roberta deen

(Roberta Deen) Laurel Gallucci and Claire Thomas’ book, SWEET LAUREL, Recipes for Whole Food, Grain-Free Desserts is a guide to overcoming adversity and limitations in the home kitchen. These two friends have written the perfect “make lemonade” cookbook.

Authors Claire Thomas and Laurel Gallucci

Like many things, SWEET LAUREL, the bakery, was born from necessity. Laurel Gallucci had baked all her life. Sweet things were her life. Then shortly after the birth of her son, she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease and told that she would never eat chocolate cake again. Laurel found that unacceptable and set about conquering the severe limitations of this auto-immune disease. She would have her cake!

When Laurel had developed her simple methods and a limited list of “whole” ingredients, she approached her friend Claire Thomas, a food blogger, with a chocolate caramel cake. Claire, who had no dietary issues, could not tell that the cake was completely free of sugar, gluten, and dairy. A bond was formed right then and blossomed a few months later into SWEET LAUREL bakery. Then generosity, a willingness, and desire, to share their knowledge led to creating their beautiful book, SWEET LAUREL, Recipes for Whole Food, Grain-Free Desserts.

Authors Laurel Gallucci and Claire Thomas have compiled a compendium of sweets and bread that will brighten the lives of those with celiac disease, gluten-intolerance issues, and most vegetarian limitations. They have created a beautifully photographed (styled and photographed by Claire), thoroughly researched cookbook that guides the reader through a pantry of unfamiliar ingredients necessary for this new approach to eating. To quote them from the introduction: “Our book will give you an outlet to enjoy great-tasting, grain-free, gluten-free, refined-sugar-free, dairy-free, gum-free, soy-free, and filler-free recipes that benefit your body. All of our treats are paleo, and some are vegan, raw, or nut-free as well.” Add to that statement, that the recipes are simple to make. Most involve a few steps, clear instructions and tasty outcomes.

The first chapter, The Sweet Laurel Kitchen, is a complete outline of their food philosophy, core ingredients and pantry “staples” with concise definitions, uses for each item, and what basic equipment is necessary to have on hand. “If you have a bowl and a whisk, you can create almost every single one of our recipes.”

One of Sweet Laurel’s romantic “naked” cakes

The second chapter, Our Essential Recipes, explains how to create the necessary substitutes for grocery store basics such as marshmallows, applesauce, coconut whipped cream (It really does work and tastes good too!) The authors lead you through additive-free vanilla extract, baking powder, vegan egg substitutes, making nut milk and butters, even vegan chocolate chips. It is well worth reading these two chapters carefully, as you will gain a deep understanding of what these new diets require.

Then, we plunge into the making.

In the chapter, With Tea or Coffee, I chose to make the “Fall-in-Love Banana Bread”. Most recipes in the book begin with little reflections or stories. This one was introduced by how her mother won her about-to-be husband’s heart with this bread. They had me “at hello”.

Ready to Go into the Oven

I must say, all my tasters loved the moistness, full banana flavor, and nutty texture. I would recommend using blanched almond flour for a lighter, more familiar cake-like texture  (Trader Joes .com at $6.00 per pound) and whole almond flour for a darker, grainier texture (Sprouts $11.99 per pound). The recipe makes two, 1-1/2” thick, 9”x 5” rich, extremely moist loaves. The bread holds well, lightly covered, overnight which makes it perfect for that sleep-over breakfast or early office meeting.

Although all the cookie and bar photographs cried out for attention, “Mom’s Lemon Bars” won. I was intrigued by the sugar-free lemon curd and the almond flour crumb crust. Gluten-free or vegan bases for cheesecakes and bars are hard to find. This one did not disappoint. The lemon filling was tart and firm, with a perfect smooth curd texture. I recommend using a knife run under hot water and cleaned after each cut for even-edged squares or a spoon if you just can’t wait that long.

I ran into a bit of trouble making the “powdered coconut sugar”. I found the processor just tossed the coconut around and did not make it fine enough; though I kept trying until I turned it into coconut butter. I think a coffee grinder or mini-processor might do a better job. However, I pushed it through a sieve and it certainly looks like powdered sugar, just not as fluffy as in the gorgeous photo. The tasters all loved these for their creamy texture, sprightly lemon flavor, and crumbly nutty base. The yield is 16 2”x2” bars. They store beautifully at room temperature and can be made 3 days ahead of serving.

Not quite like the picture but everyone loved Mom’s Lemon Bars

My final excursion into the SWEET LAUREL cookbook was the “Pink Strawberry Layer Cake”. I didn’t have 3 – 6” round cake pans (Wilton at Joann.com, $8.99 each) so I used my 6” heart-shaped pans. Again, I recommend using blanched almond flour. I used whole almond flour again. The cake came out very well (in all it’s 5-layer glory) but the pretty pink color was masked by the darkness of the flour.

Even though the cake looks bake-shop difficult, the steps are simple, and the results are as promised. One caution: don’t heat the jam too much or it simply slides off the cake and takes the frosting with it. The coconut whipped cream is amazingly stable and tasty. Making it is like magic, it makes peaks and all. Who knew? I didn’t have access to fresh strawberry flowers as did the photo stylist, so I used unsweetened dried coconut curls as stand-ins.

Laurel and Claire have delivered on their promise at the beginning of SWEET LAUREL: “Our goal is to create an empowering, transformative, and sweet experience that makes you excited to take your next bite…It’s about loving the food you eat instead of punishing yourself for craving it.” Those who must, or choose, to eat outside the mainstream will be well rewarded by using SWEET LAUREL to open a new and delight-filled path to satisfying those cravings with a buffet of delights.