Gluten free and dairy free dessert? & critique this menu

[Alps79]

I'm hosting book club; we have 4 GF and 2 of them are also DF. 12 of us. Doesn't have to be a full meal. Serving 
*endive scoops with goat cheese bc that's not dairy, right? 
*big charcuterie with gluten free crackers, various meats and cheeses, olives, peppers, nuts, etc. 
*artichoke dip (not DF) but will have GF crackers
*green beans with wasabi dip (GF and DF) 

Dessert is strawberries with cheesecake filling (GF) and oreo truffles. So I need a DF/GF dessert. I'd prefer something that is naturally gluten free vs subbing GF flour etc. Any recs? Preferably something that is a "bite" versus something that needs to be served with fork/spoon. 

Also serving the French 75 cocktail recipe that was posted last week. I made it Saturday and it was fantastic!! (but omg strong!!!!!) www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/french-75-punch-51171630

[winecat]

I feel like this is a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" moment. Goat cheese is dairy.

[lab7979]

I've made these before and they were really good and really easy. They taste like a peanut butter cup. They are gluten free, dairy free and vegan. I used dark chocolate cocoa powder because I prefer dark chocolate. They have to be kept in the refrigerator until served or they will start to melt. I think it's because of the coconut oil.

www.acouplecooks.com/bliss-bites-healthy-no-bake-cookies/

[calmcosmo]

Goat cheese is dairy, it's just not cow dairy (obviously). I am working with a dietician and she encourages sheep and goat dairy over cow dairy. But it is still dairy. If your friends eat goat/sheep dairy include Manchego on your charcuterie. True dairy free would not eat goat cheese or manchego.

Some easy GF and DF: Tortilla Chips and salsa, hummus and vegetable dippers.

For dessert: Fresh strawberries sounds great! Honestly, people who are GF/DF likely don't expect a compliant dessert as it's very hard. Lily's makes some nice GF chocolate options (but has milk). I think a fresh fruit option is perfect for dessert.

[Alps79]

Jan 14, 2020 9:47:04 GMT -5 winecat said:

I feel like this is a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" moment. Goat cheese is dairy.

Seriously? I had a convo w a friend a month ago and she “ schooled” me on all this. She said dairy is only cow. Her family is DF but they eat goat and sheep’s cheese. :/ obv I didn’t research further.
Well, I’ll leave the goat cheese off half. Thanks!

[Deleted]

Jan 14, 2020 9:55:50 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 14, 2020 9:47:04 GMT -5 winecat said:

I feel like this is a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" moment. Goat cheese is dairy.

Seriously? I had a convo w a friend a month ago and she “ schooled” me on all this. She said dairy is only cow. Her family is DF but they eat goat and sheep’s cheese. :/ obv I didn’t research further.
Well, I’ll leave the goat cheese off half. Thanks!

If it comes from animal milk, it's dairy. I really should be cow-dairy free because the lactose bothers me, but I stick with things like butter and cream which are lower in lactose. 

And fwiw, eggs are not dairy, you'd be surprised how many people think they are because they are in the dairy section at the grocery store. I know that you didn't say anything about eggs, this just seemed like a good place to tell that

Otherwise I think that the menu looks great. You could do chocolate covered strawberries with dark chocolate for dessert. There are also tons of recipes out there for chocolate truffles that can be dairy free.

[livinitup]

A Jello mold or cups seems nice for a book club and is both DF and GF. It does require a spoon though.

[lindyanne]

Meringue cookies

[icedcoffee]

Jan 14, 2020 9:55:50 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 14, 2020 9:47:04 GMT -5 winecat said:

I feel like this is a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" moment. Goat cheese is dairy.

Seriously? I had a convo w a friend a month ago and she “ schooled” me on all this. She said dairy is only cow. Her family is DF but they eat goat and sheep’s cheese. :/ obv I didn’t research further.
Well, I’ll leave the goat cheese off half. Thanks!

For whatever it's worth...goat cheese is dairy BUT

If they are dairy free because of lactose intolerance issues many (most?) can tolerate goat cheese.  My sister is severely lactose intolerant, but eats goat cheese regularly.

But, yes, it's technically dairy.

[winecat]

Jan 14, 2020 9:55:50 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 14, 2020 9:47:04 GMT -5 winecat said:

I feel like this is a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" moment. Goat cheese is dairy.

Seriously? I had a convo w a friend a month ago and she “ schooled” me on all this. She said dairy is only cow. Her family is DF but they eat goat and sheep’s cheese. :/ obv I didn’t research further.
Well, I’ll leave the goat cheese off half. Thanks!

DF for *her* is cow dairy but it's definitely still dairy.  I'd ask the other DF person what they consider to be dairy since one of your DF people would be okay with the goat cheese on endive.  

[ECB]

I would reach out to the DF people and ask them if they eat goat cheese or not.

As I didn't know that goat cheese is often fine for people who have lactose issues, people who are DF may - in public - stick to entirely DF so that they don't have to explain WHY they can eat one cheese but not another. Because I'm sure many people are skeptical of this. (I'm not - I just know how people can be with dietary issues/choices)

[Alps79]

Jan 14, 2020 10:08:23 GMT -5 lindyanne said:

Meringue cookies

I did those last time!

[lemoncupcake]

Jan 14, 2020 9:55:50 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 14, 2020 9:47:04 GMT -5 winecat said:

I feel like this is a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" moment. Goat cheese is dairy.

Seriously? I had a convo w a friend a month ago and she “ schooled” me on all this. She said dairy is only cow. Her family is DF but they eat goat and sheep’s cheese. :/ obv I didn’t research further.
Well, I’ll leave the goat cheese off half. Thanks!

If they’re dairy free for lactose intolerance reason that makes sense. But people are dairy free for all kinds of other reasons so that doesn’t apply across the board.

[sadlebred]

Beware that chocolate often contains cow dairy if you decide to go for something like that. GF/DF cookies are usually easy to make or find at a local bakery.

[pinkpeony08]

Just ask if they eat goat cheese. I am currently dairy free but only avoiding cow dairy.

I don’t have a recipe handy, but there are delicious chocolate balls that are essentially dates, nuts and cocoa powder in the food processor, rolled in coconut flakes. Depending on their reasoning for gluten free and dairy free, they may also be trying to eat low sugar. These hit that too and taste delicious.

[InBetweenDays]

If you are near a Trader Joe's I HIGHLY recommend their Gluten Free Norwegian Crispbread to use as crackers. So good.

[sonrisa]

I'd serve some regular strawberries (and maybe other fruit) in addition to the cheesecake filled ones. Most people who are GF and avoid cows milk aren't dessert eaters anyway.

[mala]

www.loveandoliveoil.com/2018/12/soft-amaretti-cookies.html these are delicious.

Ive also done lemon mousse and pavlovas for my DF& GF friend.

[sloan]

For dessert see if your local grocer carries Immaculate brand GF/DF cookie dough- the chocolate chunk and double chocolate ones are both very good. My SIL is GF/DF so I always pick one up when she comes in town, and it’s one of the few GF things where I truly can’t taste a difference (initially anyway, they do go stale faster than normal cookies once baked).

ETA: I’d also ask your DF friends if there are any cheeses they can eat for the charcuterie board- SIL can tolerate some hard cheeses like Parmesan in moderation and if they are DF for tolerance/medical reasons they’ll know what if anything they can have.

[lucybrown]

Jan 14, 2020 10:43:49 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

Beware that chocolate often contains cow dairy if you decide to go for something like that. GF/DF cookies are usually easy to make or find at a local bakery.

It's getting easier and easier to find good, dark chocolate that has cocoa and sugar, but not milk or butter ingredients.  If you want to keep it simple, Trader Joes or something like that probably has dairy free chocolate treats.   Aldi has packaged cookies that are really good, they are both gluten and dairy free.  

I made this pie at Thanksgiving.  It was easy and delicious.  I used a pre-made GF crust.  

altonbrown.com/moo-less-chocolate-pie-recipe/


While it's true that people with dietary restrictions know how hard it is to make desserts and don't expect it, they'll still really appreciate the effort.  It's hard to feel left out.  

And ditto PP that goat cheese is not dairy free.  My son and I are DF.  I can eat butter in small amounts, but he cannot tolerate even a trace.  We use margarine or butter-flavored coconut oil in our recipes.  Smart balance tastes more butter-like than some of the cheaper margarines. 

[lucybrown]

I thought of another easy, DF/GF treat. It is much easier to find non-dairy ice cream options in most stores than it used to be. The So Delicious line is really good, especially the salted caramel cluster and snicker doodle flavors. Sorbet is also dairy free.

[wanderingback]

Jan 14, 2020 9:55:50 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 14, 2020 9:47:04 GMT -5 winecat said:

I feel like this is a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" moment. Goat cheese is dairy.

Seriously? I had a convo w a friend a month ago and she “ schooled” me on all this. She said dairy is only cow. Her family is DF but they eat goat and sheep’s cheese. :/ obv I didn’t research further.
Well, I’ll leave the goat cheese off half. Thanks!

Well you can tell your friend she is wrong haha.
Dairy means it contains milk. Milk comes from a lot of animals, not just cows. Now maybe your friend specifically has an intolerance to cow’s milk (or even a religious objection to cow’s milk), but that doesn’t mean every other animal’s milk isn’t dairy.

[Alps79]

I'm cohosting with a friend- she picked up the Snickerdoodle cookies from TJ. GF & DF. done. This was a little more difficult than I expected. I'm going to bookmark this post so I can come back to it next book club. Also, my dd's friend is both GF/DF so this is all really helpful.

[Alps79]

Jan 14, 2020 12:07:04 GMT -5 mala said:

www.loveandoliveoil.com/2018/12/soft-amaretti-cookies.html these are delicious.

Damn I kind of want to make these. They're GF and dairy free, right? (I mean, I believe they are but I want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious.) 

[keyslover]

Jan 14, 2020 12:03:50 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

I'd serve some regular strawberries (and maybe other fruit) in addition to the cheesecake filled ones. Most people who are GF and avoid cows milk aren't dessert eaters anyway.

I'm irrationally annoyed by this comment! I am df and have gf family members and we all LOVE desserts- We just don't expect them at events because it is rare to find a them. So yep, we are used to fruit.


ETA: op, it's nice if you try to accommodate, but I think it's fair to say most people with intolerances/allergies are used to limited selections.

[brooke77]

Not gluten free, but regular dark chocolate brownie mix made with eggs and oil are DF. You can frost it with most canned vanilla frostings, too. Just be sure to check all the labels.

Not the healthiest, but I ate frosted brownies a lot when I was dairy (cows milk) free. It’s all made with oil and not butter, so it’s safe for allergies.

I haven’t tried it, but you can find GF brownie mixes too. Just make sure it’s dark chocolate because milk chocolate has dairy (obviously).

[Alps79]

Jan 14, 2020 14:14:21 GMT -5 brooke77 said:

Not gluten free, but regular dark chocolate brownie mix made with eggs and oil are DF. You can frost it with most canned vanilla frostings, too. Just be sure to check all the labels.

Not the healthiest, but I ate frosted brownies a lot when I was dairy (cows milk) free. It’s all made with oil and not butter, so it’s safe for allergies.

I haven’t tried it, but you can find GF brownie mixes too. Just make sure it’s dark chocolate because milk chocolate has dairy (obviously).

So my friend picked up a GF brownie mix at Trader Joe's and it said "may contain traces of milk." :/ She put it back and got the cookies. Hopefully will be appreciated/enjoyed ? 

[mala]

Jan 14, 2020 13:58:13 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 14, 2020 12:07:04 GMT -5 mala said:

www.loveandoliveoil.com/2018/12/soft-amaretti-cookies.html these are delicious.

Damn I kind of want to make these. They're GF and dairy free, right? (I mean, I believe they are but I want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious.) 

Yep. Almonds, eggs, sugar, salt.

[Deleted]

Oh, I forgot about this. If you need ideas for next time, you can make and Avocado Chocolate Mousse. I can't find the recipe I used but this is similar feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/avocado-chocolate-mousse/ I made little "cups" out of dark chocolate to serve this in so that they were bite sized. They are gluten and dairy free (vegan actually) and even my guests w/o dietary restrictions gobbled them up.

[brooke77]

Jan 14, 2020 14:18:54 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 14, 2020 14:14:21 GMT -5 brooke77 said:

Not gluten free, but regular dark chocolate brownie mix made with eggs and oil are DF. You can frost it with most canned vanilla frostings, too. Just be sure to check all the labels.

Not the healthiest, but I ate frosted brownies a lot when I was dairy (cows milk) free. It’s all made with oil and not butter, so it’s safe for allergies.

I haven’t tried it, but you can find GF brownie mixes too. Just make sure it’s dark chocolate because milk chocolate has dairy (obviously).

So my friend picked up a GF brownie mix at Trader Joe's and it said "may contain traces of milk." :/ She put it back and got the cookies. Hopefully will be appreciated/enjoyed ? 

Ugh! GF and DF is tough. I bet the cookies will be good. TJs stuff is yummy!