Kitchen Witches Cooking Show-themed Play

[Lora V.]

I'm assistant directing and stage managing a play called Kitchen Witches, a comedy about two rival cooking show hostesses. One of the scenes in the play has the two women preparing six desserts in about two minutes. (I think I've figured out enough shortcuts and theater magic to deal with the time element.) Then we get a guy from the audience to judge who made the best desserts. We want to be prepared in case the guy we choose has any food allergies, so I thought I'd post links to the recipes in this forum and get some input:

Bourbon Balls

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Calls for coconut instead of Nilla Wafers. But it has Eagle brand milk in it, so if someone has a dairy allergy, I'll have to use another version that calls for Nilla Wafers and no Eagle brand milk. Do you think they'll hold together all right without the nuts?

Dessert Tacos

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I thought at first finding a gluten-free tortilla wouldn't be too hard, but now I'm not too sure. I thought we had some at the specialty market where I work in Nampa, Idaho, but we don't. Pardon my ignorance, but are most corn tortillas gluten-free, or do you really have to watch out? If most aren't, does anyone know anywhere in the Boise, Idaho area where I can find some?

Fruit Tartlets

I'm modifying a recipe in one of my cookbooks which just requires you to pre-bake the crusts, arrange the fruit in the tart shells and brush the fruit with melted apricot preserves or currant jelly and chill them. I already have a gluten-free pie crust mix from the market where I work.

Strawberry Shortcake

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Has anyone made this recipe? Have you ever tried it with egg substitute? Did it work? Can you freeze them fine?

Coconut Macaroons

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"Flips and Dips"

I had never heard of these before, but that's what is called for in the script. I decided to assume that the flips are Flipz, those chocolate-covered pretzels you can get in stores, and that Dips would then be chocolate-covered dried apricots, which we could give to anyone with a gluten allergy.

Am I overlooking something? Do you think this menu will work?

Thanks for your help.

[Juliebove]

I'm assistant directing and stage managing a play called Kitchen Witches, a comedy about two rival cooking show hostesses. One of the scenes in the play has the two women preparing six desserts in about two minutes. (I think I've figured out enough shortcuts and theater magic to deal with the time element.) Then we get a guy from the audience to judge who made the best desserts. We want to be prepared in case the guy we choose has any food allergies, so I thought I'd post links to the recipes in this forum and get some input:

Bourbon Balls

Open Original Shared Link

Calls for coconut instead of Nilla Wafers. But it has Eagle brand milk in it, so if someone has a dairy allergy, I'll have to use another version that calls for Nilla Wafers and no Eagle brand milk. Do you think they'll hold together all right without the nuts?

Dessert Tacos

Open Original Shared Link

I thought at first finding a gluten-free tortilla wouldn't be too hard, but now I'm not too sure. I thought we had some at the specialty market where I work in Nampa, Idaho, but we don't. Pardon my ignorance, but are most corn tortillas gluten-free, or do you really have to watch out? If most aren't, does anyone know anywhere in the Boise, Idaho area where I can find some?

Fruit Tartlets

I'm modifying a recipe in one of my cookbooks which just requires you to pre-bake the crusts, arrange the fruit in the tart shells and brush the fruit with melted apricot preserves or currant jelly and chill them. I already have a gluten-free pie crust mix from the market where I work.

Strawberry Shortcake

Open Original Shared Link

Has anyone made this recipe? Have you ever tried it with egg substitute? Did it work? Can you freeze them fine?

Coconut Macaroons

Open Original Shared Link

"Flips and Dips"

I had never heard of these before, but that's what is called for in the script. I decided to assume that the flips are Flipz, those chocolate-covered pretzels you can get in stores, and that Dips would then be chocolate-covered dried apricots, which we could give to anyone with a gluten allergy.

Am I overlooking something? Do you think this menu will work?

Thanks for your help.

I wouldn't worry about the food allergies. If I were chosen from an audience, I would just decline because of the food allergies. Frankly there are sooo many allergies out there, if you were to get a person with multiple food allergies like my daughter and myself, you'd have a problem.

For instance, you mention milk. You could replace that with soy milk and then get a person with a soy allergy. You could use rice milk, but some rice milk contains soy or gluten! And a person with a milk allergy can't have butter, or most likely margarine because it often contains milk.

I don't know that bourbon is gluten-free. It might be, but I kind of think not.

As for the coconut, some people with nut allergies wouldn't be able to eat it.

Corn tortillas are usually gluten free but might not taste so good in a dessert.

Egg replacer works for some things but not others. Then there are people who are allergic to egg replacer!

And of all the things listed, chocolate is probably one of the biggest problems. It often contains soy and is not gauranteed nut or gluten free.

If I were you, I would just make the recipes as written. If someone is going to be judging them, you want them to be good. If you are making gluten-free stuff, a person who is not used to eating it might not think they are good. They do have a different taste to them.

[Juliebove]

I wouldn't worry about the food allergies. If I were chosen from an audience, I would just decline because of the food allergies. Frankly there are sooo many allergies out there, if you were to get a person with multiple food allergies like my daughter and myself, you'd have a problem.

For instance, you mention milk. You could replace that with soy milk and then get a person with a soy allergy. You could use rice milk, but some rice milk contains soy or gluten!

As for the coconut, some people with nut allergies wouldn't be able to eat it.

Corn tortillas are usually gluten free but might not taste so good in a dessert.

Egg replacer works for some things but not others. Then there are people who are allergic to egg replacer!

And of all the things listed, chocolate is probably one of the biggest problems. It often contains soy and is not gauranteed nut or gluten free.

If I were you, I would just make the recipes as written. If someone is going to be judging them, you want them to be good. If you are making gluten-free stuff, a person who is not used to eating it might not think they are good. They do have a different taste to them.

[Juliebove]

Sorry for the double post. I tried to edit my post and somehow it posted twice.

[lpellegr]

I agree - I don't think someone with any food allergies would volunteer or let themselves be picked out of the audiences for this. Would you? Don't bother changing the recipes. Sounds like fun - hectic, but fun.