Baked goods for Baby – Using non-wheat flours in baby’s baked goods recipes
Jun 16, 2009 Allergies, Forbidden Foods, Friendly Baby Food Advice, Substitutes
If your baby (or anyone else in the family) has been diagnosed with a gluten intolerance or an allergy to wheat, this wheat-free flour blend is for you. Many parents want to make their little ones homemade teething biscuits or other baked goods but due to an allergy or intolerance, they can’t. Try the mix below.
From Land O’Lakes:
To help you bake gluten-free, the Land O’Lakes Test Kitchens developed a Gluten-Free Flour Blend. It’s easy to make and store, and has been used in many recipes with consistent and delicious results. It’s made with alternative flours that are easy to find in your supermarket:
Rice Flour - this alternative flour has neutral flavor and provides a light, somewhat sandy texture that is reduced when mixed with other substitute flours in baking.
Potato Starch – this is a fine, light powder that lightens baked goods and is also mixed with other alternative flours to achieve a satisfactory texture. Potato starch tends to clump, so always mix well for best results.
Tapioca Flour - this ingredient is also known as tapioca starch or manioc. This ingredient gives baked goods their desirable chewy texture and lightens them up. It also helps to give a lightly browned appearance to a crispy crust.
When you want to bake without gluten, use this mix for a variety of baking recipes such as cookies, cakes and quick breads.
Preparation time: 5 min Yield: 3 cups
2 cups rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
Combine all ingredients in large bowl; stir.
Use mixture in baking recipes. Store mixture in container with tight-fitting lid.
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It’s Maple Time here in New England – Can You Use Maple Syrup in Baby Food Recipes?
Mar 31, 2008 Friendly Baby Food Advice, Substitutes, Sugar, Uncategorized
It’s one of my favorite times of year, as the winter turns to spring and the maple trees start giving up their sap, maple syrup producers all over New England open up their “sugar houses” and invite the public to see just how maple syrup is produced. I’ve been visiting sugarhouses since I was a wee thing. While I can’t recall my first taste of pure maple candy, I still get those warm fuzzies whenever I step foot into a sugarhouse. With the sap boiling over a huge wood-fired open boiler (rare these days as most boilers are oil-fired), it’s warm and toasty and the smell of maple permeates the air. It’s like being in a maple flavored sauna!
The maple sugaring season in New England usually lasts about six weeks from mid-February to mid-April, depending on the location. When nighttime temperatures are below freezing and daytime wind chill temperatures rise to 35° F or more, the sap begins to run. It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup! For more information about maple syrup around New England, visit this guide offered by the Boston Globe
Alright, about the babies 
Babies are able to have maple syrup if you are inclined to drip a bit in oatmeal, sweet potatoes or even squash. Baked apples drizzled with maple syrup are wonderful too! Of course, you should use maple syrup sparingly and we’d not recommend it for babies under 10 months old.
Ooh but it’s a sugar right? It must be bad for babies! Well, it’s both bad and good really. Maple syrup has the following nutrients per 1 tablespoon:
Minerals
Calcium, Ca mg 13
Iron, Fe mg 0.24
Magnesium, Mg mg 3
Phosphorus, P mg 0
Potassium, K mg 41
Sodium, Na mg 2
Zinc, Zn mg 0.83
Copper, Cu mg 0.015
Manganese, Mn mg 0.660
Selenium, Se mcg 0.1
Vitamins – none to speak of really
Maple syrup is low on the glycemic index meaning that it does not evalvate your blood sugar – glucose – levels above the norm. It’s also natural and the body will use what it needs and rid itself of the rest. Pure maple syrup is better to use as a sweetner than sugar and it is better to slather on pancakes than the fake stuff that is 95% High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and 5% maple “flavor”. HFCS is not easily processed or used by the body and may store itself and add fat!
It’s up to you whether you want to drip some maple syrup in your baby’s homemade oatmeal or in a sweet potato puree. We’re just letting you know it’s safe. Using maple syrup in a teething biscuit is a great replacement for refined sugar! As always, don’t sweeten your baby’s foods 100% of the time.
Flax in Baby Food Recipes? Just don’t sautee with it!
Feb 24, 2008 Friendly Baby Food Advice, Nutrition, Substitutes
Flax is a wonderful addition to your diet and may also be a wonderful addition to baby’s diet. Flax is rich in three essential components that are wonderful for our bodies:
Omega-3 oils – You may recognize them as “alpha-linolenic acid” or ALA
Lignans
Fiber, both soluble and insoluble
The only draw back to flax that we find is that you cannot cook with it in a frying pan! Flax cannot be used to replace olive oil in your favorite sautee recipe for example. Flax will actually burn when heated in a frying pan; No, we haven’t tried it before, we trust those who have! 
Flax can however, be used as a substitute for oils in baked goods recipes! As the American Flax Council notes:
For Fat
– Substitute flax for fat in your recipes, using 3 tbsp ground flax seed for 1 tbsp of margarine, butter or cooking oil. Flax can be substituted for all or some of the fat, depending on the recipe. Note that baking with flax, as fat substitute will cause baked goods to brown more quickly.
For Eggs
– Substitute a ground flax seed/water mixture for eggs in recipes such as pancakes, muffins and cookies. Use 1 tbsp ground flax plus 3 tbsp water – left sitting for several minutes – for each egg. Note that this will result in a chewier version of the recipe, with less volume.
Visit our Flax for Babies page to learn more about incorporating Flax into your baby’s diet.
Check out the American Flax Council and click on Flax for Consumers to get yummy flax recipes & more information about cooking with flax.
