Well now, doesn’t that look all Christmas-y? We trimmed that tree, and enjoyed some festive snacking yesterday so now I’m going to tell YOU how you can start your winter holiday season off with a gluten-free bang. Of course it involves booze and snacks. Of course it does.
One of my fave holiday snacks is the gluten-free cracker topped with smoked salmon, creme fraiche, and chives. It’s incredibly simple, and you’ll want to eat the entire plate-full. I recommend you share, but you don’t always have to take my recommendations as you are your own person and I respect that.
Next, I thought I’d get crafty while fantasizing about how many Pinterest shares I would get and did these Gluten-Free Peppermint Pretzel Sticks™. Not shockingly, my attempt at culinary craftiness did not go as smoothly as I anticipated, so this is exactly how many Gluten-Free Peppermint Pretzel Sticks™ I wound up with, instead of say, 50.
I tend to lose patience when I’m getting crafty also, which is just another reason I’ll never be a Pinterest star. Later I realized a nice ribbon around the shot glass would have really nailed it. Sigh. Still, I ate an entire shot glass full of white chocolate and peppermint covered pretzels. Eat your failures, people. Eat ’em up. They are delicious.
Anyhoo! There are so many fun things you can make for a tree trimming party. I just did three, however, and one of those thing was an incredibly strong cocktail, the Sazerac. Kind of like an Old-Fashioned, but without the gooey cherries, and with a lemon twist, a classic Sazerac can be served over a giant ice cube (you have those, right?) or straight up in a martini glass. I will say it goes very well with a shot glass full of Gluten-Free Peppermint Pretzel Sticks™.
Here’s how you can pair those yummy things together and fill yourself with some holiday cheer.
Gluten-Free Peppermint Pretzel Sticks™
Prep time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
20 peppermint candies or candy canes, crushed
30 Gluten-free pretzel sticks (Glutino rocks these gf pretzels)
8 oz. white chocolate, melted
1. Place one large piece of parchment paper on your counter. Prepare your work space by placing your melted chocolate in a small, but deep bowl next to a small bowl of crushed peppermint candy.
2. Dip the top 1/3 of a gluten-free pretzel stick into the white chocolate and allow the excess to drip off back into the bowl. Roll the chocolate covered stick in the crushed peppermint and lay on the parchment paper to dry.
3. Once dry, pick those suckers up and eat ’em.
Makes: However many you have the patience for and/or 30.
Gluten-Free Sazerac
Okay, so it’s naturally gluten-free. Here’s how you drink it.
Prep time: 7 minutes
Ingredients
Pernod
1 cup bourbon
1/2 teaspoon bitters
4 teaspoons simple syrup
5 lemon twists
1. Make lemon twists by slicing lemon circles, then cutting along the edge to remove lemon center. Cut in half, then twist.
2. Pour Pernod into serving glasses, then pour it out.
3. In a shaker, add ice, bourbon, bitters, simple syrup, and one lemon twist. Shake vigorously until chilled and combined.
4. Pour into prepared glasses, and add lemon twist for garnish.
Makes: 4 servings
Bottoms up!
Gluten is my Bitch 
I like your first “recipe” with the crackers, salmon and creme fraiche. I am planning a holiday party in a few weeks and we’re making everything gluten-free so I’ll need all the ideas I can get.
It’s a good one. Good luck!!! click on my gluten free holidays tags for more ideas! And I have some super bowl appetizers too.
Oh, Superbowl is THE holiday at my house (not in my opinion, but my opinion doesn’t count when it comes to football). I’ll check them out, thanks! 🙂
I have just nominated your blog for the Beautiful Blogger Award:
http://goingwithoutgluten.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/beautiful-blogger-award-nomination-wow/
Please accept this gesture without any obligation. This is my way of thanking you for being an inspiration to me on my blogging journey.
Aww, that’s so nice Kathy! I’m going to go see what this is all about. Never heard of it before, but it has a lovely name.
I am going to have to give this a try! Thanks!
Hey April!
I found your blog looking for GF Spinach Dip. I was laughing as I read and then I stuck around, reading different posts and comments. I would like to add some words of encouragement to those who are just finding out about their diagnosis, or making the decision to go GF. First off I was not diagnosed, as this requires insurance and I have none. BUT I discovered a book on Celiacs Disease while researching IBS and on the back of this book was a list of about 15 symptoms of which I had like 7 or 8. So I thought, I’ll give the gluten free thing a try and see what happens. Worst case scenario would have been to still feel like shit and have gone without bread for awhile. Best case, I find out my problem has been gluten. When I was about 3 weeks into the experiment I noticed I was starting to feel better. I mean I had literally reached a point to where I didn’t want to get out of bed. But I was getting up and feeling good, then I was waking up and feeling GREAT. Yes its true this lifestyle is a pain in the ass … but not as much as eating gluten was for me…. thats a joke kid… laugh. Anyway, finally feeling like I have answers makes all the “going without” fine by me. Do I miss my Nestle Toll House Cookies… without a doubt, yes I do… But not enough to risk going back to how bad I felt before. The other thing I was beginning to miss was Oreos. I love those little chocolate devils… I spent a day crying over the loss of them (before I started to feel better). But then my awesome dad bought me a pkg of Kinnkinnicks K-Toos. OMG!!! People… if you have missed your Oreos then may I suggest you run (DO NOT WASTE TIME WALKING) run to your nearest GF dealer and get you some of these cookies… They are so close its amazing!!! I wept again… only this time, with joy. So while you may feel badly emotionally about this new way of life, if you could hear me talk… you would hear me laughing and giggling over how good I now feel. Because before I was convinced I must be dying I felt so bad. Its a challenge but its also exciting trying to figure out if I can find a way to revamp a recipe and beat the gluten bitch, so far, I feel like I am totally winning!
I have been GF for almost 3 months.
Right on, Julie! You just inspired me to not only buy some Faux-reos, but to put a halt to my thoughts of shoving my face into some warm dinner rolls I’ve been stalking at the bakery. You sound FANTASTIC.
For next year’s holiday prep you can go to the Indio Tamale Festival and indulge in gluten-free tamales! I spend yesterday there and met some awesome chefs and took home an ice chest full of BBQ chicken tamales,
pulled pork tamales, Belgian chocolate/raspberry with caramelized walnuts, mmmmmmm. I only made it through half the Festival area, but found more than half a dozen serving gluten free yumminess. By far the best was at the Corn Maiden booth (www.cornmaiden.com and they ship!)
That sounds awesome. I can’t believe I missed something as magical as this. Next year!!!
Ouff I can’t stop reading your blog, which is good cus it’s improving my abs. So funny and quite useful too. Big like!