Make your own Larabars : Recipe

If you are a fan of the Larabar products and want to know how to make your own, you may be interested in reading this blog (link underlined) with a recipe for Larabar (Peanut-Butter Cookie variety). The homemade Larabar clone / copy (the "LauraBar", since Laura made it) is very simple to make and takes less than 10 minutes from start to cleanup.

Laura's Gluten-Free Larabar knock-off / homemade equivalent

As with all the Larabar products, it is simply dates coupled with other ingredients that provide the desired flavor.  This peanut-butter-cookie Laurabar recipe produces a snack bar that really does taste like a peanut butter cookie (with chocolate-chip option too).  It is a great and simple way to have gluten-free peanut-butter cookies at hand.

Most of all, making your own Larabar-copies at home can be done for about 25-cents/bar instead of the $1.00-$1.69/bar that stores charge.  For a 10-minute investment of your time, you can save a lot of money on a gluten-free snack or dessert with this recipe.  And, it will give you the basic idea of how to make other variations of the product.

Read many more GF articles and gluten-free recipes at the  Gluten-Free Blog — all varieties of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit the wonderful FREE Gluten-Free Recipes Site (at gluten-free-desserts.com)  for GF desserts, bread recipes, pizza crusts, main courses, and more.

Best Gluten-Free Dessert Recipes

The Gluten-Free Cooking School (GFCS) just posted an article and product review about The Best Gluten-Free Desserts You Have Ever Had. Needless to say, we agree!  

Here is the quoted material from that July 19, 2011 posting from their website:

"Imagine Thanksgiving without apple pie. Christmas without sugar cookies. Birthdays without a birthday cake. It sounds sad, doesn’t it? Food is an important part of life and celebrating with food is something we naturally do. Unfortunately, this sad scenario is a reality for many people when they find out they need to eat a gluten free diet. It’s hard enough figuring out what to eat for breakfast when you go gluten free, much less trying to cook some goodies for a birthday or holiday.

That’s why I’m so excited today to tell you about Gluten Free Gourmet Desserts by Mike Eberhart. I met Mike through his gluten free blog several years ago, and I’ve had the pleasure of talking to him about different aspects of eating and cooking gluten free foods.

[UPDATE: 2013 — all Print edition books have been sold out. See the book website for for many gluten-free recipes available for free including desserts, pizza crusts, breads, and much more]

I got a copy of his dessert book recently, and when it came in the mail, my first reaction was, "Wow!" The book is absolutely huge, and is filled to the brim with recipes for every kind of dessert you can imagine – cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, custard, cheesecake, muffins, breads and lots more. It’s also beautiful – full color with large, high definition pictures of each and every recipe. You definitely don’t want to look through this book when you’re at the grocery store, or you’ll end up buying ingredients for 20 different desserts!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with Mike to make his book available to my readers. It’s almost never available in stores, and unfortunately, it is hard to find. But you can get your copy right now.

GF Cappuccino Cheesecake – Cookbook Page 60

Date and Nut Cake – Cookbook Page 50

Gluten-Free Puff Pastries with Amaretto Cream Filling – Page 210

Make The Favorites That Your Family Loves

If I told you every recipe that is in this book, we’d be here all day – seriously, there are more than 100 different recipes, and several that have different variations, such as different flavors, icings, and fillings to try out. When you get the book, you’ll get a recipe for virtually every dessert you could ever want to make. As I sit here, I honestly cannot think of a single dessert recipe that I’ve ever eaten that is not included in this book.

Plus, once you’ve worked your way through your favorites, there are plenty of new desserts to try out for your family. I’m sure you’ll find a new favorite that you’ve never had before.

Citrus Nut Cake – Page 32

 

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart – Page 112

 

Ginger Bread – Page 168

Gluten Free Gourmet Desserts is an absolutely beautiful book. Mike had it professionally printed (please note, it is an actual physical book, not an ebook download) and they did a terrific job.

One thing that I really like about Mike’s book is that he and his family personally tested each and every recipe – so you can rest assured that the recipes will work for your family as well. I’ve made 5 yummy desserts for my family from his book already, and we’ve enjoyed every single one. Some of our favorite recipes from his book are the apple pie, the chocolate cheesecake, and the chocolate hazelnut tart. But, to be honest, I could go on for a very long time listing desserts from the book that we’ve enjoyed or that we really want to try out!

Chocolate Macadamia Biscotti -Page 160

Italian Lemon Cookies – Page 138

 

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake – Page 28

Get The Book Now While There Are Copies Left

There are a couple of reasons why you should grab this book now. First and most important, Mike only has a limited number of print copies of his book left, and he has no plans to print more when they’re gone. In all honesty, I don’t expect his remaining copies to last that long. If you want the book, please grab it now while there are still copies available.

I’ve been cooking gluten free desserts for years, and I still loved reading and cooking my way through the book. There are more than enough delicious desserts in here to satisfy anyone."

Celiac Disease Cure

Although this blog focuses on Gluten-Free Recipes primarily, readers may also be interested in what is going on in the area of producing a Celiac Disease Cure (link to article).

Researchers are now attempting to tackle gluten-sensitivity through a novel approach using a vaccine technology to improve life for those of us that can not consume gluten.  The goal of the vaccine is to desensitise patients to the three specific peptides in gluten that are essentially 'toxic' to people with coeliac disease.

Although this latest potential cure for Celiac Disease is only in a Phase I clinical trial, the news coming out of this test showed that the new vaccine appears to be safe to use and well tolerated.

It will still be a while until we can all perhaps have a chance to try a Celiac-Disease remedy, by way of this new Vaccine, as it is expected to enter Phase II trials within the next 10 months.  From my understanding of clinical trials, there would likely be a Phase-III clinical trial of the potential cure for Celiac Disease next, and then perhaps the general (gluten-free) population will have a chance to get a shot (or a few shots) and return to ingesting gluten.

The current trials hope to demonstrate a dramatic reduction in the body's rejection of dietary gluten so patients can resume a normal diet and return to good health.  As far as I am concerned, anything that can aid, alleviate, correct, heal, or counteract the effects of gluten-toxicity is a great thing!

I expect that we are all hoping for a drug, vaccine, elixir, healing agent, medicine, or other restorative agent to get us back to normal, and perhaps this will be the one.  Any Celiac-Disease treatment or therapy that shows promise (aside from the obvious one of just not consuming gluten) is worth mentioning,... and, I hope to eventually report that this turns into the cure for celiac disease that we all would welcome.