Candies, Chocolates, Cheesecakes, Etc.
While everyone else is making and indulging in holiday chocolates, candies, and snacks, make sure your recipient has something sweet to munch on, too. Many vendors offer collections of gluten-free delicacies that you can customize to your needs.
- Honey Garden Gifts
Offers a variety of gluten-free cheesecakes and other baked goods. - Well Baskets
Their gluten-free gift baskets have been featured on FOX News and in Better Homes and Gardens. - GlutenSmart
Choose from six different gluten-free gift sets, including kosher options. - A Bountiful Harvest
Offers 17 varieties of gluten-free cupcakes (also available sugar-free) and dozens of gluten free cakes. - Curious Cookie
Offers gluten-free cookies in your choice of chocolate chip, lemon chocolate chip, chocolate chocolate chip, ginger cranberry, or an assortment of the above. - Mariposa
Offers artisan-crafted gluten-free biscotti, brownies, squares and coffeecakes. Some of their products are also dairy-free. - Low-carb.com
Offers a basket of products "...to delight anyone on a Gluten-Free/Wheat-Free diet. Includes delicious xylitol sweetened syrups and condiments from Nature's Hollow, Heavenly Dessert Meringues, Jennies Coconut Macaroons, Kitchen Table Baker Gourmet Cheese Thins, and more." - Illinois Nut Shop
Offers gluten-free gift baskets, a flourless chocolate cake, even gluten-free chocolate wedding-cake toppers! Visit the website to scroll through pictures of hundreds of different types of allergen-free candies, including old-fashioned candy sticks.
Gluten-Free Theme Items
In addition to gifts of food, grown-ups and children might enjoy T-shirts, mugs, or bags with gluten-free themes. For babies, there are shirts and hats that warn well-meaning people not to feed them allergen-containing foods.
- AllergyKidzWare.com
This Australian company has a wide variety of "Allergy Alert" designs and text that can be printed on hats, bibs, and shirts for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. (They'll ship worldwide.) - CafePress.com
Offers a wide selection of apparel, babywear, housewares, hats, bags, stickers, buttons, magnets, and more -- all with messages about being gluten-free. - AllerGators.com
Food allergy alert clothing items feature a cute alligator with a stop sign and message: "Stop -- I have food allergies." -
BlueBearAware.com
Offers allergy alert clothing and other items -- even "Allergy Alert" party invitations.
Books
Of course, there are loads of wonderful books to consider, too.
- The Essential Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide, 3rd Edition (2008-2009) (Triumph Dining, 2008).
Whether your recipient is new to the gluten-free diet or an old hand at it, this book will be useful. (Read my review of The Essential Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide.) - Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You Can Too, by Shauna James Ahern. (Wiley Books, 2007)
This memoir, by the author of the Gluten-Free Girl blog, has been getting rave reviews. Newsweek called it, "A delightful memoir of learning to eat superbly while remaining gluten-free." The book includes recipes and other resources. - Gluten-Free Quick & Easy: From Prep to Plate Without the Fuss - 200+ Recipes for People with Food Sensitivities, by Carol Fenster (Avery, 2007).
The author is an acclaimed wheat-free and gluten-free culinary expert. - The Wheat-Free Cook: Gluten-Free Recipes for Everyone, by Jacqueline Mallorca (William Morrow Cookbooks, 2007).
The author is a former columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle's food section and has written, coauthored, edited, and/or illustrated eleven cookbooks, including the Williams-Sonoma Cookbook and Guide to Kitchenware. - Bon Appetit: Without the Wheat: Gluten-Free Recipes from Appetizers to Desserts, by Julie Ambrose (Infinity Publishing, 2007).
This book contains more than 175 simple recipes, from appetizers to desserts. Anne Roland Lee, the nutritionist from the Columbia University Celiac Disease Center, reviewed the recipes and wrote the foreword for the book. A portion of the proceeds goes to benefit celiac awareness programs.
Gift Certificates
Finally (and especially good for the very last minute gift-shopper), there are always gift certificates.
- Gluten-Free Mall
Gift vouchers are sold in denominations of $25, $50 and $100. - Gluten-Free Pantry
$25 gift certificates are emailed to the purchaser within 2 business days and can be forwarded to the recipient. - Don't forget to consider a gift certificate to a favorite local restaurant or to one of the restaurant chains that offer special gluten-free menus, such as Outback Steakhouse, Uno Chicago Grill, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Charlie Browns Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, Carraba's Italian Grill, and Legal Seafoods.
