a little extra moisture in my next batch. The dough is a little dry and my rolls are coming out a bit flatter than Kelly’s. But, we haven’t really cared. They still taste scrumdidli-umptious, and really do have a bread-like texture! You can try Kelly’s Red Rock Rolls Recipe for yourself, and see what you think!
It looks like we will be incorporating baked eggs into our menu soon, so I’m looking forward to trying even more recipes in The Spunky Coconut Gluten-Free Baked Goods and Desserts.
Dairy Note
This book was originally titled Grain-Free Baked Goods and Desserts, and it had a label for “casein-free” rather than “dairy-free,” because Kelly does use ghee (butter oil) in a few recipes. But you can use coconut oil instead (she includes this in the recipe as an option), which is what I did for the recipes above. So this is essentially a dairy-free cookbook.
Quite tasty results!
The recipes are unusual – they don’t always look like “normal” baked goods. But they taste delicious! I’m not gluten-free, but still found myself addicted to some of the bread and roll recipes.
