The Healing Place makes every effort to find easy and tasty dessert recipes that can be easily be converted to gluten-free and in some cases, lactose-free for people who have food allergies.

If you are tired of spending a lot of money on ready to eat gluten free products, try mixing your own flour mixture. It is easy and it cost a fraction of cost. All the below items can be found at most supermarkets. We have these flours at the chinese market, “Super 88″ in Brighton and Boston for less cost. If you cannot find these products at your local market, Whole Foods definately carries them in their baking isle.

*Super 88 in Brighton is undergoing renovation. You may not find all the products for your recipe.

Gluten-Free Flour Mixture. Yield: 3 cups

This mix can be used as a one-to-one substitution for wheat in most recipes

Ingredients

2 cups white rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch*
1/3 cup tapioca starch

**all the above items can be found at most supermarkets. We have found white rice flour and potato starch at the chinese market, “Super 88″ in Brighton and Boston for less money.  We were only able to find the tapioca starch at Whole Foods.  If you cannot find these products at your local market, Whole Foods definately carries all three items in their baking isle.

Directions

Mix ingredients together. Store in a cool, dry place until ready for baking.

* Important: potato starch is not the same as potato flour.

All gluten-free recipes require a binding agent to make up for the lack of gluten. For each cup of gluten-free flour (or flour mix) use an appropriate amount of xanthan or guar gum (found in local market, I have not seen these items in the chinese market):

1 teaspoon for cakes
2 teaspoons for breads or pizza
1 teaspoon or none for most cookies

A great website to learn more about food allergies and substitutions is http://www.recipenet.org/health/recipes.htm