Your Fav Dessert-Entertaining Gluten Eaters With gluten-free Food

[CajunChic]

I'm part of a pokeno group. It's my first time entertaining the ladies (12 of them) gluten-free. They always accommodate me when I'm at their houses, but you know how it is. I can't eat this or that...

So I'm planning a meal and 2 desserts completely gluten-free so I have no worries for myself. I want them to enjoy the food without being able to tell its gluten-free. They know I'll be cooking that way but don't want it to taste "different". Lol

What are your favorite desserts? I've searched recipes, but want to know tried and true recipes!

[kareng]

Betty crocker gluten-free brownie mix, ice with chocolate ganache and put a raspberry on each piece. Fruit and a nice dip - we like a pina colada yogurt dip. Boozy chocolate pudding in little individual cups with chocolate cookie crumbs on top or in mini chocolate cookie crumb pie shells (Use Pamelas or Del Mar chocolate wafer cookies). Hot fudge sauce (Mrs Richardson's) kept hot in a fondue pot with strawberries, PB cookies, etc to dip.

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/97117-boozy-pudding/page-1#entry827484

[Adalaide]

The first thing that pops in my head is pavlova. I would make mini ones if I was having company like that and serve them with lemon curd. It's hard to find a recipe for either that isn't good since both are naturally gluten free. Brownies are also a great one. I'm not a fan of the price of Betty Crocker, and buy Hodgson Mill which is about half as much and very delicious. My gluten eating husband enjoys them.

 

If you can buy Premium Gold flour locally, they have a recipe on their website for red velvet cupcakes that are bakery quality and are to die for. You can fancy them up with sprinkles or candies on top of the frosting. And if you go that route, use the frosting recipe listed with the cupcake recipe because again it is bakery quality. It will not disappoint.

[LauraTX]

If you make a big thing of lasagna with Tinkyada lasagna noodles, it is the bomb, and no one will know it is gluten-free.  (There are other lasagna noodles gluten-free that I have heard are not good so caution!)  If you want my recipe let me know.  It is in my head so, I will have to think about it a hot minute!

 

When guests come over I also like to do things that are naturally gluten free, and therefore cheaper, like baked chicken, steaks, etc with mashed potatoes and corn or green beans, or any other veggie. I like to make oven baked chicken breasts, I bread them with gluten-free bisquik seasoned with seasoned salt.  Just sub the bisquik into any recipe for oven fried chicken.  That is also something you can prep before people come over and throw in the oven to have yourself free for other things.

 

For dessert, most gluten-free brownie mixes (other than bobs red mill cause they use bean flour) taste the exact same as gluteny brownies.  The dense texture makes it not matter if there is gluten in there or not.  My favorite brownie mix is king arthur flour, and pamelas is good, too.  I don't like chocolate chips in my brownies but otherwise the betty crocker mix is good, too.  If you want to save money and not have to buy a bunch of baking mixes, you can make one pan of brownies, cooked a little hard so they don't get soggy in this preparation, and make up some chocolate pudding and some whipped cream and make a trifle with it.  You don't need a fancy dish, you can just do layers of each in a bowl.  A clear bowl is prettier, though.  

 

An even simpler dessert to make is chocolate covered strawberries.  Just melt some chocolate chips in the microwave, and dip away!  You can do white chocolate, too, drizzle it on top to make them look pretty, etc.  

 

Also, most gluten-free cookie recipes taste like regular cookies, because the lack of gluten does not matter in a dense cookie.  But for non gluten-free guests I would avoid using bean flours, you don't want everyone tooting on each other!

[CajunChic]

Thank y'all very much! I'll be trying these before my pokeno!

Laura-I had my food planned, but I'm rethinking because of that lasagna!! Definitely send the recipe when you can get it together! Much appreciated.

[luvs2eat]

I love to make a cheesecake using gluten-free ginger snaps for the crust. Top with lots of fresh fruit for a beautiful presentation.

[Adalaide]

A ginger snap crust for a cheesecake sounds awesome. I also like to just make mine crustless. It's cheap! I don't know if this would work for a no bake, but it's awesome for NY style.

[LauraTX]

Ok So this is how I make lasagna.

 

You can kind of work from this recipe: Open Original Shared Link

 

But What I do for a large crowd is buy two packages of lasagna noodles, two tubs of ricotta cheese (Do NOT put cottage cheese in lasagna that is gross! lol), about two pounds of loose italian sausage, 1.5-2 pounds of mozzarella, two jars of the best spaghetti sauce you can find, a 1/4 cup or so of water, and a tub of parmesean/romano/asiago blend cheese.  Also will need a full bulb of garlic peeled and ran through a garlic press (can use garlic powder to taste) , two eggs, a tablespoon of dried parsley, some olive oil, and a big foil roast pan.  (that way you can toss it and not scub off the baked on stuff)  With huge amounts of stuff, it won't fit in a standard pan, need something huge.

 

Boil the lasagna noodles, minus about two minutes so they don't get too soft when baking.  Drain them carefully, and lay them out in a container one by one, so they are flat and not going to break, coating each one in olive oil.

 

Cook up the sausage, adding half the garlic near the end so it cooks and doesnt burn, drain the fat, and put in a bowl.  Add a little of the parmesean blend when it cools enough.

 

You can leave the sauce in the jars if you go that route, just stir in 1/4 of the garlic into the sauces.  (If you want, you can make up your own sauce with crushed tomatoes and such, but I like to buy a high quality jarred sauce like Monte Bene garlic marinara)

 

Dump the ricotta cheese, half the mozzarella, the rest of the parmesean blend, the last 1/4 of the garlic, the parsley, and the eggs into a big bowl, and blend well.

 

Assembling the lasagna!-You can really do the layers any way you want.  The more layers, the more noodles you need, I tend to do two cheese and one meat layer.

Oil the bottom of the pan generously, then ladle some sauce in it to generously cover the bottom.  Put a single layer of noodles out, slightly overlapping them at the edges, since you want the bottom layer to hold up.  Dollop some of the ricotta mixture and spread evenly, then a single layer of noodles.  Spread all the meat on there, and ladle a good amount of sauce on it.  Add a layer of noodles, then the rest of the ricotta mix.  Make your top layer of noodles on that really pretty, trying to get the crimps on the outside edges and such, as that is what people will see.  Add the rest of the sauce on top and around the sides, trying to fill in any air pockets.  Get the 1/4cup of water and pour it just a tad in each of the corners, trying to get it down there a bit.  This is to reduce the hugely charred corners since you have to bake it a long time.   Top with the rest of the mozzarella!

 

I spray the underside of some foil with baking spray and bake it covered.  It will bake for around an hour at 375 F with convection, 400 F without.  Take the foil off for the last 10-15 minutes, and the center needs to be 160 degrees with a thermometer because there are eggs in it.  Carryover cooking will take it to 165.  

 

It is great to make it up and have it in the oven so the people you have over don't have to see you slaving away!  Just know if you make it ahead of time and refrigerate it, it will take a very long time to cook because it is like 5-6 inches thick.  For faster cooking you can make it into two 9x11 pans, but people love having that beautiful tall piece of lasagna on their plate.  I like to serve it with salad and chebe cheese rolls.  Non-GFers love those.

 

Edit: It is not made to be healthy, it is a treat meant to be shared.  Feeds about 12 with huge portions.

[Pauliewog]

I have never had anything "bad" from Elena's Pantry. The thin mint Girl Scout cookies were devine!

 

Open Original Shared Link

[nvsmom]

I tend to keep my meals to meat and potatoes or rice when company comes over. I serve one of those naturally gluten-free meals that non-celiacs have never realized have no gluten. I have a picky family so simple is better.  LOL

 

Desserts are usually angel food cake with strawberries and whip cream, or brownies and ice cream. Cookies usually work well too. Cookie crumb pies and cheescakes go over well too.  I do find that "normal" people often do not like gluten-free cakes and muffins so I tend to skip making those now a days.

 

Have fun.  

[CajunChic]

Thank you all so much! I now have a plethora of gluten-free goodies ; )

Laura-will be giving this a trial run before the event!

[LauraTX]

you really can't go wrong.  Piling on pounds of cheese makes everything delicious