My three-year-old daughter has life-threatening food allergies. She is allergic to dairy, eggs, wheat, barley, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, mustard, sesame, lentils, peas, garbanzo beans, fish, and shellfish. We don’t go anywhere without Epipens and Benadryl, and she doesn’t eat anything I don’t prepare for her. It has made me a crazily overprotective parent, but I don’t know how not to be when an accidental sip of another kid’s milk would send her to the emergency room.

But I don’t want food to be a source of fear for her. I want her to be able to find pleasure and delight in it, along with the awareness of what she should avoid. So this winter, stuck inside most days, we cook together. She loves to dump, stir, and rehash all that went into the bowl or pan. It has been fun to experiment, to try recipes that are allergy-friendly but actually taste good. We’re well versed in Egg Replacer, xanthan gum, and tapioca starch.

Our favorite thing to make? Coconut cookies. We all actually choose to eat them. How is it possible to make a good cookie without eggs, butter, and regular flour? See for yourself. These have the consistency of oatmeal raisin cookies with the rich flavor of coconut. The following recipe is adapted from one that appeared in Living Without Magazine April 2010 (http://www.livingwithout.com/).

Soft-Batch Coconut Cookies

1/2 cup coconut flour (We use Bob’s Red Mill)

1/2 cup gluten free flour (We use Gluten Free Pantry)

1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut (Or shredded sweetened if you like sweet)

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsps cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup raisins

3/4 cup palm shortening (We use Spectrum Organics Shortening), room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk dry ingredients and coconut in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine all other ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, mixing just enough to combine. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet or grease generously. Shape dough in to portions of about 3 tablespoons and flatten, leaving some space between cookies. Bake on middle rack for 18 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool on a wire rack. Eat warm. Or freeze. We like them straight from the freezer.