Gluten-Free Desserts Index - Recipes I Eat Myself

I thought it would be helpful to give you a lot of gluten-free desserts since a lot of desserts have gluten in them. These actually taste good even though some of them may not taste exactly like the desserts you are used to. You’ll be thankful you found them because you won’t feel dessert deprived anymore.

All of these recipes will help satisfy your sweet tooth. I did not include any ice cream recipes because ice cream is generally gluten-free unless something with gluten is added, like cake or cookie dough and you could get recipes for those things below.

I think the hardest thing about eating gluten-free is dessert. That is where a lot of the gluten used to be in my diet anyway. I’m thinking about all those cookies, cakes and pies I used to eat, that I can’t eat anymore.

Well, I was wrong in thinking that I couldn’t have dessert anymore because there are plenty of yummy gluten-free dessert recipes out there. They are made with a variation of several different kinds of gluten-free flour.

Gluten-Free Flours

There are so many different kinds of gluten-free flours in the world. You can’t even imagine all of the different nuts and plants that flour can be made out of that taste really good. One of the most popular kinds of gluten-free flour is almond flour. Yes, it’s just ground up almonds. You probably already know you love almonds, so it’s natural to just try it.

Some other kinds of gluten-free flours that are used a lot in desserts are quinoa flour, coconut flour and oatmeal can be blended in a blender into oat flour. More kinds of gluten-free flour include several different kinds of rice flour, arrowroot flour, and buckwheat flour. Don’t get confused, just because buckwheat has the word wheat in it, it is NOT a grain, it is actually a seed that originated in Asia.

Additional kinds of gluten-free flour are ground flax, sorghum flour, tapioca flour, and hazelnut flour. Dried white mulberries can also be used to replace flour grain and some of these recipes include dates that are used in place of flour. That can be an advantage because they also add a lot of natural sweetness so you can use less or no sugar.

Gluten-free flours can include almond flour, coconut flour and a mix of several flours usually called gluten-free flour. The base in that is usually garbanzo bean flour with other flours including rice flour.

Just in case you are wondering, a package of flour you buy in the store that is labeled gluten-free flour is usually made from a combination of several different kinds of gluten-free flours mixed together to make a good flour that works well together.

Different kinds of gluten-free flour are, of course, different in texture and the amount of liquid they soak up and their weight is different. Some gluten-free flours raise very well while others do not and will forever be heavy and flat. That’s why a combination of flours work well.

To help you find a good dessert recipe with your favorite kind of flour I have written the main ingredients, always including the kind of flour, if it includes flour, under the title of each recipe. I hope this is helpful to you.

Some desserts that are gluten-free don’t have any kind of flour at all, they are usually called raw, I have some recipes like that, you will be surprised how good they taste.

You need to just try several of these recipes and see which flours you like the best and which recipes work best for you and your situation.

Substitutions

I forgot to mention that you really can’t just substitute one kind of flour for a different kind of flour straight across for the same recipe. It just doesn’t work that way. The only time you might be able to do that is if you buy a bag of flour off of the shelf in the grocery store that says it’s gluten-free and you substitute it straight across for a regular recipe that calls for wheat flour. I’m not guaranteeing it will work though, I can’t say that I’ve done that.

Those gluten-free flours off of the shelf are a lot of the time made with garbanzo bean flour, cornflour, rice flour or potato flour all of which have a lot of carbs and starch in them, which I try to avoid. The very best flour in my opinion and the most popular you will find is almond flour. A lot of these recipes are made with almond flour. Almond flour is much healthier but it may or maybe not be more expensive too, shop around.

What I do know is when a recipe calls for wheat flour or almond flour you cannot substitute it straight across for coconut flour. Coconut flour absorbs a lot of moisture so it takes a lot less coconut flour in a recipe than it does any other kind of gluten-free flour. Experimenting really isn’t a good idea. You need to follow recipes exactly or they won’t turn out very good.

The most asked question I find from followers on my blog is about whether this or that can be substituted for that or this. The answer is a big resounding NO you can’t if you want it to taste good. I don’t know why so many people want to do that. If you don’t have a certain ingredient either go buy it or don’t make that recipe until you have all of the ingredients.

Where to Buy Gluten-Free Flours

If you are having a hard time finding alternative flours to buy in your local store my suggestion is to go to Winco. Our local Winco has every kind of flour I have ever wanted to buy. I really like that because if I just want to try a certain gluten-free flour I can buy as little as I want. I don’t have to buy a big bag of it if it turns out that I don’t like it. I don’t feel too bad about throwing a cup of flour away whereas I would mind throwing 5 pounds of flour away.

The other place I buy a lot of my gluten-free flours is on Amazon. I like Amazon because I don’t have to go to the store and waste time driving there and standing in line etc. Of course I can’t buy just a little bit and of course I do have to wait for it to be delivered. My suggestion would be to buy small amounts at Winco and then if you like it but don’t have time to shop you can buy larger amounts on Amazon.

On all of my original recipes, I have links straight to Amazon where you can buy them. I have found though that it isn’t hard to find gluten-free flours to buy on Amazon just search in the grocery and gourmet food category for the kind of flour you want and a whole bunch of them should come up.

Easy Dessert Recipes

Yes, I tried to choose gluten-free recipes that I would make myself. If I found that a recipe looked like too much work, I said no way to it. If I won’t make it, most people won’t. I’m pretty lazy when it comes to cooking if I can get away with it.

Actually, dessert is the one thing I usually skip just because it’s too much work to make another dish for dinner. If you are more ambitious than I am and love to make desserts, that’s great.

Parties

By the way, I do make dessert for special occasions like birthday parties and extended family dinners. We have a lot of birthday parties and holiday parties with all of my brothers and sisters and their children and my parents and my aunts and uncles. Our parties usually include about 30 people and it’s still growing. It’s really a lot of fun.

Being on a gluten-free diet can really not be so much fun when you are used to eating a lot of desserts and you love them. You might think that would mean no more cake or cookies or pie for you. You might even think it could mean no bread for you. But that isn’t true.

Favorites

I say to you go ahead be adventurous and try as many of these recipes as you can and discover what works for you and what you like the most.

Have fun, desserts are a lot of fun especially if you haven’t been able to have dessert for a while. I hope these explanations are helpful to you and I hope you realize that you can still have all of the cake, pies, and cookies and any other desserts you want and like, just in a little different way, that’s all. You’ll be a lot healthier in the long run. Enjoy!