Baking is something I enjoy. An avid baker since my college days (pot brownies, anyone?), I usually find myself in the kitchen and baking at least three times a week. Of course, being a mom with two kids, there are lots of occasions that need a plate of cookies, a bundt cake, or an apple pie. There are holidays and school bake sales, birthday parties, and other personal celebrations. (“Mommy! I drew you an airplane! Can we bake banana muffins now?”) Oh, how motherhood and baking go hand in hand!
When I was pregnant with my first child, I use to daydream about baking with my children and bonding with them over buttery muffins and double chocolate cookies. But an unexpected obstacle slowed me down: food allergies. My first child was allergic to all dairy products until she was almost three years old. She is now five years old and can eat anything she wants (well—within reason!) but now I have a second child who also suffers from severe food allergies. At three-and-a-half years old, he is still allergic to dairy, peanuts, and crab. Oh, and there’s his mild allergy to eggs; he seems to be outgrowing this, but I still need to watch out for it. Not to mention the soy allergy (recently outgrown!) that plagued our lives for three-and-a-half years.
Being the resourceful gal I am, I searched the aisles of the local Mrs. Green Natural Food Market and Whole Foods Market to find substitutes that wouldn’t compromise taste. And I found them. Spectrum Natural organic vegetable oil is a great soy-free and diary-free substitute for butter in many recipes, especially cookies, vanilla cupcakes, and basic yellow cake. There are a lot of egg substitutes, but the easiest to find and use is store-bought: Egg Replacers™. Instead of milk, I’ve been using rice milk.
My son and I have a weekly date in the kitchen and he loves my muffins and cookies. For his third birthday I made him a yellow cake using all my substitute ingredients, and gave slices to my non-allergic parents, siblings, niece, and nephews. No one could tell the difference between my cake and a cake made with regular ingredients. My daughter has a friend in her class that has the same allergies as my son. For my daughter’s birthday, I made my special vanilla cupcakes for her entire class and told her friend’s mom that for once she did not have to bring in a separate treat for her child.
