The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook

I usually write pretty in depth reviews, but for this book, I will start out more briefly with the intent to update over time. The reason? Because this has met a need that I never realized would come about and has filled it beautifully. Let me tell you why.. WHAT IS THIS BOOK LIKE? The chapters are pretty straight forward Using Almond Flour Stocking Almond Flour Pantry Breakfast Bread and Crackers Entrees Pies, Pastries, and Crusts Cakes and Cupcakes Cookies and Bars Toppings Syrups, and Sauces The recipes are well laid out and some of them have colored photos along with them for motivation. Not every recipe has photos, however. The paper is very sturdy, slightly shiny, and thick enough for repeated use. The binding does not lay flat without something to hold down each side. HOW IS THIS BOOK TO USE? Here is where my love of this book takes a most unusual turn. I have been on an anti-fungal diet for a few years now. I have had asthma almost completely reversed after a lifetime of suffering. Allergies have taken a back seat in my life for the first time since I was small. I have had breakthroughs. My husband, however has been stubborn and not joined me in my new eating habits. He did not think he needed to- until he developed the worst case of ezcema I have ever seen on his entire body. I knew that this way of eating would reverse it in him too and after severe suffering, he was ready to do ANYTHING. That means he has to eat what I do- grain free, grass fed meat and dairy, and other changes. The problem is that if he wants to make something to eat, he does not always want to use the books I use. I bought this book for him. I was wondering if it would ever get used. WOW was I surprised. This book is not only easy to use, but it is easy for my husband who does not want to take time to read through things and wants freedom to do his own thing. This book was PERFECT for that. WHAT HAVE WE HAD SO FAR? We have enjoyed the best crackers, cookies, and cake that I have ever had. WOW, this has been a fantastic thing to get. We only use honey and no other sweetener (besides occasional maple syrup) and with a few minor substitutions, the results have been spectacular. He has made recipes as they are and have been great. He has mixed recipes and it has been great. You would never guess these things had no grain in them. I am IMPRESSED! THE BOTTOM LINE Not only is this book nice to look at and easy to use, but the recipes so far have been satisfying and delicious. I am usually the creative cook here, but I am ultimately impressed that my husband has enjoyed using this book. He loves it. THAT IS A HUGE DEAL! I will update with more input as he continues to use this. It is officially his book, so I am letting him have the fun of exploring it. AND HEALTH BONUS The stubborn horrific ezcema that my husband could not shake is now almost completely gone from diet, essential oil spray and lotion I designed and supplements Having this book is worth its weight in GOLD for that. NOTHING was helping him until we made this important change. Not only is this book very good and meets a need

I'm giving this book 5 stars even though I have had some issues with it, because the author has created a great resource for alternative baking. Many people avoid starchy flours because of allergies, special diets, or a combination, and Elana has done a great job experimenting with the use of almond flour in a very wide range of baked goods. There is no other resource for almond flour baking that remotely approaches the breadth of this cookbook. You really can make everything from chocolate chip cookies to chocolate cake to pie dough with almond flour. I'm incredibly grateful to the author for trailblazing into this new frontier. The recipes do have various notable peculiarities (see below), and of course different readers, especially in the context of the specialized diets to whom almond flour baking will appeal (including scd, paleo, low carb, celiacs) will have different tastes, needs, and restrictions. However, I have found the recipes to be very adaptable where my tastes or needs diverged from the author's. Potential buyers should know that this book is not only geared towards grain-avoiding and celiac diets, but also aims for a 'healthy' approach to baking, in the name of which it largely avoids butter and refined sugars. In addition to the titular substitution of almond flour for wheat flour, there is a relatively single-minded substitution of grapeseed oil for butter/shortening and agave nectar for white sugar. While I don't have any general problems with agave or grapeseed oil, unlike some readers, I'm not satisfied with these ingredients in all cases. In particular, I generally prefer the flavor and mouthfeel of butter over grapeseed oil, and I find agave nectar imparts an unwelcome sticky, flaccid texture to baked goods like cookies and biscuits, especially over time (I like it just fine in cakes and muffins). Still, I've had fantastic luck substituting 'back' butter and sugar where i want them, although when agave is removed, one sometimes needs to add more recipe- appropriate liquid (e.g., milk or egg) to compensate. These recipes are highly adaptable, which makes the book that much more user-friendly. I'd say that this is also a baking book aimed more towards cooks than bakers. The recipes are pretty quick and dirty- dump and stir affairs. There aren't a lot of fiddly steps, using 7 different bowls to mix subrecipes, or explanations of techniques and experimentation a la cooks illustrated. I'm sure that aspect wins the book lots of fans among busy parents and those who don't enjoy the craft of cooking, but as someone more in the love-to-bake camp, I would have appreciated more attention to detail, use of various baking techniques that lead to a better texture in final products and experimentation with the kinds of fillips that separate the pedestrian recipe from the sublime. For example, in some of the cake and muffin recipes, I find the recipes substantially improve if one takes the time to beat sugar (or agave) and eggs to a ribbon, or beat egg whites separately and fold them in. I also wish the ingredients were given in weight (at least somewhere in the beginning)-- I had a number of failures until I realized the author packs her almond flour. Some of the baking times and such have also been off-- these kinds of details really matter for baking, and hard core bakers will be frustrated at the lack of precision. As I've said, even though this isn't the perfect cookbook for my particular needs, it is a wonderful starting place for my gluten free and grain free baking experiments. (There is also a savory chapter, but I haven't really used it.) Some particular favorites are the crackers (all fantastic), chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cherry cookies, and pecan shortbreads (all of which I strongly prefer with creamed butter and sugar, though.) Although the cookbook is pretty small, I've still only cooked a small portion of the recipes (the author's website provides a lot of additional inspiration as well). I'm looking forward to baking through more of the recipes, adapting and changing as I wish.

We've been gluten, dairy, soy free since 2006 and I've owned TONS of books in my attempt to find breads and treats that have a tasty, non-grainy texture but don't use funky gums (guar or xantham) and that isn't made with empty calorie white rice flour, tapioca flour, & potato starch. (remember the processed foods that you're supposed to avoid? those flours are just as unhealthy - might a well eat white wonder bread). I had tried almond flour cooking in the past, but never with blanched almond flour Blanched Almond Meal Flour, 5 lb. , which has a very different texture than Bob's red mill almond flour. When I had tried baking with Bob's almond flour, the texture was just too gritty and it didn't go over well with the family. I'd pretty much given up on almond flour cooking until this cookbook. The recipes in this cookbook are easy and have a great texture that even your full-on gluten eating friends will appreciate. HOWEVER, you will want to steer clear of the agave, as much has come to light that it is not low glycemic and is just as bad as corn syrup. Also, I don't go for the grape seed oil, as we only use olive, coconut (short chain fatty acids, very healthy - do the research!), or butter (despite our dairy free status, butter is ok for us)in equal measure to the grape seed oil she asks for. The substitutions I've found that reduce the sugars even further and work out GREAT for the agave are as follows: Most recipes call for a 1/2 cup of agave, so my substitutions are based on that. You can do the math to change it to other measures (1/4th cup or 3/4 cup as needed). When it calls for 1/2 cup of agave, use instead 2 Tbsp honey with 3 stevia packets, or a 1/4 cup maple syrup and 3 stevia packets (or 2 squirts of vanilla stevia if you prefer that over the packets). FYI - Honey is sweeter than maple, thus the higher amount of maple if using it instead of honey. Regarding STEVIA - much of it has a nasty aftertaste that I can't stand. However, the Stevia in the raw brand Stevia Sweetener In The Raw, 50-Count Packages (Pack of 12) does not have the aftertaste! (They process it differently in some way) I've tried every stevia in hopes of finding one I could tolerate as I really wanted to reduce our sugar intake, so I was thrilled to discover stevia in the raw. Until then I was able to use the liquid vanilla creme stevia Sweet Leaf Vanilla Creme Flavored Liquid Stevia, 2-Ounce Bottle but I could still detect a small bit of the aftertaste (it's kind of a bitter taste...) If you are not sensitive to stevia you can use whichever you like obviously. But for those like me, I want to point out these two particular stevia products. SUMMARY: Great tasting recipes with good texture but sub honey/maple & stevia for the agave and coconut or butter for the grapeseed oil for healthier options.

I am thrilled with this book because between my two daughters and me, one or more of us must avoid gluten, dairy, rice, cane sugar, eggs, and tapioca. G-free is easy, but g-free without rice or tapioca starch? Really difficult for me. Everything must be from scratch, so no more g-free convenience mixes. That's ok, and it's a blessing in disguise, but I found myself back at ground zero and feeling like I had no tools. I ordered the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook and a 4-pack of Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour. The book is absolutely excellent for our almost grain-free needs - the scope and variety of recipes makes me feel like I will have no problem creating "normal" foods again for us. If you need to be grain-free, I recommend it whole-heartedly, as long as you are willing to work around the agave nectar aspect or if it doesn't bother you to use it. We made our first recipe today - the chocolate cake. I am not well educated in the chemistry aspect of baking, knowing which components will impact rise, crumb, etc. I'll outline what I did in case anyone else has a similar problem to us and/or doesn't want to use agave nectar. Understand that I made my substitutions with NO idea of what the outcome would be! My challenges were to make the cake as listed except that we needed to be egg-free and I have zero interest in using agave nectar. I don't know whether it is the angel or devil that everyone has made it out to be over time, but we won't use it for now. The recipe called for one whole cup of agave nectar. For the first batch I did a half-recipe, not wanting to waste two cups of expensive almond flour on my experimentation. Our subs impacted the recipe as follows: we replaced the two eggs with ground flax seed and water using the standard ratio (1 T flaxseeds + 3 T water for each egg). We allowed the flax seed mixture to sit for about 20 minutes until it formed a gel. For the agave nectar, I used one individual packet of Stevia in the Raw (says it is the equivalent of two teaspoons of sugar). I also used 1/4 cup of regular cane sugar (we can have a little). After mixing all of the dry ingredients, I first added in the equivalent of one egg (half of the flax mixture) but it was still way too dry, so I added the remaining flax mixture which would have equaled two eggs. We also dumped in some dark chocolate chips because I could tell this was going to end up more like brownies than cake. The batter was exactly like brownie batter. Because there were no raw eggs in it, we could taste it for sweetness. I had actually used a bit too much sweetener but my girls loved it of course. I baked it in an 8-inch round for around 20 minutes. It came out very flat but did crisp around the edges and pull away from the pan. I probably pulled it out a little too soon. It was "very fudgy brownie" texture but really tasty to our poor deprived tastebuds. Wonderfully chocolatey thanks to the addition of the chocolate chips. Because I put in two whole tablespoons of flaxseed in the form of our egg replacement, it definitely has extra texture. If you don't mind fiber in your brownies, it's great. My kids also can't take omega-3 fish oil so getting some omega-3 in there is great for us. My experiment resulted in brownies rather than chocolate cake but we will 100% make them again, maybe even adding chopped nuts or spreading the top of the baked cake with almond butter or cream cheese. I will probably do it in mini-muffin pans next time to see if I can get them to rise a bit higher, as long as they don't disintegrate when trying to peel the wrapper off. We ate 3/4 of our little experiment while it was still hot from the oven so we left 1/4 in the name of science, to see what the texture does when it cools off. I suspect it won't really ever firm up enough to hold without folding and flopping, but we are just very happy girls none-the-less.

I love the recipes I have tried! and the book has helped me learn how to cook without regular flour/gluten - I have a few things, but it's just me, so I did not want to dock any stars. I do feel the recipes are TOO sweet! easily fixed by reducing by as much as half or more! and I do not feel Agave is a healthy sweetener. so I used maple syrup, honey or organic evap. cane juice crystals I also feel good quality organic grass fed butter is healthier and much better tasting than grapeseed oil for many recipes. But like I said, this is all just me, so I still give the book 5 stars because the substitutions are easily made with great results. I realize many Americans still have a "taste" for the very sweet (and probably why we have such an epidemic of diabetes) I married a European who has taught me to make cakes etc. that are not nearly so sweet and now I have lost my taste for it (it's rather amazing how that worked). European cakes are just not as sweet as American cakes & desserts, for the most part. So I think either Elana has a sweet tooth, or she is appealing to the American market! but like I said, it was an easy fix to make the desserts more palatable for my family. Butter can also easily be substituted for the grapeseed oil in the recipes, I even added a bit of butter to the chocolate cake recipe, to give moisture when I used evap. cane crystals. to sweeten (only 1/2 C. was plenty sweet for us!) - and my family LOVES this cake, which could not be easier to make - for the marshmallow frosting, I used maple syrup and reduced it by 2/3 - it maybe did not hold it's shape quite as well, but I'm not complaining since it was my adjustment and no one complained at my house! little hint: I used cocoa to "dust" the baking pan for the choc. cake - almond flour would be great, but it's so PRICEY - so I was trying to conserve So I give the book 5 stars in spite of all this, because I think it's not intended be a low sugar cook book, it is called "Gluten-Free" - and I feel it really helped me get over my fears of how to use almond flour - I have cooked so many years with wheat flour, I had no idea how this was all going to work with almond flour? but it's been a fun & delicious adventure! so I feel this book is an excellent starting place. The recipes are simple and pretty forgiving, so I think even beginners can easily follow them and if you are more experienced and want to make a few adjustments for preferences/tastes like I did - you can still have great results!

Elana's almond flour cookbook is by far the best gluten-free cookbook I have tried. Her recipes are easy-to-follow and reliable (unlike the Babycakes recipes which are delicious, but oh so finicky). More importantly, the recipes produce very delicious foods. The muffins have become staples for us, and her main dishes are also delicious; I never thought I would eat such delicious chicken pot pie after my celiac diagnosis! I know some people are concerned about agave; I often use maple syrup in the recipes with complete success. I also often use coconut oil rather than grapeseed oil. Even my friends and family who are not on a limited diet praise these almond-flour based foods. Plus we all feel great after eating them. Elana's tone is cheerful and informative (certainly not "preachy"), and the book is beautiful. Maybe next time there could be a few more pictures. For those who are GFCF, the majority of the recipes are dairy free. The most important ingredient note is that one must buy one of the brands of almond flour Elana recommends. All in all, this book has inspired me to get back into the kitchen, and I am extremely grateful for it. I gave the book to many people for Christmas.

I first bought this book around ten years ago. I used it all the time, but then I lost it. Looked everywhere for it. Gave up and ordered another one. The recipes are quick, easy, delicious and healthy. If I lost this copy I’d even order a third!

I very much like the idea of cooking with almond flour, both to reduce the amount of refined carbs in gluten-free baked goods, and because I like the taste. So I was excited to find this book, but it isn't quite what I was hoping for. The first big drawback is the author's insistence on using expensive ingredients that have no real nutritional benefits, notably agave syrup, grape seed oil, and Celtic sea salt. The agave syrup is the worst, because, as others have noted, it's a high-fructose product that may actually be worse for diabetics than table sugar. (What a stroke of marketing genius agave syrup is--as I far as I can tell, the only difference between high-fructose corn syrup and agave syrup is that the former is cheap and has a bad reputation, and the latter sells for the price of rubies and is promoted as a health food. Of course, agave "nectar" plays into the fantasy that you can eat sweets without suffering the bad effects of eating refined carbohydrates if you just use the next magic "natural, holistic" substitute for cane sugar.) It's easy enough to substitute other healthy oils for grape seed oil. Using other sugars instead of the agave is more complicated. If I have to fuss around and figure out substitutions, why buy a cookbook? Which brings me to the second problem: A lot of these recipes don't quite work. Every recipe I've tried has my notes next to it about modifications I want to try if I make it again. For instance, Coconut Berry Crisp, actually my favorite of the recipes I've tried, nice flavors and I have actually used more than once (with modifications). The first time I made it was way too salty, probably because I used (cheap, readily available)table salt instead of (pretentious, expensive, and difficult to measure acurately) sea salt. And it was swimming in grease because she added 1/2 cup coconut oil to a recipe already containing 3 oily ingredients (almond flour, walnuts, shredded coconut.) But, I'll go back and try some more recipes, because I really do want to cook with almond flour. If you are an experienced baker and an adventurous gluten-free cook, you'll probably find some useful ideas in this book, despite its flaws.

Excellent recipes

Fantastic

simple easy recipes

Ces recettes sont excellentes , faciles à réaliser. Tous les ingrédients se trouvent facilement sur le territoire français, c'est important à noter. Beaucoup de variété, tout est un délice.

Super Kochbuch. Schnelle Lieferung.