Hypoallergenic Sugar Cookies

My niece is something of a challenge to cook for.  She's allergic to dairy, eggs, nuts, fish, and a few other things so the available menu is pretty small.  When you can't eat butter and eggs most desserts aren't an option.  For the past several years I've baked her cookies for Christmas.  As you might guess the challenge is in finding a recipe that won't send her into anaphylactic shock.

I start with the basic sugar cookie ingredients from my mom's recipe:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups of room temperature butter
• 2 eggs
• 6 cups of flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

I can't use butter since it would trigger the dairy allergy, so instead I use butter flavored crisco.  The eggs are also out, but Ener-G egg replacer works great for baking.

To start I toss the butter, or crisco, into the mixer with the sugar and let it run until its creamy.  Then in goes the eggs, or egg replacer, along with the vanilla.  Once all that is mixed the rest of the ingredients go in.  This is the typical creaming method.

At this point I realize the recipe calls for way too much flour.  There's not enough liquid to let this come together as a dough.  The amount should be cut in half, maybe four cups of flour at most.  It might be best to add the flour slowly one cup at a time mixing in between until it forms into a dough.  You're looking for something that feels like slightly wet play-dough.

If it's a little too dry, as mine turned out, you can add milk to correct it.  I go with vanilla flavored soy milk to avoid the dairy allergy.  In truth I always use the soy milk for baking regardless of allergy restrictions, I really like how it makes the cookies taste.

This is the part where making cookies is most fun, you can sample the dough at this point to get an idea of how the end result will taste.  I tend to add more vanilla since I like that flavor, and I'll also add a touch of soy milk to make sure the dough has sticky feel to it.  Once I'm happy with the flavor and feel it goes into the refrigerator to chill for a bit.

In order to make fun shapes the dough will need rolled out.  For most dough I'd cover my work space with flour to prevent sticking.  When doing cookies I'll use half flour and half powdered sugar for this just so the flavor stays nice and sweet.

This dough works best if you keep it chilled when you roll it, so I'll pull out a chunk roll and cut it then put the remainder back in the fridge.  This is why I like the dough to start slightly wet and sticky.  It will get rolled in the flour, then mixed back in with the rest of the dough again.  This starts to cause it to firm up by the end.  Since It'll grab the flour sugar mixture when rolling you can firm it up easy enough, loosening it is more challenging so this makes things more fool proof for me.

Roll it a bit thinner than you want the cookies to be, they'll rise a little bit when baked.  Jam in your cookie cutters and put your shapes on a cookie sheet.  These things will stick when baked, so be sure to coat your cookie sheet with some sort of non-stick cooking spray.  I'm dealing with allergies, so I play it safe and put a sheet of parchment paper on the cookie sheet instead.

Put them in a 350° oven for 10 minutes or so.  I start with 10 minutes and check if the middle of the cookie feels dry, if not I'll give it two more minutes and check again.  They won't be rigid or feel fully cooked when they are ready to come out, they'll firm up as they cool.

Next these things will need frosted.  To make frosting I just mix together:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Then of course adjust for flavor and consistency.  Add some food coloring and you're ready to decorate.  I generally let my kids do the decorating, which gives the cookies more of an abstract appearance.  It may not be the look that most folks want in their cookies, but they still taste pretty good.