Baking

These muffins are another way to add fiber and nutrient-rich veggies to your day. Pack a little more nutritional punch into this recipe by using organic canned pumpkin.

For people—and especially kids—who like crisply textured sweets, there’s nothing like a ginger snap to scratch that itch. Many of my clients worry that they’ll have to give up sweet treats like cookies during treatment. Nonsense. You just have to be smart about it, and this recipe shows you how: It uses quality ingredients (and no refined flour) and many cancer-fighting spices. There’s just one caveat: Make the dough at least three hours before you want to bake the cookies, and preferably an entire day ahead. Once you make the dough, it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days. Chilling the dough makes it easier to cut the cookies and also gives the flavors a chance to come together so the cookies taste their very best.

I knew I wanted to do a cardamom macaroon recipe for this book because my grandmother, Doris, got me hooked on them when I was knee-high. My baker for this book, Wendy Remer, also has macaroon fever. These bite-size morsels are made using organic maple syrup with either a tad of brown rice syrup or honey for just the right amount of sweet. Meanwhile, cardamom adds a warm, spicy touch, while also aiding digestion and possibly slowing tumor growth.

When I told my friend about this baked apple dish, he said it reminded him of an old folk recipe. When he was little and had an upset tummy, his Russian grandmother would cut up an apple and leave it out on the counter for a few minutes, until it began to brown. His grandmother would then say, “Come eat, tatellah” (an affectionate way of saying, “little man” in Yiddish). Lo and behold, a few minutes later his stomach felt better. He always figured it was love at work (and, of course, it was), but years later he found out there was also some science involved: As they brown—or cook, in this case—apples release pectin, which naturally soothes the belly. Baking makes the pectin and the rest of the apple easier to digest. In this recipe, the apples are complemented by a whole host of tasty morsels and spices—toasted pecans, dates, orange zest, and cinnamon—and as they bake, they smell heavenly.

A little saying around my kitchen is “If it’s white, it’s just not right.” Many white products, espcially white sugar and white flour, have been processed to the point where they’ve been stripped of both color and nutrients. Nutritionists say these foods contain empty calories, meaning calories without meaningful amounts of vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients. Empty calories aren’t a good idea for anyone, and they’re a definite no-no for people already dealing with diminished appetites. These muffins aren’t the monsters so often seen in bakeries—they’re smaller and healthier, but no less flavorful. The basic recipe, which is delicious on its own, is built on a foundation of spelt flour, agave nectar, and almonds, which are packed with nutrients. I’ve also provided a couple of variations below, for chocolate orange muffins and ginger lemon muffins; all three versions have one thing in common: They’re little bites of powerful joy!

Cornbread is one of those foods people get mighty opinionated about, as in “Nobody makes cornbread as good as my (momma, grammy, Uncle Phoebus, just fill in the blank).” Not only that, but once someone gets a beloved piece of that cornbread in their hands, well, as one writer said, “If you try to take my cornbread, there will be consequences and repercussions.” I think of cornbread a bit like barbecue: Just about every region of the country has its variation, which, as if ordained from above, is simply the best. Cornbread, cornpone, jonnycakes, hush puppies—the names and approaches differ, but not the devotion. My version is California-style, as in how do we keep all of that awesome taste while using healthier ingredients? Using some spelt flour helps, as does using just a bit of organic maple syrup as a sweetener and extra-virgin olive oil in place of butter. The lemon zest allowed me to put the word “beyond” into the title of this recipe. If you’ll allow me to play yenta, I’d match the cornbread with the Rockin’ Black Bean Soup (page 71). They’re a very happy couple.

The whole idea of Anytime Bars is right in the name; you never know when hunger is going to strike, and you want to be ready to take advantage of those moments to nourish yourself. A lot of my clients take these portable packets of pleasure to chemo sessions. It may seem odd that people want to eat during treatment, but many do, and these bars are a delicious, healthy alternative to the bowls of sweets so often found around infusion centers. The great thing about this recipe is that you can change the ingredients to fit your taste preferences. You can even split the batter and make half with currant and cranberries and the other half with walnuts or whatever you’d like. These bars come together very quickly with the food processor, but if you don’t have one, you can certainly chop the fruit and nuts by hand.

These multipurpose rolls are great as part of a continental breakfast, for making ciabatta sandwiches or panini, along with soup or salad for lunch, and they are a fabulous roll to pass at dinner. This one covers all your bases. Bon appetit!

Soft and warm, these rolls have a wonderful aroma. I have given proportions for a large batch because I find these rolls get gobbled up quickly. They also freeze well, so you can keep a batch in the freezer, defrosting, then warming a few . . . whenever.

Traditional matzo recipes are made from water and one of the five grains permitted for Passover. These are barley, oats, rye, spelt, and wheat. This creates a problem for the gluten-free Jew. But help is on the horizon. This matzo is not made from grain at all; it’s made from potato starch and flaxseed meal, and I did adhere to the Passover rule that the matzo be made in eighteen minutes or less.

My grandmother and mother very often made cornbread sticks along with our summer suppers when I was a child. I grew up on Cape Cod, and we ate a lot of fresh fish back in those days. Cod, haddock, flounder, and bluefish were all staples at our summer table. Cornbread is eaten alongside fish to help push down any bones you might accidentally swallow. Due to food allergies, and tragically polluted and overfished waters, we’ve stopped eating the fish. But the cornbread sticks have remained. My mother still bakes them up every year when we go back East for our annual summer reunions, and I make them for my kids, who love them just as much as I always have. I make them with my Basic Gluten-Free Flour Mix, but you may also use Gluten-Free Bread Flour Mix (page 158) for a more intense flavor and a slightly more crumbly texture.

My son Lennon is a pizza fanatic. He calls this crust “awesome!” High praise indeed for such an easy-peezy pizza pie. Top this crust with tomato sauce, onions, sliced mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, basil, and any other veggie you desire. The possibilities are endless.

This is an outstanding loaf of bread and a great way to showcase your talents as an allergen-free baker. I have chosen seeds that I know can be found free of cross-contamination risk with other allergens (see Resources, page 177), but feel free to substitute.

This rustic flat bread is great served with white bean dip or dunked in red sauce. It’s also wonderful dipped in olive oil. Be sure to serve it warm.

The easiest loaf of bread you’ll ever bake, ever. The yeast in the beer eliminates the need for a rise with traditional yeast. So thank you, whoever you are, for the advent of gluten-free beer . . . for so many reasons. For those of you making this for children, I can hear you now, but do not fear, the alcohol cooks out, just leaving behind a wonderfully subtle yeasty beer flavor. I use Redbridge, made by Anheuser-Busch (yes, they make Budweiser!), because it’s easy to find, but if you want to use a gluten-free microbrewery beer, bake your socks off. This bread is fantastic with soup or salad, or really anything savory.

This simple no-knead bread is so easy, you could make it every day. It’s great for scooping or dipping; just break off a chunk and dig in.

This hearty old-world bread is great eaten anywhere you’d traditionally eat rye or pumpernickel bread. Use maple syrup to make it like “rye” or molasses for “pumpernickel.”

This majestic brown bread is an excellent breakfast loaf. Try it toasted with a little vegan margarine. If truth be told, this is my favorite meal of the day.

This is classic slicing bread, great for toast in the morning, and wonderful for sandwiches. Make it the morning after a big supper when you have leftover mashed or baked potatoes.

These chewy gingerbread cookies contain half the fat of most traditional gingerbread recipes, have no cholesterol, and swap out the sugar for agave nectar and molasses. But do they sacrifice on flavor? No way! My boys say, “They’re better than great!”