Whether it’s a dietary choice or due to allergies, more and more people are going gluten-free. Here are some tips for keeping gluten-free dishes completely uncontaminated by gluten, even in a standard gluten-using kitchen.

For more about gluten, check out Friday’s post, All About Gluten. For gluten-free baking recipes, look in Anne Byrn’s new book The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free

• Always wash pans and utensils well with soap and hot water. Place pans and utensils that come into contact with wheat gluten in the dishwasher.
• Decrumb drawers that hold baking utensils so as not to cross-contaminate them.
• Or, set up a separate drawer or pantry for your gluten-free utensils.
• Set aside a separate cutting board for baking gluten-free.
• Have a separate sifter, spatulas, wooden spoons (older cracked spoons can hold flour in the cracks), and beaters for the electric mixer for gluten-free baking.
• Cover baking sheets with aluminum foil before making cookies.

After spending a summer with a friend who was gluten intolerant, I was amazed to learn that gluten can pop up in unexpected places. So reading ingredients on the back of boxes, marinades and dressings was necessary at all times. Anne Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free offers an amazing array of cakes, cookies, muffins and brownies – all gluten-free, and often with a lactose-free option as well!  She also explains what gluten is, as well as where it can lurk in food…

What is gluten?

Gluten is the protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. It is a sticky substance and when used in baking helps hold bread, cakes and pastries together and encourages them to rise as they bake. Gluten is not found in rice, corn, millet, amaranth, and teff. Oats, also, do not contain gluten, but because they are grown and transported in bulk, they may contain trace amounts of gluten from wheat, barley or rye. To make sure oats are gluten-free, look for proof on the package.

Where can gluten be hidden?

• Malt and malt flavoring
• Soy sauce
• Some soy milk products, make sure to check labels
• Some modified food starch
• Some dextrin
• Some store-bought vanilla cake frosting
• Lipstick
• Play-Doh

Enjoy a bite of festive cheer in the form of pics from our annual cookie swap. (Who can blame us for favoring house cookbooks Cookie Swap, Mad Hungry, The Crabby Cook Cookbook, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free, and Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunch Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies?)

It all looks very orderly and civilized. But mere moments after documentation, the subjects of these photographs were gobbled up by a gaggle of hungry bookmaking elves. . . . Happy holidays!

Watch Anne Byrn today on Good Morning America with cakes from her latest book, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free. Today she’ll share an amazing gluten-free take on a chocolate pound cake–visit her website (CakeMixDoctor.com) for the recipe.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pound Cake with Peppermint Drizzle

Read an excerpt from Anne Byrn’s latest book, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free. Take gluten-free cake mixes and doctor them to create 71 layer cakes, bundts, cookies, bars, brownies, and more.

Welcome to Part 2 of the 2010 Workman Holiday Gift Guide Extravaganzaaaa! If you missed Part 1: Kids and Kids-at-Heart, check it out here. Then see below for part 2 of the list: The Grown-Ups’ Table. What do you get for your parents, your aunts and uncles, and those other adult relatives who can be a little tricky to shop for? Here’s what Workman employees had to say…

The Grown-Ups’ Table:

• “My husband and I just had our first child, a daughter, so I will slip From Father to Daughter into his stocking.” —Selina
• “I’m giving The Crabby Cook Cookbook to my mother, who no longer has to worry about cooking for a family but will get such a kick out of remembering what it was like to put dinner on the table every night … though she will be sorry that she didn’t have those simple recipes back then when she needed them. For all the hypochondriacs in my family (and that would be everyone on one side of the family, though I can’t say which)—The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick. I think our phone calls may get more interesting when they realize there are concrete steps they can take to reduce their susceptibility to illness.” —Suzie
• “My parents are getting copies of Younger Next Year and Younger Next Year for Women, since they’re both recently retired and I want them to stay healthy and happy.” —Randall
• “I got the Islands Page-a-Day Gallery Calendar for my mom, because she loves tropical beach scenes.” —Claudia
• “Last year I gave my father-in-law The Miniature Book of Miniature Golf, which brought Christmas morning to a complete halt for a good hour, because he and my husband just had to play through the whole book (they’re very competitive, so it got a little intense)… He brought it to work and it is a huge hit in his office too. 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die was a huge hit with MY dad, who is a serious music buff. (Brought that gift-opening session to a standstill as well, as he became totally engrossed in the book!!)” —Melody
• “My step-dad is getting the Nuns Having Fun Calendar—perfect for an ex-Catholic School Boy who loves the Three Stooges. And I’ll probably give my mom a copy of The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free, in hopes that she’ll send some tasty treats this year that are suitable for my glutard self.” —Emily
• “Anything golf-related goes over well with my old man.” —Tom
• “I’m giving a copy of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies to my Aunt Betty. She’s an amazing baker, and the best part is that she always loads me up with baked goods whenever I see her (and my co-workers benefit because I bring them to the office).” —Laura
• “I’m going to give The Love That Dog Training Program to my mom, because she’s convinced that our old dog can’t learn new tricks.” —Avery
• “I got Cooking Jewish for my sister, who is constantly trying to expand her repertoire of Jewish recipes. Also, there’s a reason that Ad Hoc at Home comes wrapped in plastic. Do not open it! Or you will do what I did, which is decide that it was such a beautiful and enticing book, with such mouthwatering recipes, that, although my sister or father or best friend would have loved it, it was time I rewarded myself with a gift.” —Kathy

Hope that was helpful! And don’t forget to come back tomorrow morning for Part 3: Might-as-Well-Be-Family Friends.

Those with gluten intolerance can enjoy the cinnamon goodness of Snickerdoodles too with Anne Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free.  Try this easy-to-follow recipe:

Snickerdoodle Cookies (Gluten Free)
From The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free by Anne Byrn

1 package (15 ounces) yellow gluten-free cake mix
1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), cut into tablespoons
1 large egg
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (see below)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375˚F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets.

2. Place the cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse once to combine. Add the butter to the processor and pulse until the mixture is crumbly, 15 to 20 pulses. Add the egg and vanilla and pulse until the dough comes together in a large ball, 10 pulses.

3. Scoop the cookie dough into 1-inch balls and arrange 12 balls on each baking sheet, 2 to 3 inches apart. Sprinkle the top of each ball of dough with a little of the cinnamon sugar. If you want crisp 3-inch cookies, press down on the balls with the bottom of a small glass to flatten them. If you prefer chewy 2 1/2-inch cookies, do not flatten the balls of dough.

4. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake the cookies until golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Using a metal spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely, 15 minutes.

Keep it fresh! Store the cookies in a cookie jar or tin at room temperature for up to a week. Freeze the cookies, wrapped in aluminum foil or in a resealable plastic bag for one month. Let the cookies thaw on the kitchen counter overnight before serving.

Cinnamon Sugar:

To make your own cinnamon sugar, stir 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon into 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.  Spoon the mixture into a clean spice jar with a shaker lid and store it with your spices.

For more cake and cookie recipes this holiday season, visit CakeMixDoctor.com.

Recently, our favorite baker, Anne Byrn, The Cake Mix Doctor, was in the office for a photo shoot for her forthcoming book, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten- Free. Anne also spent some time talking with her editor, Suzanne Rafer, about the readers who inspired the book, the testing process behind building a recipe using gluten-free mixes, and trying to choose her favorite recipes. We caught their conversation on video. Enjoy.

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Follow Anne on Twitter (@annebyrn) or Facebook for more behind-the-scenes updates. Anne Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free will be in stores this November.