The holiday season is one of the most difficult times for those with allergies, from food gifts to dinner parties. Do not fear! I have compiled some of the best swaps and recipes for classic holiday foods.
Cinnamon Rolls
These are a classic Christmas brunch pastry, but aren’t safe for many. Fortunately, these are easily homemade with your own ingredients. My family particularly loves this recipe, and it doesn’t even require yeast. Another option is this recipe I discovered through Sophomore Kathryn Tanaka. If you don’t want to bake, I know Katz makes some, although I haven’t tried them, and many local bakeries such as Oy! Baking Company down in Los Gatos makes some special for the holidays.
Christmas Cookies
These are really easy to find a swap for, it just depends on what allergies you have. My favorites are the Saint Lorens, as they carry countless different flavors, although they do “technically” need to be cooked. However, there’s some really great pre-packaged options like Tate’s Bakehouse for crunchy chocolate chip cookies and Enjoy Life for chewy. If you’d like to bake them, I love this recipe for gingerbread cookies from Nourishing Meals… and it’s super easy too!
General Sweet Things
These are just a couple of my favorite swaps for somewhat specialty foods, rapid fire. A great gluten free and vegan pie crust is this one from Wholly Gluten-Free, and for a dairy-free whipped topping I enjoy the So Delicious Cocowhip, although it’s less cool whip-esk and more coconutty. Also from So Delicious comes the best eggnog alternative, their coconut milk Holiday Nog. Trust me on this, last year my family and I taste-tested five different dairy-free/vegan eggnog options and So Delicious came out on top for almost all of us. It can be hard to find, but it’s usually at Whole Foods, Nob Hill, and occasionally Trader Joes and Sprouts. For artificial color-free Christmas-themed candies I love YumEarth, but their candy canes are (in my opinion) too spicy. Instead, I’d opt for these Wholesome candy canes, although I’m not sure which stores will be carrying them this year.
Most of the items I’ve mentioned can be found at Sprouts, Safeway, and even Target. Have a wonderful allergy-friendly holiday season, and happy swapping!