Top 5 Desserts to Have If You're Allergic to Nuts

As a tree-nut allergic, epi-pen carrying, dessert loving person, I can attest that dessert can be a most challenging foe to someone with a severe allergy. You see, I love cookies. There are few foods I can say that about and mean it. Big cookies, little cookies, round cookies, bar cookies, well, you get the picture. When we were children, my parents would take both my brother and I out to dinner as a treat. If we'd eaten well at this one particular restaurant we were allowed a cookie from their bakery.

Without fail, every time I ate the cookie, I would get sick on the way home in the backseat of the car. After visiting an allergist, who diagnosed the tree nut allergy, we went back. I remember being seven years old and asking for an oatmeal raisin cookie without walnuts. I was so proud to remember my allergy and take care of myself. I was also proud that I wasn't going to get sick on the way home. Unfortunately, I did anyway. I learned about cross-contamination that day.

People with nut allergies need to remember to not only watch the ingredients in their own food, but in the food that surrounds theirs. Cookie dough without nuts, which is rolled and flattened on a surface that previously held cookie dough with nuts, can be just as dangerous to an allergic person as if they ingested the cookie with the nuts. The dangers that accompany a nut allergy can be anything from a small reaction, such as a tingling sensation in the mouth or itchy gums, to anaphylactic shock with the throat swollen shut. No baked good is worth death.

Bakeries can be the hardest places to find a dessert without nuts. Restaurants usually have a small, set dessert menu, and almost always will accommodate a patron who asks that theirs be made outside of where the desserts are usually prepared. This lowers the risk of cross-contamination. In a bakery, however, where the entire kitchen is used for the preparation of desserts, some of which contain nuts, this can be more difficult. The annoyances are great with a nut allergy. You must always ask questions, and then you must determine whether or not the answer-giver is trust worthy. Unfortunately, too many times one must err on the side of caution.

The top five desserts for a person with nut allergies, in my opinion, are fruit salad, ice cream, jello, pie (that is not pecan, nor has crumbs on the top, the crumbles often contain ground-up nuts), and applesauce (delicious with a hint of cinnamon). I used to be a big proponent of candy for dessert, items such as jellybeans or lollipops, but have since been told that those are "snack" items. Ah, well. If you're going to a party, a great tip is to bring a nut-free dessert with you, such as fruit salad, for the hostess to serve. It will not only make you look like an extremely gracious guest, but it enables you to eat dessert.

The most challenging desserts for nut-allergic people are cookies, brownies, and cakes. Carrot cake often has walnuts ground right in to the batter. Brownies can be topped with nuts, or have them baked in, but they tend to be more easily discernible. Cookies may contain any of a wide range of nuts, though you can usually tell by looking at them.

The key is to ask questions and/or to read labels. "Manufactured in a plant that processes nuts," is a good clue that you may be at risk for cross-contamination. If the nut you are allergic to is listed right on the label, please trust that it truly is in the dessert, and don't eat it. If you see that four out of the five desserts on the menu have nuts, play it safe and just have a cup of tea or coffee. Remember, no baked good is worth death. If you can't eat one of the safe foods, play it safe and skip dessert.