Food intolerances and allergies are no fun, especially when it comes to the holidays. All that dairy, gluten, and sugar come together to make such tasty treats- buuut my stomach doesn’t see them as gifts.
Over the years, I have found lactose-free and dairy-free options to still make my favorite treats. It just takes a little extra time at the store and finding what works in the recipes. (Although the whole reason I am making this blog is so you don’t have to stress over how to change the recipes.)
Since Christmas is this week (What?! Where did the time go??), I thought you might need a little help finding these products so you can make every treat you can think of.
Without further ado, here is my list of products that I like to keep on hand during the holidays.
1. Lactose-free Evaporated Milk- You can find it here. It’s great to have on hand in case you want to make a last-minute pumpkin pie.
2. Lactose-free Sweetened Condensed Milk- You can find it here. I like to use it to make a quick caramel.
3. Coconut Condensed Milk- You can find it here. I like having options in my cupboard when I get the urge to be creative- vegan recipes, here I come!
4. Green Valley Products- You can find them here. I highly reccomend these products, as they are organic and high-quality. They produce yogurt, butter, cream cheese, and more!
5. Homemade Lactose-free Butter- You can find my recipe here. Butter is always great to have on hand, and you can easily store it in the freezer until you start baking!
6. Cool Whip- You can find it here. Did you know that on-brand Cool Whip is lactose-free? Crazy, right?! If you look closely at the nutrition facts, it says that it contains 0 grams of lactose. Please note that you HAVE to buy the brand Cool Whip, as I have not found any off-brand versions that are lactose-free. (There are plenty of dairy-free versions in the same area of the store though!)
7. Dairy-free Hot Cocoa Mix- You can find my recipe here. Who doesn’t like to have a warm cup of cocoa after some holiday fun? And it always makes a wonderful gift!
8. Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips- You can find some Guittard chips here. I tend to like Guittard in my cupboard, but you can also find dairy-free and vegan options at regular places like Smith’s Marketplace and your local grocery store. (I have even found bulk dairy-free chocolate chips at WINCO!)
9. Cocoa Butter (To temper chocolate)- You can find it here. The reason I suggest having cocoa butter on hand to temper chocolate is that I can’t use almond bark or candy melts. They both contain milk. Trying to dip treats in non-tempered chocolate results in chocolate-y, sticky fingers every time. No thanks! Tempering your chocolate is a little extra work, but worth it.
I hope you guys regularly refer to this list and make plenty of holiday treats! I have been busy making oreo balls and dark chocolate lime ganache truffles. Let me know in the comments what you get up to!
Side Notes:
The reason why almond bark and candy melts set up at room temperature is that they have oils as the fat instead of the typical cocoa butter. Cocoa butter forms “crystals” that allow us to temper chocolate by heating and cooling it to certain temperatures. If you’d like to know how I temper chocolate (the easy way!), I can write another post soon. I also highly recommend checking out Ann Reardon’s video on chocolate.
You might notice that none of the links on this post go to Amazon. While you can find just about anything on Amazon, I don’t love referring to it. If I can find it locally or buy it directly from the company itself, I will. I like to support small(er) and local businesses if possible.
Lackin' Lactose 