'Simply ... Gluten-Free Desserts' Keeps it Simple

From cautiously inspecting ingredient labels to giving up favorite foods, adopting a gluten-free diet has plenty of challenges. Simple things like sharing a meal can mean cooking separate dishes or subjecting others to unfamiliar "special diet" food. Author Carol Kicinski's solution is to prepare tasty foods that happen to be free of gluten.

Naturally Gluten-Free
An adventurous eater, doctors diagnosed Kicinski's gluten sensitivity in her mid 30s. Her foodie tendencies prevailed and she shares beautiful photographs and recipes on her blog Simply ... Gluten Free.

Her new cookbook, "Simply... Gluten-Free," focuses exclusively on gluten-free desserts. All 150 of the recipes are gluten-free, but many are also free of grain, sugar and dairy. Kicinski keeps it simple and introduces each recipe a fun story or cooking tips.

Some recipes, such as the molten lava cakes, rely on alternative ingredients, such as rice flour and xanthan gum, but the recipe collection is not about creating substitutes for wheat products. The recipes stand on their own and many, such as the coffee sorbet and coconut pudding, are naturally gluten-free.

The recipes range from simple blueberry muffins to dinner-guest-worthy choices such as the fig and goat cheese tart.

Gluten-Free Flour Substitute
One of the most useful recipes in this book is the flour blend, Carol's Amazing All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend. Cordon Bleu-trained chef Darrell Malick tested the flour blend in a variety of recipes ensuring it delivers good results. It is commercially available, but she also details exactly how to blend it.

"Simply ... Gluten-Free Desserts"
This 304 page book has a retro feel thanks to light orange flourishes on the pages. The author includes ingredient descriptions and baking tips, but the photographs are the most memorable feature. There are over 30 color pictures highlighting delicious presentations of desserts that look like anything but "special diet" food.

"Simply ... Gluten-Free Desserts" is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com and hits bookstores on April 12.