Gluten-Free Christmas and Hanukkah Gift Ideas

There's no getting around the fact that living gluten-free means cooking more frequently. Luckily, there are plenty of great gluten-free cookbooks available to help with the task. My personal favorite is the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam of Elana's Pantry, but there are many more you can choose, including cookbooks for gluten-free vegetarians.

One of the first things I recommend for people who are newly diagnosed is to get rid of their non-stick cookware — the non-stick surfaces can harbor gluten. If you have celiac or gluten sensitivity and you're sharing a kitchen and cookware with someone who eats gluten, stainless steel cookware can help keep you safe - and, it makes a wonderful Hanukkah or Christmas gift, even for someone whose kitchen is entirely gluten-free.

Few things occupy gluten-free folks more than the pursuit of decent gluten-free bread. Although commercial gluten-free bakeries have made great strides in recent years, there's still nothing like your own gluten-free bread, fresh from the oven. A bread maker and some well-tested gluten-free bread recipes make the task so much easier. Some bread makers, including models from Breadman and Zojirushi, even include a pre-programmed gluten-free setting.

Stand-alone grain grinders tend to be big and expensive, and so I generally don't recommend them unless you bake constantly (say, if you're trying to keep gluten-free teenagers fed). But if you're gift-shopping for someone who has a Champion juicer or a Kitchen Mill mixer, they might enjoy a grain-grinding attachment that will allow them to turn whole gluten-free grain into fresh, healthy flour. One drawback: both are extremely noisy, so you might want to throw in a set of ear plugs.

A few years ago, if you wanted to give a gluten-free gift basket for Christmas, Hanukkah or another occasion, you had to make your own. Not so anymore — now multiple specialty and mainstream merchants such as GiftBasketsForDelivery.com and specialty food company Harry & David offer pre-made gluten-free gift baskets. You can choose from Kosher gift baskets for Hanukkah, gift baskets intended for children, fruit gift baskets, gluten-free/casein-free gift baskets and vegan gift baskets.